We’re well through January – everyone’s reading goals for the new year are probably set. But now is the time to begin actualizing them. As a dose of motivation, here’s a list of 10 practical applications to achieve your tangible, quantifiable reading goals for the year.
10 Practical Applications To Achieve Reading Goals of The Year:
Document your progress through a reading journal
keeping a reading journal can boost your productivity and can allow you to express your feelings about the books you read. Thus you can compile everything you read – the number, the genres, the authors, etc. through a reading journal. Cataloguing your feelings about the books you read can be a great motivation to read more.
Set aside a specific time of the day to devote to nothing but reading
On some days, it’s easy to let the hustle and bustle of daily lives get to us and slap the eternal excuse ‘today was too tiring’. And before you know it, the daily excuse turns into a monthly and then annual excuse ‘I was just too busy’. To avoid that, spare a few minutes every day to read. It could be before bedtime, or on the train. Even twenty minutes is a lot.
Diversify your reading to prevent you from getting into a rut
Reading the same authors and genres can make you get into a rut. And soon, you’ll tire of reading the same thing over and over again, just like with music. To avoid that, it’s good to diversify genres. This ensures that you keep your intellect and thinking capacity activated and running. Switching between genres gives you a variety and ensures you wont get bored.
Join a book club or reading group to keep up the motivation
Having a community of readers who uplift and motivate you is one of the key ways to achieving even the most impossible of reading goals. Buddy reading with friends could be a starter. Or you could join a book club or reading group. This will also expose you to new books that you might not have picked up otherwise.
Supplement your reading with audiobooks and e-books
A lot of the time, reading goals are quantitative. If it feels intimidating to read fifty books a year, you can physically read thirty and listen to audiobooks for the other twenty. Audiobooks, after all, are also books. And while they don’t have the same vibe, they are easier to use since you can multitask.
Pick up the books you’re most interested in first
When you begin a challenge with what you’re most into, the motivation to continue automatically increases. So if you start the year with books you’re most excited about, or books by already favourite writers, it’s easier to get into the reading mindset. When you discover the joys of reading early on, the anticipation of the joy keeps you going later too.
Track your goals on Goodreads
Goodreads is a blessing – the app allows you to rate books and add them to shelves, while allowing you to set a reading challenge for yourself and track its progress. Tangibly seeing yourself slowly but surely moving towards a goal is very conducive to motivating yourself to achieve it. Like a reading journal, Goodreads helps you actually see your progress.
Read in naturalistic settings or places away from home
Another way to switch things up is to change the setting you read it. If you have a reading nook at your home, you can redecorate it with quilts, candles, book stacks, plants and flowerpots. Else, you can change your location entirely – read in a garden, library, under the shade of a tree or the like. This will instantly get you into a reading mindset.
Celebrate the milestones along the way
Working towards ultimate goals is invigorating and wonderful for sure, but it’s also great to celebrate the milestones along the way. When you reach a quarter, or half, of the number of books you want to read, take yourself out for a treat. Reading is a reward in and of itself, but tangible rewards can act as extrinsic motivation that supplements intrinsic motivation.
Don’t overcomplicate it, just read!
The most important thing to remember is that no goals can be achieved without reading. Whether it’s two words a day or two thousand, it doesn’t matter. Without anxiety or pressure, just read. Revel in the joy and love the words contain, and experience the pleasures of reading. That’s probably the most practical advice – just read.
Also Read: 7 Best Story Set on Deserted Island | Abandoned Island Books
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