Mid-year (Ish) Reflections on My 2020 Reading Goal
My progress report on aiming to read 52 books in a year
We’re 62.84% of the way through 2020. In January, I set myself a reading challenge — to read 52 books during the year. I am currently at 65% (34 books) of my target, two books ahead of schedule. (Thank you, Goodreads, for tracking my progress.)
For the three years prior to this one, I had set myself a target of 40 books per year. The results were varied: 37 books read in 2017; 32 in 2018; and 42 in 2019. I wanted to see what it would be like — and crucially what habits and behaviour change it would take — to read one book per week.
But why bother? There’s plenty of information out there about the benefits of extensive reading, especially if you’re serious about writing. I wanted to stretch myself in my reading habits, in order to improve my writing and think more deeply about the kind of writing I want to do. I also run my own business and I wanted to read more business management, leadership and marketing books, to tune up my skills in these areas and find out about new practice and research.
Here are my thoughts at the 7.5-month point. I’m looking forward to reviewing back across the whole year once complete.
