How to Reach Your 2024 Reading Goal in 10 Steps

Mariah Loves Earth. My Book Shelf. 2023

For the last five years I have reached, and sometimes surpassed, my reading goals. This post is especially meaningful to me because I stopped reading for pleasure after high school. When I entered university I was no longer reading; I was skimming page after page of dry academic textbooks. Now I enjoy spending time reading a variety of genres. I read to learn and I often find it more entertaining than Netflix! It took a while to get into the pattern of regularly picking up a book, but over time I've dramatically increased the number of books that I read a year. 

I first set out on my quest to become a bibliophile in 2017. That year I set the ambitious goal of reading 20 books! I ended up reading 14. Although, I did not read as many books as I intended to, my passion for reading was awoken. From 2018 to 2022, I've read an average of 37 books a year. Choose a number that feels comfortable for you and that will fit your lifestyle. Throughout my journey I've come to recognize several tips and tricks that help me stay on track. With the following methods, I believe that you too will be able to read 30+ books a year!

1. Set Your Intention

Without a clear intention it is challenging keep up the steam in a pursuit. If you don't know what you want to do, how would you stay motivated enough to do it? Think about the aspects that drew you toward a reading goal in the first place. Do you want to read more so that you can better understand a certain topic? Or do you want to become more well-rounded and learn about a diversity of topics? Maybe you just want to start with improving your reading abilities or speed? Any intention that you set for a reading goal is a good intention. Just make sure that you set your goal immediately. The sooner you know what you want to do then the sooner you can start doing it. And remember, don't forget to have fun!

Ideas for an intention: 

- Reading One Book a Month

- Read 10,000 Pages

- Read 10 Sci-Fi Books

- Read 20 Books About Diversity 

- Read 30 Classics 

    

        2. Calculate How Many Books You Need to Reach Your Specific Goal 

It is important that you have a clear expectation to make your goal possible. Let's say that your goal is to read 30 books and you know that you for sure want to read War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, and IT by Stephen King. Unless you are a prolific reader I would recommend that you reassess your goal. The reason I say this is because War and Peace has 1392 pages, The Count of Monte Cristo has 1276 pages, and IT has 1168 pages. In total, those three books are 3836 pages. That's a lot of pages to read from only three books of your thirty book goal.

To put this in perspective, I decided to calculate the average page count of books that I have read over four years. From 2019 to 2022, I had read 149 books. The shortest book that I read was 32 pages and the longest book that I read was 704 pages. On average, I read books that were 263 pages in length. 

If I were to divide the total number of the three said books above by my average page count I would get 14.5. This number shows that you could read 14 and a half average length novels with the same amount of pages as the three novels you originally chose. If your goal is to read 30 books it would definitely make sense to start off by choosing shorter books.

Now don't get me wrong, I am a big fan of large novels! I have read The Count of Monte Cristo twice and I am currently reading War and Peace I am not recommending that you avoid large novels at all costs to reach your goals. What I do recommend is accounting for book length when you originally create your goal. 

Examples of calculating book goal: 

"Last year I read 12 books out of my goal of 10 books. Normally I would increase my goal, but this year I really want to read a book that is 1000 pages in length. Maybe instead of  increasing my goal I will just aim for 10 books, but include completing my 1000 page novel in my goal." 

"I have only read two books a year, but I really want to read a lot this year! The two books that I read last year were 500 pages each. If the average book is 250 pages then technically it was like I read four books. This year I will push myself to read eight books, but I will only include average length books.

        3. Make a Routine

Trust me, I live life chaotically. I find that my life can be frenetic; one of the skills that I am working on is time-management. I am the last person that I would go to for advice about a routine...Except, in this situation I can give good advice. In la vida loca, I make sure that I either read in the morning or read at night time. 

Having a reading routine helps to ensure that you are putting in the time to reach your goal. I personally prefer to read each day before bed. If you can't make time everyday then choose two days a week that you read. I don't have a set amount of time that I read each day, but if that would help you, then do it! 

Examples of forming a routine: 

"I'm going to read for 15 minutes during my work break five days a week." 

"I'll read for an hour on Saturdays and an hour on Sundays."

