It’s now 2018! One of the most popular things to set in January is a Goodreads Reading Goal for the year. It’s a great way to decide how many books you want to read the upcoming year. Or is it? I’ve seen many discussions in the book community about this reading challenge and whether it is good or bad. I plan to discuss it more in my post today. So, what are the pros and cons of setting a Goodreads Goal?
PRO: IT CAN MOTIVATE YOU TO READ
I hate when it says I’m behind on my reading goal. When I log onto Goodreads and I see that it says I’m one or more book behind, it motivates me to pick up my book and read. It can also give me a realistic idea of how many books I need to read in order to reach my goal.
CON: IT CAN STRESS YOU OUT
Sometimes, for me at least, it stresses me out when I’m under pressure. Like many people, that little ‘you are two books behind’ annoys me. To the point, that I will just not feel like reading. So, really, it has the opposite effect of what it’s suppose to do.
PRO: YOU CAN SEE WHAT YOUR FRIENDS ARE READING
One of the things I use Goodreads for the most is seeing what my friends are reading at the moment. I also love clicking on their reading goals and seeing all the books they read that year.
CON: YOU CAN SEE HOW MUCH YOUR FRIENDS READ
Here’s the thing: I am not the fastest reader. I have never been a significantly fast reader. It’s pretty damaging to see my friends (who are far busier than me) reading 200+ books a year.
PRO: YOU CAN FEEL GOOD ABOUT ALL THE READING YOU DID DURING THE YEAR
By the end of the year, it’s such a great feeling seeing all the books you read! It’s also the best when you accomplish the goal you set for yourself.
CON: IT CAN MAKE YOU DISCOURAGED IF YOU DON’T ACCOMPLISH YOUR GOAL
I sadly didn’t complete my Goodreads goal in 2017. I was three books away from completing my goal. It’s difficult because I still read over 40 books last year! That’s definitely more than the average person reads. However, because I didn’t read as much as I would’ve liked, I was disappointed in myself.
Overall, there are pros and cons to setting a goal and not setting a goal. You just have to evaluate yourself and see if it would be a good thing or a bad thing for yourself!
Liv is a 16 year old book blogger who resides in Pennsylvania, U.S.A. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, petting cats, and listening to musicals.
Happy 2018! Did you set a Goodreads Goal for yourself? Is so, what was it? What is your opinion of Goodreads goals? Let me know down in the comments! I’d love to know! 🙂
arctic books 
I set my goal at 115 this year after reading 113 last year. I love setting the Goodreads goal because it motivates me. Another thing that I love, is that I can always adjust my goal based on my reading habits, and if I adjust it, I usually lower it. I love seeing what my friends are reading too, it’s always fun to see if you’ve read the same books. You brought up really good points both positive and negative.
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I set my goal at 195 last year and beat that one. But then I had multiple surgeries and a transplant last year so I had nothing but time to read. This year I don’t really care. It’s not like Goodreads is going to pay me for meeting my goal!! There are tons of reading challenges out there and this is just another one.
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I set my goal to 50 books this year, 2 books per month sounds doable so I wont stress about it 😉
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I’m so with you on Goodreads challenges being stressful! And especially the fact that we can see our friends challenges! When I see this, I can’t help but compare myself and often feel a little jealous of other readers out there. It definitely does work as a motivation, but reading is fulfilling in itself, I’m not sure we need something like a challenge to really motivate us to pick up a book
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What’s cool about it is, you can change your goal. Lol. I know it isn’t probably what you’re supposed to do, but you can always make it less if you need to! 😉
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I’ve set my goal higher than I ever have before this year. In recent years, I haven’t read as much as I’ve wanted to, and I’ve found that solid goals help me do the things I want to do. But, yeah, it can have the negative side of making you feel bad if you don’t achieve it. I think one year I decreased my goal a few months before the end of the year because I knew I wasn’t going to achieve my goal – then felt bad for “cheating.” Can’t win sometimes.
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The Goodreads Goal is one of those challenges that I kinda forget about as the year goes on. I set it and then read like I normally do. I like it though because I do like to see how many books I read in a year. I usually get stressed out by my more specific reading challenges because the mood reader in me takes over sometimes 😛
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I have only been using Goodreads for a little over a year, and I still haven’t decided if I like the Reading challenge or not. I have set it to 50 both this year and last year, and I was about 10 books short last year, which was kind of disappointing. However, it generally did a good job of motivating me to read more and to put down books that I was not enjoying. Since I don’t have as much time to read as some people, it makes me feel bad that I can’t read 50 books in a year while some people can read 200+. But I’m learning hat it’s a personal thing, and what others do shouldn’t bring me down! A great discussion post! 😀
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I love goodreads reading challenge, I think it’s the most relaxed one, all you got to do is set a number instead of following a certain prompts and you are all set 😀 It motivates me to read as well as giving me some recommendations of books to read next by seeing my friends progress. Each year I set my goals differently, if it’s a busy year like my senior year then I’ll set it lower. This year I set it pretty low, around 65 books because I want to explore other things other than books 😀
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[…] Ali examined the pros and cons of the Goodreads Challenge […]
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