Here is the secret and story of my explosion of reading:
When I was a kid and my mom would take all of us to the library to choose some books for the week, I would carefully choose one or two books. In contrast, my sister and my mom would each have a giant pile that they would take home. I preferred to focus on just a few books at a time, making sure that I completed what I did bring home. Looking back, I realize that not finishing things can bother me, so I often would rather be underwhelmed than overwhelmed.
Today, I still love to read. In fact, it is one of the things I look forward to when I have a spare moment. However, since becoming a mom, strangely, that time for reading has drastically decreased. (haha) I started "reading" audiobooks a few years ago on a regular basis and I love it. The times I listen vary, but I can generally fit in some listening while I get ready for the day or a couple times a week when everyone is off playing and I am cooking dinner by myself. (Often someone is in the kitchen helping me, but occasionally I am alone.) I can listen for a bit during those rare times when I am going to a doctor or dentist appointment and I get to drive by myself. Even though my youngest has all but given up nap time (sobbing tears....on my end) I still make sure we have quiet time everyday, because I need it and she still needs some down time. I try really hard to make sure that I have some free time to do something enjoyable for me during that time, but often, I do not have free time enough that I can sit down and read. So I listen while I work on whatever else I need to get done.
Over our fall break last week, my children all wanted to play outside in the sunshine and even set up a lemonade stand for a few hours. I picked up a paint brush and painted my front door and listened to a book while I did it.
But even fitting in this time for me to "read" books and sometimes even sitting down and actually reading, I would just read whatever book group book was coming up next or whatever piqued my interest at that moment. Sometimes after bringing the book home or downloading it from OverDrive, I would struggle to get through it and it would become like a time bomb over my head, with the due date or book group date hovering over me.
A few months ago I was watching my sister's BookTube (YouTube) channel (part 1 & part 2) where she explains how she plans out her reading and actually gets through her goals. If you open these, then you will know why for a brief moment I watched these to be supportive, as always, and thought, that is nice. However, I did download the app she suggests to take a look. Upon opening the app, I discovered that it is just a task app and we all know that I already have one of those that I am obsessed with.
Then it hit me: my sister is being intentional in her book reading goals. She makes a plan and plans out exactly how much everyday she is going to accomplish and writes out her plan. Then she pushes through and follows it. Of course!! When I am intentional in my goals and decide exactly what a task looks like for me, I get things done and I make amazing accomplishments. All because I am so specific and intentional.
So, I changed up my task app a little and added some folders for reading. My sister does TBR lists - To Be Read - and so that is what I named mine. The folder at the bottom is my October To Be Read. It is the books I want to get through this month.
Here is inside the October TBR. Each book has an intentional amount that I want to get through. Some rotate everyday and some are just a few times a week, depending on how quickly I want to push through each book. The ones with tracks are audio books and that book with 220 pages per day....well, that is an electronic book. Those pages are way smaller than a regular book when I read off my phone.
How do I decide what the goal is for each book? It really just depends on how much time I have when I make the goal. And when the book is due or the book group meets. 16 pages (or 10) is a really good goal for me to sit down and actually read. But reading 10 pages a day makes huge headway in books that you are not finding time to get through. Set the goal and then read past that, if you find you have the time. Setting the goals and pushing through them is completely up to you. To keep myself on track, I choose to read those 16 pages everyday. Even if the day before I read 20 or 45, I still sit down with the purpose of reading 16 pages. I do not always make my goals, but I have a point where I know if I did make it or not. That is what having the exact number of pages does - gives you a place to aim.
I have even just had one or two books a day come up and have other books waiting in there for me to add a rotation to after I finish the books I am currently working on:
On the other side is my November TBR list. This is basically my "holding" spot for all the books I want to get to in the near future. I do not expect I will get through all 27 of those books in November. None of these have due dates - this is truly just a holding place. In September I went through and listed all the books that I have sitting around my house that I "want" to read, but do not have a due date yelling at me, so they get pushed to the back. I listed books coming up in my book groups, and audio books that I had downloaded months ago. All of the books that are immediately available around me went on the next month's TBR list. (When I created this holding list it said October TBR - I just changed the names of the folders, but nothing else needing changing. I can easily move a book from the November list to the October list if I need a new book.)
Setting up these folders and having a direction as to what I want to read and a goal of how many pages or audio tracks I want to do each day has exploded my reading. It is amazing to see how being intentional really does translate to huge results - in every area of life.
If reading is not your thing, no big deal. That really is not the point here. The point is that when we are intentional and specific with our goals and what we truly want out of life, we are able to really see what progress we are making and if we are creating that life we want. The life we crave.
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