"I don't know how long I'll read for but after I wake up in the mornings, before I get ready, I'll read everyday." 

        4. Choose Books that Relate to Each Other

I've personally found that when I am reading books that I can relate to previous books that I have read I am more excited to read. I find learning something new to be one of the most stimulating experiences in life. There is no feeling like forming new neural connections. (If you haven't noticed I'm a bit of a nerd). But really, I'm not talking about neuroscience I'm talking about becoming passionate about a topic. 

I hope that you have experienced becoming passionate before. Your passion may have been about sports, art, or maybe even knitting. When you were in the learning stage you might have felt a bit confused, uncertain, or disinterested. Then once you became relatively skilled or knowledgeable you became interested. Eventually, you became a total pro and love to push your limits! I believe that you will develop a passion if you choose to continually read books from a specific topic that you are curious about. 

It's so rewarding to be able to develop a full mental-picture of a specific topic. When you read so many books from a certain topic you will be able to better understand differing perspectives around the topic. 

Depending upon the topic you may be able personally benefit from what you've learnt in your own life. It feels good, as well, because you can share your knowledge with others. 

Examples of choosing related books: 

"I'm going to read at least four books this year by BIPOC in the U.S.A about their personal experiences around the topic of race." 

"I would love to learn about self-improvement so that I can gain motivation. I will read six books by self-help authors."

"I've always wanted to learn more about religion. I will read at least seven books about world religions." 

        5. Read Multiple Books at the Same Time

What I've found over the years when discussing books with friends, who read infrequently, is that they only ever read one book at a time. At first glance, this appears to be a very common approach to reading. But I would never recommend reading only one book at a time. The reason I say this is because if you end up not wanting to read that book on a certain day or you get tired of that book—you are not going to read. I say this with conviction. Reading more than one book will allow you to maintain engagement and to reach your goal.

When I read I make sure that I have a diverse range of books going at the same time. For example, I will always have at least one fiction and at least one non-fiction going. If I decide I want to read another book it is likely another non-fiction from a different topic. By doing this, I am making sure that there is at least one book I'd be interested in reading everyday. 

I found that when I was reading one book at a time I would get stuck. I would just get bored or tired of reading the same book and end up reading super slowly. Some books you may want to keep reading, but by reading other books it gives you the time to finish each book at your own pace. 

A great example is the time that I read The Iliad by Homer. I had always wanted to read The Iliad, but after reading a couple hundred pages I realized it was a good book to put me asleep. There were quite a few parts I found interesting, but I had so much trouble getting through the battle scenes. Instead of putting it down permanently I decided to stretch it out. It took me one year and 11 days to finish that one book. But in the mean time I finished dozens of books! I ended up getting through The Iliad and reaching my reading goal. Reading is easier when you always have a book that you are interested in. 

Examples of reading multiple books: 

"I'm going to read one sci-fi book, one non-fiction about astrophysics, and Leonard Nimoy's autobiography." 

"I'm reading one fictional romance, Britney Spear's autobiography, and a business textbook." 

        6. Set Down Books That You Aren't Enjoying 

Sometimes you will purchase a book that you just cannot stand. It's always disappointing when you pick up a book that looks great, but the writing is just not great. It could be the style of writing, the narrator's voice, the topic, or even the plot that makes it unenjoyable. It doesn't matter why you don't enjoy it, it just matters that you don't. Don't force yourself to read it. 

I doubt that reading a book that you loathe will keep you motivated toward your goal. In the past, I've started reading a famous book and I realized I didn't enjoy it. I got about 50 pages in and decided it was time to cut my losses. And know what? That was alright. By quitting a book I did not like I was able to reach my reading goal faster than, I believe, I would have if I just powered through. Reading takes up time in your life do you really want to use your hours reading something you cannot enjoy? I like to say that life is too short to read books that you dislike.

Example of quitting a book: 

"Everyone loves this book called The Silent Patient, but it just really bothers me. I work in psychology and there are a lot of inaccuracies about the discipline in this book. I'm going to stop reading it even though I am 80 pages in." 

        7. Make a Time Commitment 

Yes, I know what you are thinking, I did say earlier that you didn't need to choose a specific amount of time to read each day. I still stand by that, but for some people it is easier to make a time commitment. A time commitment can help determine how many books are within reach of your reading goal. 

