The 2021 100 Book Challenge - Early Success
On September 5, 2021, I finished my 100th book of 2021. I’m quickly finishing others (follow me on Goodreads for more), and I’m thrilled to see how many I’ll read by the end of the year.
In 2019, I read around 50 books. Not bad – about one per week. I traveled a lot for work and fun and spent lots of time in places with no internet (planes, remote foreign countries, the mountains). In 2020, I set a resolution to read 100 books. I knew 50 was easy, so I wanted a challenge. I set a schedule and made time to read. Then the pandemic happened. Despite the many tragedies of the global pandemic, it did allow me all the time at home to pursue reading. I ended the year having bought a new house (but not yet moved in) and having read 102 books.
Beginning in 2021, with no belief the pandemic would be “over by summer,” I set another 100 Book Challenge. Even with packing, moving, and dealing with a very stressful job, I not only made time to read rigorously, but I found help, wisdom, travel, and escape through reading – all of which I had pre-pandemic in other forms. I probably haven’t read this much since middle school, and for the first time in a long time, I am solidly happy with who I am and who I continue to choose to be.
Books have a tremendous power to elicit emotion and shape who we are. Books are how we learn. We go to school, and we get books. We read books to help us in our jobs. We read books to help us learn about ourselves. We read to help us become better parents. Reading equals knowledge, and knowledge equals power: not power over others, but power over ourselves, our choices, our emotions, and our reactions.
The goal to reach 100 books in twelve months is not about picking short books to move through. It’s about choosing 100 books to shape who you want to be. I like the number 100 because it’s approximately two per week throughout the year. Reading this much will help you realize that reading one genre or style limits you. The more you read, the more you crave to branch out – at least in my experience.
Maybe 100 is too many for you. Maybe your yearly number is twenty. Or four. Or twelve. No matter your goal, remember you don’t find time to read. That goes for anything you want out of life. You don’t find time to do anything. You can’t pick time up off the ground. You prioritize how you spend the time you have based on what’s important to you.
My stretch goal for 2021: 150 – but again, I’m reading for enjoyment and learning, not hitting an arbitrary metric.
