Hear me out on this reading goal thing.
Two years ago, I set a goal to read 36 books.
I fell off completely. Didn’t even finish the year reading.
This year, I told myself I’d be more “realistic.”
I set the goal to 24 books.
I fell off AGAIN.
And this time, I started doing something embarrassing.
I was looking for my “shortest books” on Goodreads. All because I wanted to say I hit my goal.
I started skimming books I didn’t care about. Treating pages like obstacles instead of invitations.
All so I could check a box.
That’s when it finally clicked.
I’m spending money on books I’m not reading. I’ve got last year’s unread pile and this year’s unread pile. And I’m stressed about a goal that’s supposed to be fun.
Somewhere along the way, reading stopped being reading. It became performative.
So I tried something different.
I set my goal to one book a month for the rest of the year.
Only twelve books.
That’s it.
And something strange happened.
With almost no pressure, I read five books in two months.
Not because I am disciplined.
Not because I optimized my routine.
But because I actually wanted to read again.
Here’s the part that messed with my head.
If your goal is one book and you read five, you’re at 500% of your goal. That feels incredible.
But if your goal is ten books and you read five? You’re at 50%.
It’s the same amount of reading. Completely different emotional experience.
One feels like momentum. The other feels like failure.
That’s when I realized most goals don’t measure reality. They shape how we feel about reality.
And feeling behind is one of the fastest ways to stop doing the thing you say you care about.
So yeah this is what I’m doing in 2027.
Setting the bar stupid low.
Not because I’m lazy.
Not because I don’t value reading.
But because I want to enjoy it again.
Books aren’t a checklist. They’re conversations. And conversations die the moment you rush through them to say you had them.
If reading has started to feel heavy, maybe it’s not because you don’t love books anymore.
Maybe your goal is just too loud.
Try lowering it. See what happens when the pressure disappears.
You will be surprised by how much you read when you stop trying to prove that you read.
