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How I Plan to Read 50+ Books This Year

By Jared Dees

The most common advice from authors for other authors about being successful is:

“Read a lot, write a lot.”

I’ve always believed this but I didn’t put it into practice until recently.

Last year I read more books in one year than the previous three years combined.

This year I set my 2018 Reading Challenge in Goodreads to 50 books.

Here is how I plan to do it:

First, continue to follow everything I did in 2017 to set a new reading record.

Specifically I will continue to:

  • Track progress
  • Read two books at a time (one fiction, one nonfiction)
  • Consume less articles and less podcasts
  • Get cheap (Amazon) and free (Overdrive library) eBooks and audiobooks
  • Read books I like

To reach my new goal I need to finish about one book per week. Percentage-wise that means averaging 14% progress on books per day. Here are the changes I am going to make in 2018 to increase the number of books I read to 50:

  1. Daily Goal: 14%
  2. Morning Routine: 1%
  3. Lunch Routine: 1%
  4. Focused Nonfiction Reading: Create a list of pre-reading questions and seek to answer those questions and make relevant connections instead of just reading for fun. This may mean skimming certain parts of the book.
  5. Research Reading: Almost all of the reading I did last year was during my free time. This year I will add reading to my daily work schedule as research for my writing and for growing my business.
  6. Make Reading a Family Practice: I ended last year reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe with my oldest daughter. This is a really enjoyable practice and one that I want to continue to do with her, her sisters, and my wife this year.
  7. Read on the Road: I always read and listen to books a lot while traveling for speaking events, but I’ll need to be even more deliberate about reading in the car, airports, airplanes, and hotel rooms.

 

January 4, 2018 Filed Under: Creativity, On Writing, Productivity

About Jared Dees

Jared Dees is passionate about sharing practical resources to teach faith. He is best known for his website The Religion Teacher and is the author of many books including 31 Days to Becoming a Better Religious Educator, To Heal, Proclaim, and Teach, Praying the Angelus, Christ in the Classroom, and Beatitales: 80 Fables about the Beatitudes for Children.

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Jared Dees is passionate about sharing practical resources to teach faith. He is best known for his website The Religion Teacher and is the author of many books including 31 Days to Becoming a Better Religious Educator, To Heal, Proclaim, and Teach, Praying the Angelus, Christ in the Classroom, and Beatitales: 80 Fables about the Beatitudes for Children. See all of Jared's Books →

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