YouTube algorithm has detected my passion for books and reading. That’s why it has been recommending me tons of stories and videos about annual reading goals and about the experiences of certain people who have read tons of books annually. Honestly, I have never counted the books that I have read each year, but being a final year student of Philology, and having been an avid reader since I understood the meaning of letters, I can assure you that there have been many books that I have enjoyed.

Even so, for a moment I felt that I wanted to do an accounting of my readings and not only those that I read out of obligation and academic interest, but also those that I read for mere pleasure. Moreover, I decided to read much more than I already did, mainly for pleasure, and to discover new horizons hitherto unexplored.

However, I soon found problems with the idea of ​​setting an annual goal of books to read, although I can perfectly recognize the benefits that setting such a goal could bring. In this story, I want to mention what are these advantages and disadvantages of reading goals so that you can also take them into account.

Pros of the reading goals

By setting a goal, that is, by defining and visualizing what you want to do, you will be much more likely to be able to do it. That is, if you want to read 50 books a year and you firmly propose it, you will most likely succeed. The reason is that you have your sights on target and that is why you will make your goal a priority. If you don’t have any goals, you are less likely to be productive, not just in reading, but in anything in life.

In addition, the fact of drawing up a plan will make you better choose which books you want to read since you know how many volumes you will be able to read in a year. Many people, together with the number of books, also plan specifically what are those they are going to read. This is wonderful because you now don’t have a lot of time between one book and another. Avid readers know how difficult it can be to choose the next book, and sometimes what ends up happening is that we don’t choose any.

Cons of the reading goals

At this point, I have to be a bit severe, but it is completely indispensable. The reality is that wanting to read a certain number of books a year and stick with that goal speeds up our reading time. This happens because, as I explained above, we have all our senses focused on what we want to achieve. This may sound good, but it is not. The time our readings should take should not be determined, in any case, by some kind of personal goal, but by the complexity and character of the book we are reading. Good readers know that there are books that vanish in our hands so quickly that, when we finish them, we feel desolate and empty. However, other texts take more meditation and attention, which means that they take much more time.

When we set goals to read a certain amount of books per year, we are showing that we are more interested in the quantity than the quality of our reading. In addition, we fall into the trap of reading so that others see what we read and how much we read, which gives us certain self-esteem. However, I know better than anyone how horrible it is to have read a book very fast without having caught its true essence.

A better alternative to reading more and better

As I said above, goals are good, they help us to be people who do something with our life. That is why I believe I have found a way to set reading goals that do not harm the quality of the reading. It is very simple, what I have decided to do, and you can also do, is to set daily, monthly, and annual reading time goals.

What does this mean? That I am not going to measure the number of books that I read, but the amount of time that I spend every day reading. In other words, my goal is to make myself a consistent reading habit. I am going to propose to read at least one hour a day and two hours on average. From there, I can multiply and get the amount of time I want to achieve reading monthly and annually. This time will be dedicated only to my leisure reading and personal growth. You can choose the amount of time that better works for you.

On the other hand, I am also making a list of books that I want to read and the order in which I want to do it. You can make a list of, for example, the next thirty books that you would like to enjoy. The list is a guide, not a straitjacket, your interests may change a lot as the days and weeks go by.

Then, we will not set a deadline to read the books, but we will take the necessary time, always being consistent with our reading habits. With this method, we can take advantage of having a goal and, at the same time, guarantee the quality of reading times.

Hope you enjoyed this story. If so, consider following me and leaving your thoughts in the comments.