I’m joining in with Billy at Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer‘s book blogger hop again this week, where they post a question which you and other bloggers answer, hopping from blog to blog to see people’s answers. This week, the question is…
When you set a yearly reading goal, do you set it high to force yourself to meet that goal or do you keep it low and normally go over that goal any way?
My answer is I set it higher than the previous year but not so high I am bound to fail and feel miserable about it. I like to know I’m accomplishing something I’ve set my mind to but if I’m honest I never set a goal till I joined goodreads and I don’t know if I pay much, if any, attention to it during the year unless I get an email telling me I’m ahead or behind.
If it’s behind I have a little panic then go on the site and realise nine times out of ten it’s because I am not only rubbish at monitoring my goals, I am also rubbish at using goodreads. I go through phases when I use it a lot but mainly I forget it’s there and then have a mad rush to add lots of books I’ve read (usually after been prompted by an email telling me how behind on my reading goal I am!)
It’s fun to do but I’m not sure how important it is to me to have an annual goal. I prefer the shorter ones set with reading challenges. They are less intimidating and more immediate in seeing the results of my reading labour. Plus, I engage with other bloggers when I take part – a big plus for me.
Even here though, I never set the bar too high. My life never goes the way I think it will and something always come up to stop me reading as much as I want to or plan to. This might make me a book blogging under-achiever but it works for me. What about you – do you set goals and how do you decide what to set?
Emma
One Readers Thoughts 
And there you’ve just answered the problem to all of life’s questions: Goodreads. If not for them, there wouldn’t have been reading goals, would there? Uhmmm yes – I’ve been doing it for years. BUT Goodreads definitely increased the problem. Thanks for sharing that insight! Here’s my Friday Meets:http://marelithalkink.blogspot.co.za/2016/09/friday-meets-09-september-2011.html
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You have to wonder I think. When did goodreads take over our lives
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I set my goal at the same as it was last year although I exceeded it then – like you I need room to manoeuvre during the year to take into account the unexpected. I do add my books to Goodreads but usually every couple of weeks or so and I check then where I am against the target.
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Did you exceed it by a lot. I barely scraped by last year, though not sure everything I read made it onto goodreads 😳
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I exceeded by 15 so not a huge amount and I think I’m on track to do the same this year 😊
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I keep my goal low and usually at 50 each year. I usually reach 50, but I really don’t stress. I like to use the Goodreads Challenge to keep track of things even though I have it all tracked elsewhere. 🙂
ENJOY your weekend.
Happy Hopping!!
Elizabeth
Silver’s Reviews
My Blog Hop Answer
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I think that is around what mine is…is it bad that I don’t remember? Need to go to goodreads to check 😄
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I didn’t start keeping track till I started blogging and seen others do it then I found the Goodreads goal thing and it taunts me if I set my goal to high so I set it high but not as high as I want and then secretly hope I hit the goal I really wanted…lol.
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It does taunt you you are right! I just don’t like to fail so the goal can’t be too high.
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I set mine around 200 which is what I want to read, then if I get more than 25 books ahead I push the number higher.
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That is an impressive figure. I couldn’t get near that!
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[…] I also shared the beginning of a book I have read but yet to review (The Highway by C. J. Box) for the Tuesday Intro and wrote about why I’m not very good at setting or keeping track of my reading goals as part of Friday’s Book Blogger Hop. […]
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I have always loved the idea of short reading challenges and read-a-thons but I not yet succeeded in joining one!! I am bad a updating my Goodreads as I go along, but because I do a monthly reading wrap-up I often add all the books I have read in the month to Goodreads then.
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I do seasons of reading readathons because they are so low pressure, I should maybe do goodreads one a month. I just keep forgetting. Thanks for visiting 😄
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I never used to set reading goals until Goodreads came along, and now I think it takes the fun out of my reading as worry that I haven’t read enough. Especially when I see I am nowhere near my reading goal.
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Maybe it’s a good thing I keep,forgetting about goodreads. There is no stress because I don’t remember what my reading goal is half the time. It is easy sometimes to forget what we did before social networks.
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