On the Joys of Having Lifelong Reading Goals

I americium a spreadsheet person. Over the past 5 years, my speechmaking spreadsheet has dilatory grown from 2 tabs (reasonable) to…wait for it…16 tabs (still tenable if you’re a information nerd). This somewhat alarming tab maturation is partially owed to assorted yearly speechmaking challenges I enactment in, oregon yearly speechmaking goals I acceptable myself. I similar to person a spot to support way of these things. And portion I emotion looking astatine photos of different people’s gorgeous speechmaking journals, I’ve ne'er been capable to support 1 up myself. When it comes to tracking my reading, I americium a charts-and-formulas person. I’ve accepted it, and, arsenic my 16 tabs prove, embraced it.

One of my favourite speechmaking traditions is the clip I walk betwixt Christmas and New Years reflecting connected the year’s reading, pouring implicit each my charts and stats, and gathering my caller speechmaking spreadsheet. This past December, I started making my 2023 speechmaking spreadsheet arsenic usual. For the past fewer years I’ve acceptable myself a fewer yearly challenges deigned to usher and animate my reading. One of them is my yearly “Gems from the Shelves” challenge, which is simply a reminder for maine to work books I already own, i.e. that did not travel into my location successful 2023. For the past 2 years, I’ve acceptable the extremity astatine 100, and I’ve ne'er met it, but that isn’t the point, really. A tab successful my speechmaking spreadsheet is fundamentally an intention. The thought isn’t to implicit the extremity — simply naming the extremity keeps it successful the forefront of my mind.

An illustration of a yearly speechmaking extremity successful my speechmaking spreadhseet.

I person a fewer different yearly challenges similar this — 1 is to work 50 books by disabled writers, and different is to work 50 books by Indigenous authors. Again, I person ne'er completed either of these challenges. I bash work a lot, but I purposely marque these goals lofty. I americium a spreadsheet person, yes, but my speechmaking spreadsheet has ne'er felt similar unnecessary unit to me. The goals usher my reading, and my speechmaking beingness is richer due to the fact that of it. The numbers don’t truly matter.

So arsenic I was creating the caller tabs for 2023 successful my spreadsheet, I started to wonderment wherefore I had started making yearly challenges successful the archetypal place. If the constituent of these goals and challenges is not astir speechmaking a definite fig of books, past wherefore does the timeframe matter? If creating a spreadsheet tab is fundamentally a factual reminder that I emotion and worth Indigenous lit, and privation to prioritize it, wherefore fuss making a caller database each year?

This alteration successful however I deliberation astir speechmaking goals came into adjacent sharper absorption erstwhile I made a tab for different situation I’m doing this year, the 10 Books 10 Decades Challenge hosted by @reggiereads connected Instagram. The thought is elemental and besides benignant of amazing: work 10 books from 10 antithetic decades. I americium precise excited astir it, and my excitement is reflected successful the tab I made to way it:

My existent database of 10 Books 10 Decades possibilities — 18 books!

I got truthful excited mounting this up that my archetypal database of possibilities contained not ten, but 21 books! The situation has already changed my speechmaking beingness for the better. Alexis and Harlem Shadows were 2 of the champion books I work successful January. I person fallen head-over-heels for 20th period queer lit. I don’t cognize however galore of these books I’ll work this twelvemonth — possibly ten, possibly 12, possibly each 21! What I bash cognize is that this benignant of speechmaking — heavy backlist — is going to go a staple of my speechmaking life. I’m not readying connected making a caller tab for this situation successful 2024. I’m conscionable going to transcript this 1 over, and support adding to it, twelvemonth aft year. It volition beryllium a glorious grounds of this lifelong speechmaking journey.

Once I started reasoning this way, it was similar a dam broke escaped successful my encephalon and I just…went for it. Without immoderate timeframe constraints, I came up with truthful galore much ideas, truthful galore speechmaking projects I had ne'er dared to enactment into my spreadsheet due to the fact that I knew completing them successful 1 twelvemonth would beryllium impossible. I cognize I said I’ve ne'er completed immoderate of my yearly goals before, and that’s true, but they’ve ever felt…attainable, if I really, genuinely pushed myself. I had made this silly, invisible regularisation that I hadn’t adjacent noticed: to lone grounds speechmaking goals that I could, conceivably, implicit successful a year. I know, it doesn’t marque consciousness to maine anymore, either.

There are a fewer authors whose full catalogs I cognize I privation to read, but I’ve ne'er had anyplace to grounds my advancement (see above) and due to the fact that of that, I seldom marque advancement connected these goals (see further above). So this twelvemonth I made a beautiful, shiny tab successful my speechmaking spreadsheet with each the authors whose implicit works I privation to work successful my lifetime. I went backmost done my speechmaking information and marked disconnected the books I’ve already read. Just looking astatine these lists gets maine excited!

Three of the authors whose implicit works I program to work successful my lifetime: James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, and Ivan Coyote (whose catalog is inactive growing!)

Another extremity I’ve ever had is to work a publication from each state successful the world. I bash work a just magnitude of lit successful translation, and I often decorativeness a twelvemonth having work books from 30 oregon much antithetic countries. But present I person a moving list! For the archetypal time, I tin really ideate doing this 1 day. If I work 5 books each twelvemonth from new-to-me-countries, I’ll decorativeness successful astir 25 years. Sounds astir right. I’m not successful a rush. I’m conscionable blessed to beryllium feeling inspired astir seeking retired books from countries whose literatures I seldom consider.

So far, successful my life, I’ve work books from 67 antithetic countries.

This power from yearly speechmaking goals to lifelong speechmaking goals has changed everything astir however I work and however I way my reading. Lifelong speechmaking goals consciousness expansive and inviting. Framing each my speechmaking successful this discourse means I’m not reasoning astir numbers oregon deadlines. I’m reasoning astir books successful presumption of the worth they bring into my life. I don’t commencement caller each year, arsenic overmuch arsenic I mightiness similar to. I bring with maine each my experiences, bully and bad, from each the years I’ve lived earlier — including each the books I’ve read.