Every year at the beginning of the year, I join the Goodreads Reading Challenge. I almost always choose to set my goal at 100 books recognizing that my reading includes my own reading, reading aloud with our kids, and reading aloud with my students. Each year I think I will meet my goal without any trouble, but to date, I have only met that goal once.
And yet I still set the goal.
The older I get, the more I realize that goal setting isn’t so much about reading the goal as it is about setting the intention. I continue to want reading to be a part of my life personally, professionally, and as a parent. I want to read with my kids and I want to continue to encounter authors, genres, and topics I haven’t read before. So I set the goal of 100 books because I want to spend time reading.
Even though I know this, it’s hard to admit I haven’t reached a goal I set. It’s hard to reflect on the ways I spent time. This is why goal setting is so important…because whether or not you met the goal, it always invites you into the sacred act of reflecting and remembering the past year. Not only do I get to look back and wonder, “Which was the best book I read this year?” But I also get to remember last year was filled with finishing a Fellows program, nursing a baby, and taking coursework to renew my teaching certificate.
Who knows if I’ll read a 100 books this year, but whether I meet that goal or not, a year from now I will be looking back and remembering again.