So you’ve looked at all your reading goal options, set your reading goals, and now all that’s left is…actually following through on your goals. This is the hard part, and where trying to reach goals is most likely to falter. So how can you set yourself up for success so you can actually reach your reading goals rather than giving up partway through the year? Well, here are 11 tips for how to reach your reading goals this year!
1. Make Sure You’ve Set a Realistic Goal
Before we go any further, you’re first just going to want to check that you’ve actually set a realistic goal.
I talk about this more in depth in my step-by-step guide to setting reading goals, but essentially you want to make sure that you’ve set a goal that’s a little bit of a stretch but not a full on hop to the moon. If you’ve only read 10 books in the last 5 years, setting a goal to read 100 books might be a little unrealistic.
So just double check that you haven’t chosen to set a goal that doesn’t make sense. You always want your goals to be specific, measurable, and attainable enough that you won’t get discouraged. They can still be bigger goals than you’ve reached before, but just make sure you’re not choosing a goal that will only leave you feeling discouraged.
2. Break Your Reading Goal Into Smaller Goals
Depending on the goal you’ve chosen, it can also be helpful to break your reading goal into smaller goals.
For instance, if you’ve chosen to read 52 books this year, that might sound overwhelming when you’re just starting out. But if you break this down into smaller goals—say, reading one book a week, or about 4 books per month—then it becomes a little more achievable.
Plus, the bonus when doing this is that you hit your smaller reading goals, giving you dopamine more often! (The dopamine and sense of achievement is one of my favorite reasons to set reading goals!) This also has the added effect of compounding your motivation, since you’ll gain more motivation to keep going toward your larger goal as you hit each of the smaller goals.
3. Research Your Reading Goal
Next, set yourself up for success by making sure you’ve actually fully researched everything you need to know to be able to reach your reading goal.
Maybe you’ve decided to read more diverse books. If so, now would be a great time to learn more about different diverse book options and discover where you want to start. Or maybe you decided you need to organize your bookshelves this year…then you shouldcheck out resources to help you with book organization.
No matter what your reading goal is, it’s likely you have a little bit of prep work you can do. Going ahead and doing as much prep work as you can now will help set you up to actually reach your goal later on.
4. Make a Fun TBR List
Another “prep” sort of step you can take to set yourself up to reach your reading goal is to make sure your TBR list is ready to go with lots of fun options. If you already have a list, maybe top it off with some fun new additions. Or if you haven’t yet made a list, now’s the time to start!
This is going to be such a big help down the road when you might not be feeling as motivated and might not know what to read next. A TBR list will cut down on the steps needed to find your next read, which means there’s less chance you’ll put off reading with the excuse that it’s “too much work” right now.
5. Schedule Reading Time
It can be easy for distractions in our everyday lives to squeeze out the time we thought we’d get to spend reading. If you find this is the case, then be sure to add scheduled reading time into your schedule!
This could look like reading when you first wake up, always reading on your lunch break, or making sure you read for a few minutes before you go to bed. Or, you could schedule reading time at any other point that makes sense to you.
And if you want to go an extra step, you could even set a daily reading reminder to make sure you never miss a reading session! The small actions we take every day add up, so if you want to reach your reading goals it’s important to make sure you’re faithfully reading throughout the week.
6. Put Distractions Away During Reading Time
Sometimes, we call something “reading time” when it’s really scrolling on social media time…because we’ve let our phones distract us again!
If you find your reading time keeps getting interrupted or you keep losing focus and wanting to watch TV or do something else, then try your best to find ways to remove distractions from your reading time. This could like like trying to find another place to read with less distractions, or it could look like making sure you set your phone somewhere it won’t distract you.
Either way, keeping your focus means you’ll have more quality reading time and likely hit your reading goals faster.
7. Always Have a Book With You
Removing barriers to reading can also help you be more likely to read, and thus more likely to reach your reading goals. One way to do this is to always have a book with you.
You could do this by keeping a physical book with you (if you do this, I recommend putting it in a book sleeve to keep it safe), or by bringing a Kindle with you everywhere, or by reading an ebook on your phone.
No matter what form you choose to bring a book with you, having a book on hand means you’re more likely to pick up your book and read when you have a few moments here or there. If you had to go searching for a book, you likely wouldn’t end up reading…but having one on hand means reading whenever you have a spare moment is so much easier!
8. Try Reading in A New Format
Speaking of all the different ways you can keep books with you, introducing some variety into your reading format could also help you stay on track with your reading goals.
This could help for a variety of reasons. First, it introduces variety to your reading routine. Our brains love variety, so if you’re tired of reading in your usual format then switching it up could help you reengage your brain.
Second, trying a different format could help you read more by being able to bring more books with you to new locations, or because you’re listening to audiobooks so you can “read” while you’re doing chores or other things you need to do. That’s extra time to squeeze in some reading and make progress toward your reading goals!
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9. Pair Your Reading With Something You Already Do Regularly
Having trouble actually reading? Habit theory tells us that pairing a new behavior with something you already do regularly can help you form a new habit, which can help you start a new reading habit if you’re having trouble remembering to read!
Do you always sit down at the table to have a cup of coffee in the morning? Make that reading time! Do you regularly workout on a treadmill or stationary bike? If so, try adding reading to that routine.
Wherever you have routines that are already in place and might be conducive to adding reading (and/or audiobooking), you have a goldmine ready to help you form your new reading habit.
10. Make Reading Social
Another idea to help spur you on toward reaching your reading goals is to make your reading social.
This could look like talking about reading with friends in real life, joining a book club, using a social reading tracker, joining Facebook book groups, participating in Bookstagram, joining a reading challenge, or anything else you can think of to add other people into your reading life.
Sometimes having other people check in on us and our progress toward our goals can be a good motivating factor, so that’s definitely one reason making reading social is a good idea if you want to reach your goals. But it also just makes reading more fun to have people to share it with, so if you’re wanting to enjoy reading then making some bookish friends can help give a social boost to your reading goals!
11. Keep a Reading Journal
Sometimes, keeping a reading journal can be a goal all on its own. But I firmly believe that keeping a reading journal can seriously help you along towards achieving your reading goals, as it helps you measure and track your progress. And when you can see the progress you’ve made already, you’re more likely to keep going and actually complete your goal!
And helping you reach your goals is only one of the many benefits of keeping a reading journal, so if you haven’t yet given reading tracking a try I suggest you learn how to start a reading journal of your own here!