Wednesday, January 3, 2018

Hello 2018: Why I set my Goodreads challenge at one book...



It's that time of year when everyone is setting their Goodreads challenge. It's a time when I'm always feeling caustically optimistic. It's a brand new year and we've got 365 days to read as many books as we can. Surely I can up my last year's number by 10 books. Right?

Nope... I'm changing things up this year.

In the past few years I've noticed that the Goodreads challenge started to lose it's fun factor for me, especially towards the end of the year. When October or November hits and I'm nowhere near my goal, reading starts to be a chore rather than something I do for fun and relaxation. Instead of reaching for a book I've wanted to read for weeks, I'll pick up multiple novellas because I'm not on track with my challenge. That usually opens the door for a reading slump and it all goes downhill from there.

So when a friend of mine mentioned that she was setting her Goodreads challenge at one book, that really got me thinking. Instead of setting a number of books that'll inevitably look like an uphill battle, why not set it at one book and use the challenge to track your reading? 

I know how many books I would love to read this year and instead of seeing "You've read 1 book out of 100," I kind of want to spend the year seeing "Congrats!" I know I haven't hit the magical number, but I'd feel better about the number of books rather than freaking out if I'm 5 books behind schedule. I still have my reading challenges to keep me motivated and to kick my butt throughout the year. 

I've since learned that this is actually a thing on Goodreads and I think it is a great idea. I know it's not for everyone and I know that I'll still be incredibly jealous of people that can read 150+ a year. I also know that I can't and I'm good with that.

So whether you have yours set at 20 books or 300, I wish you lots of luck and I hope you discover lots of great books. Happy reading!

17 comments:

  1. I've seen this around goodreads, and it's such a great idea! I have yet to have that sinking feeling around November and October, but I might lower my goodreads goal for next year if I get too stressed this year. I hope you love what you read!

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    1. I tend to get burnt out towards the end of the year, both reading and with my blog, and I think one of the reasons why was because the challenge started to get to me. I hate it when reading starts to become a chore. I lowered my goal twice in 2017, from 150 to 100. I barely made the 100, but I wasn't as stressed about it if it had been 150.

      Good luck on yours!

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  2. I already set my GR challenge but since I love challenges, I upped the number from last year. I'm also pretty laid back so i don't stress out too much when I get behind.

    My secret is rereading favorite books when I'm on a slump.. which is where I'm currently at right now.. LOL good luck and congrats for meeting your GR goal! 😉

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  3. I don't really get stressed by the number on Goodreads, so I tend to just keep it at 100 ever year. However, I know a lot of people do so I think this is a GREAT idea. I do like the fact that Goodreads would be telling me "Congrats" all year long. :)

    -Lauren
    www.shootingstarsmag.net

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    1. Hi Lauren! I kept my goal at 100 last year (after lowering it twice) and it wasn't bad. I definitely can't go above 100 or it'll stress me out. I envy people that can read upwards of 200 books.

      The "Congrats" on January 4th is pretty flipping awesome.

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  4. What an investing thing to do. I like the fact that Goodreads would be saying "Congrats" all year long instead of saying how far behind you are. I won't be doing this, but for some this is a wonderful idea.

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    1. Hi Angel! It's definitely not for everyone, but yeah, that "Congrats" is pretty awesome. :D

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  5. I always try to start my Goodreads challenge with an achievable number that I'm happy with, if I look like achieving the number in December I edit the number to fit the number of books I'll be reading. You can even edit the number once you've had the golden 'congratulations' badge (I think) as long as it is before the 31st of December.
    No one needs added pressure from a reading challenge if it gets in the way of life, so setting the challenge to one is also a good idea. I know other bloggers who don't even do the challenge, they are just as content reading when they have time.
    Best wishes for 2018.

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    1. I tried raising my goal by 10 each year and I think that is what bit me in the butt. When it got to 150, it became unattainable. I lowered my goal twice last year before it finally was within reach.

      Thanks for visiting! Best wishes to you too.

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  6. You make a really good point here. I'd always thought that there wouldn't be a point to the Goodreads Challenge if you didn't set a goal, but of course, it's still a way to track your reading. And it makes sense that it's nice to see that "Congratulations!" every time you log on.

    Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction

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  7. I think Goodreads will still track your annual reading even without a goal. They used to, anyway!

    But yeah, the "congrats" thing is pretty sweet.

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    1. You can make a 2018 folder and track them that way. I just wanted to see the Congrats whenever I'm on GR. :D

      Thanks for visiting!

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  8. I really like this idea! I like the Goodreads Challenge and try not to take it too seriously, but I definitely did feel a little panicked at points last year that I wouldn't make my target. I think it's fine as long as it's still fun, but if not then it just isn't worth it.
    Happy reading! :)

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    1. It's still fun for me for the most part. When October/November hits, that's when it all does downhill. :)

      Thanks for visiting!

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  9. I did this too! For me it wasn't even that I wasn't reaching my goals---I've set it to a number I knew I'd easily reach for the past two years---it was more that having the goal caused me to focus more on quantity instead of quality. I would avoid long books, I didn't want to read things if they wouldn't count on GR, etc. So setting my goal to one was kind of my way of telling myself I can do this, I can stop worrying about the numbers and just enjoy reading what I want!

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  10. Last year I set mine at 52 books, knowing I'd read around 100 the few years before. When I hit 52 books in the late summer, I bumped it to 100, which was still doable but also still a challenge. This year I set it at 150, which is DEFINITELY a lofty goal, but I'm also reading a lot of ARCs of children's books and counting those (and I don't normally count kids' books). So... we'll see! If I get too stressed, I will probably drop it back down to 100 just so I feel like I can achieve it. I definitely don't want to do anything that makes reading less fun!!!

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  11. This is so thoughtful! I've seen this being done by quite a few readers on Goodreads and it's actually a really smart and positive thing to do for yourself. Reading is fun and should be that way. I think, as a reviewer and book blogger, we often end up getting stressed over our reading commitments and somehow lose the charm of reading. Last year I had set a goal of 50 books in October (when I joined GR after starting my blog) and didn't add any books I actually read before Oct (there weren't many either) simply because I was super ambitious and I had holidays coming up frequently in the last two months. I managed to get a 100% on it and I know I'm a fast reader so it was kinda expected but did I stress a lot? YES! I remember doing a 24-hour-readathon on 28 and 29 Dec and managed to get the last 14 books done (they were all quick reads so that was another reason) but I wasn't very happy about it. So many were okay reads and two were awful because I had literally picked up books based on the number of pages, and I learnt that reading for 24 hours made my more sad than happy. Now that 100% is of no use to me, lol, and I wish I had picked up my HP books for the end of year cozy reading, lol.

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