Back in 2011, I decided to set a goal for reading. My husband reads a lot, and I decided if I didn’t have a goal to shoot for, it wouldn’t happen, so a book a week it was. I was successful! I reached my goal, and when 2012 rolled around, I looked back at all the books I had read. I started out with professional development books, and after about eight of those I knew I needed to mix it up; curiously, I found that professional development books all start to sound a lot alike.
People asked me how I found time to do this. The truth is a lot of people read a book a week or more. They might be retired! Seriously though, most likely choose reading over things like t.v. They make sure they always have a good book at hand. Tablets and readers make it easier to get reading in. And some people I know listen to books while they commute (awesome idea!). When I was reading more, I read during commercials, but now that we have a DVR, there aren’t many commercial breaks. My reading has been limited now mostly to my book club books. It helps to have a list of books you want to read. Goodreads makes this super easy.
I did some quick calculations:
Breakdown of books I read:
24 Professional Development/Business
7 Fiction
4 Religion & Spirituality
3 Craft & Hobbies
3 Memoirs
2 Beauty & Fashion
1 Historical
1 Language Arts & Discipline
1 Nonfiction
1 Philosophy
1 Psychology & Counseling
1 Reference
…plus a few that didn’t fit in any category.
Here are some other bits of information:
– I estimated that I averaged one minute per page
– 11,266 minutes
– 1,787.76 hours
– 216 pages per week
– 3.6 hours per week
– 31 minutes per day
You’re probably wondering if I still read a book a week, and the answer is no. I probably average a book a month. I do find when I’m reading anything now, I don’t feel pressured—I don’t rush through it—I enjoy it. If you’re considering reading more, I would recommend two books a month, or, one book every two weeks. That should give you time to enjoy it without too much pressure.
If you’re interested in the titles I read, you can view the list here.