Reflecting On My 2019 Reading Goals

At the start of the year, I wrote a post about my 2019 reading goals. In this post, I’m going to look back on these goals and see whether or not I’ve achieved them.

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Goodreads Reading Challenge

Past Me

“As I reached my reading goal of 365 books last year, I don’t feel like there’s any way I could physically top that. Nor do I want to try and reach the same goal again. That’s why I decided to not really set a Goodreads reading goal this year. Instead, I’m going to try to read what I want when I want to, and not worry about taking too long to read a book.

I didn’t actually end up feeling stressed about my 2018 reading goal, but I did try my best to reach it and that added the pressure of having to fit in quicker reads or adjust my reading pace regularly. To avoid having to do that, I set a symbolic reading goal of 1 book on Goodreads, because I do want to use Goodreads in order to keep track of what I’ve read.”

Present Me

Well, joke’s on me. Guess who ended up being physically able to top that 365 goal anyway?

I started the year by setting a symbolic goal of 1 book, but then after a few months I realized this made me read even more than I did with the pressure of a challenge, which was kind of the opposite of what I was expecting to experience. I’m not a competitive person at all, except for when it comes to competing with myself. So based on what I’d read so far, I set my goal to 400 books, and I actually reached that goal in November!

I’m not yet sure what my 2020 goal will be, but we’ll find out at the start of 2020, when I post about my 2020 reading goals.

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Social Media

Past Me

“Since 2018 wasn’t the best year for me when it comes to reviewing books and posting on my blog, I would really love to pick that up again in 2019. That’s why I decided to start the year off right by posting on my blog again, and I also started a bookish Twitter account.

In December, me and my friend Hâf hosted a photo challenge on Instagram, and we’re hoping to host one again in February!”

Present Me

I feel like I pretty much nailed this goal, and I’m so proud of myself! I was very unsure if I’d be able to start posting consistently on my blog, but I’ve been actively posting throughout the entire year, and I’ve had SO much fun!

I also started my Twitter which I’ve been posting on a lot as well, and this means I’ve met so many amazing people, both through my blog and my Twitter, and I feel like I’m much more a part of the book community now than back when I only used to have my bookstagram.

Additionally, Hâf and I ended up hosting a couple of challenges, both on Instagram and on our blogs, which was so incredibly fun. I especially loved hosting our Pride challenge and our Blogtober challenge!

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Offline

Past Me

“Even though I keep track of my reading on Goodreads, there’s always so many more lists I want to make and things I want to keep track of! I also want to be more creative in general, and that’s why I decided to start a bullet journal 🙂 I’ve also ordered a bookish planner which has yet to arrive, and I’m hoping I’ll be able to keep track of what I want to read and buy, and what I have read, and so on in the funnest way possible!”

Present Me

Well, I did start my bullet journal, and I’ve been using it throughout the year, though not very consistently. But I haven’t really used my bookish planner very much, nor have I made very many bookish pages in my bullet journal. I’m going to start using my bullet journal as a weekly planner in 2020, and maybe that will also inspire me to make more different spreads for my TBRs and wrap-ups and stuff like that.

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Read 12 Classics

An additional goal I had at the start of the year was to read 12 classics. I actually forgot to include that in my reading goals post at the start of the year, but I did want to reflect on it.

I ended up reading… 1 classic from my list. But that classic was Anna Karenina, which is almost a 1000 pages long, so I’m not entirely disappointed in myself.

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What were your reading goals for 2019? And did you reach them?