The best way to do this is to calculate your reading speed. By calculating your reading speed you can estimate how long it will take you to finish a book. There are a couple ways of doing this. 

    A) Set a stopwatch and start reading an average sized book with size 12 font. Click stop once you have finished one full-length page. 

    B) Use a search engine and search for a reading speed test. There are many online calculators and tests that can help you determine how fast you read. 

Once you have this information you can do simple calculations to find out how many books you can likely read in a year. 

As an example, I will say that you read one page a minute. So if the average book is 263 pages it will take you 263 minutes to finish it. When converted to hours that would be four hours and 23 minutes. If you decided that you would read for 40 minutes a day then you could expect that the average book would take you about six and a half days to finish. 

At this reading pace, if you were to read for 40 minutes a day you would be able to complete about 52 books a year. If you only wanted to read for 20 minutes a day you would complete 26 books a year. And if you only had 10 minutes a day you could read 13 books!

I find this to be very inspiring. For someone starting off with a reading goal for the first time 10 minutes of reading a day is an attainable goal. You would be able to surpass one book a month if you make sure that you read for only 10 minutes each day. 

        8. Bring a Book With You Everywhere You Go

If you bring a book with you everywhere that you go I guarantee that you will find time to read. To be honest, this is one of the reasons that I love large purses and backpacks. In life, we do a lot of waiting. We wait for the bus, doctor's appointments, lunches with friends, and if we have to pick up kids from school. Any time that you are waiting could be time that you are reading.

I'm guessing that normally when you wait you end up going on your phone. Which is fair, if you were to throw a paper air plane you'd be bound to hit someone who has social media. It's a popular activity. Except, like most people, I'm sure you'd like to use social media less often. The solution is to swap out your scrolling time for reading time. Whenever you have a spare 10 minutes just start reading rather than going on your phone. 

Example of bringing a book with you: 

"Mariah just texted me and said that she is going to be 15 minutes late for our lunch-date. I don't really want to go on my phone so it's a good thing that I brought this book!" 

        9. Go to the Library, Buy Books Second-Hand, or Discounted

I recognize that reading can be an expensive hobby! If I look at the retail price of two books sitting on my bedside table they sell for $18.50 and $28.99 CAD. If I were to buy 30 books for $28.99 that would be a total of $869.70 without tax. That could be groceries for a month for one person or even their rent. The solution to this is to get cheaper books. 

I really like owning the books that I read so that I can reference from them in the future. I find the best way to do this is to go to consignment stores or to purchase books from a discount website. Many consignment stores sell books, including hardcovers, for less than $10. I have even purchased a perfectly good book for 50 cents. It really depends which stores you choose to frequent. 

As for a discount website, my favourite is the Book Outlet. (I am not being sponsored by this company. I wish I was!) You can find books on bookoutlet.ca for as little as $2.50 CAD. The great thing is that they source books that are overstock or store returns. Many corporate bookstores actually will destroy their books and recycle them if they have overstock because it is cheaper than returning them to the publishers. If you don't believe me feel free to research it! 

The books from the Book Outlet have minor damage or a line drawn on the bottom, but other than that I've found many to be in great condition. You always earn rewards with each book purchase, and trust me, the rewards are great! Feel free to use my link to save $5 on your first order of $25+: https://bookoutlet.ca/loyalty/referral/jSS6kBaQ?c=url 

The classic way to read cheap books is to go to the library. Nothing is cheaper than free! If you don't care about owning books then this is the best way to do it. And in the end, if you decide you really love a book and want to support the author then you can choose to buy it. I hope that these tips have opened your mind to the best ways that you can save money while reading. 

        10. Share What You Read with Friends

Everything in life is better when it is shared with those you love. With the internet, there are so many ways that you can share what you read with your friends. There is goodreads.com, Book Tok, Instagram, and Facebook. When you share what you read with others it opens up dialogues you would never expect. I learnt about some of the books that I love most after other people told me about them. If you don't want to share through social media then share in person! Those who you love with get to know more about your interests and you will likely get to know more about theirs as well. By sharing what you read, I can guarantee that you will feel more inspired to keep reading!