In 2024, I will once again take on a Good Reads Book Challenge.
For a while now, I’ve found myself distracted to the point where reading in itself has been challenging. When I did get the urge to read, I’d browse Half Price Books or scroll through Amazon and read descriptions, hoping to find a book that piqued my interest. On Amazon, I’d download the ones that sounded promising to my Kindle, but every single time, as soon as I’d start one, I’d fall asleep within 5 minutes. Sometimes I just couldn’t find one that drew me in at all, so I abandoned the idea completely.
For a few of those years, I’ve joined the Challenge with strong intentions. I promised myself, “I’m going to read 52 books this year! That’s only 1 per week!” And each time I failed.
Why Can’t I Read?!
Pinpointing exactly why I lacked such concentration isn’t easy, though I do have my suspicions. For instance, it can be really difficult to focus when you’re going through something that affects your long-term emotional (or mental) state.
What I’ve come to realize is our minds (separate here from our physical brains) are both simple and complicated. What they need is actually quite simple: connections, boundaries, rewards, focus, time for rest & reset. But we make it complicated by ignoring these needs, and in effect, sabotaging ourselves in the process. Henry Ford offered a fantastic example on how we do this:
In 2024, I will Master the Book Challenge
Okay, now that I feel seen, today’s true point is I’m going to read Twenty-Six books (or more) for this years’ Good Reads Book Challenge. A book every 2 weeks. I believe this will not only be an achievable goal, but I’m feeling passionate about educating and entertaining my mind again.
To keep me motivated going into this challenge, I opted to:
- Create a more reasonable goal this year – We don’t always need to set our goals so high we’re doomed to fail if plans or priorities change.
- Gather a list of books I want to read – I did this in the Good Reads app. They make it easy to “shelf” books you’d like to read one day. This can be done anywhere, though.
- Keep that list of books interesting – You may want to change things up so you don’t get bored of the same genre. I added a few different ones I like to read, including some personal development tomes.
- Prioritize Time – There’s no getting around this one. Let’s face it, life will get in the way at some point. Even if you only have 15 or 20 minutes, block that time.
One down, twenty-five to go. And the book that grabbed me? Recursion by Blake Crouch. I grew up with a Sci-Fi loving mom and sister, and books with parallel universe or time travel themes almost always get me.
I encourage you to join me in the 2024 Good Reads book challenge, if you dare.
