2023 READING GOALS: 7 Tips for Setting & Achieving Them | My Goals for 2023 | Reading Goal Ideas | Reading Journal Setup & Goal Tracker Spreads + Free Printable

In this post:

• 7 tips for setting and achieving your reading goals this year
• my reading goals for 2023
• 11 bookish and reading goal ideas
• my reading journal yearly spreads
• free printable journal spreads

It’s a brand new year! I know, I’m a little late since we’re already a few weeks in, but it’s never too late to start.

I also know that there is nothing truly special about January 1st, but I always love the fresh start feeling I get this month.

This is a jam packed post of everything reading goal related for 2023!

I love setting goals, but I know that not everyone does. But the fact is that setting goals, writing them down, and making a plan for you are going to accomplish them is the only way to ensure that you will make progress this year.

As they always say, if you don’t know where you are going, you’ll never get anywhere.

So if you are wanting to accomplish great things in your reading life this year, and have fun along the way, here are some tips to help you.

At the end I will also share with you my goals for this year, my reading journal spreads for my goals and trackers, as well as a free printable that you can use in your own reading journal this year.

1. Evaluate the Previous Year

You want to get an idea of what worked for you last year and what didn’t. And you need a better understanding of how you accomplished what you did or why you didn’t.

This is going to be your starting point for setting goals this year.

Use the information that you gather from evaluating last year’s goals to decide what you want to achieve this year and how you are going to achieve it.

2. Be True to Yourself

Be realistic about the time you have available to you right now in this season of life.

Yes, you do want to challenge yourself, because that is going to give you motivation to reach higher. But you also want to make sure that your goals are still reasonable to you and your life.

You reading goals should be challenging and yet still maintainable long term.

You don’t want to set something that is not realistic and feel discouraged or too overwhelmed to even start. You may procrastinate or feel like a failure in the end when really the only thing you’ve failed to do is stay true to yourself.

Everyone is different everyone’s lives are different. Don’t get trapped by comparison.

Make sure your goals actually matter to you. Not what you feel like you should do, not what someone else tells you you need to do, and not what you see everyone else doing. Your reading goals need to matter specifically to you.

I recommend using the “good, better, best” model, especially if you are struggling to decide what exactly to set as your goal.

This means you set three levels of achievement. Good is the lowest tier and should be something you feel is easily achieved. Better should be a bit of a challenge. And the Best tier should be something that is a stretch and would be amazing if you reached it.

For example, if you are setting a goal for the number of books you want to read this year, your tiers could be

• Good: 25 books
• Better: 50 books
• Best: 75 books

3. Get Clear on Your Intentions

Many people refer to this as deciding on your “why” for achieving a certain goal.

I like to use the word intention instead because it is so much more than just a reason.

This is where you get clear on what the goal actually means to you, how achieving it will better you and your life.

What is your purpose for reading this year? How can you make reading positively affect your life this year?

This is what is going to give you the motivation to persevere when you are in a slump or when your energy is low.

Consider what it would mean to you to when you achieve this goal, what will it be like once you have, and what your life would be like if you didn’t achieve it.

If you are anything like me, being bookish is a lifestyle. It’s more than just a hobby.

Maybe this seems a little dramatic for a reading goal. Your intention could simply be to relax, unwind, and escape. But even that has an affect on other parts of your life too. So take yourself and your dreams seriously.

4. Be Flexible

Life is always throwing us curve balls. Something may happen in your personal or work life during the year that changes things and may leave you with less time for reading.

You may get further in the year and realize that you are reading way more than you thought you would, or way less than you thought you would. And that’s totally normal and okay!

Be adaptable with the goals you set and don’t be afraid to re-evaluate throughout the year and make adjustments.

Don’t get stuck trying to set the perfect goal right now, just do your best with what you know and where you are at, and be ready to make adjustments later if needed.

And remember, there is no such thing as failure when it comes to your reading goals. Any progress, no matter how small, is a win. Even if you only read one book this year, it still counts for something.

Consider your intentions that you set and realize that as long as you are working towards making that a reality in your life, then you can be proud of yourself and your progress.

5. Break Goals Down

The best way to achieve any goal is to break it down into manageable pieces.

Setting one huge goal can be overwhelming and you may get stuck in analysis paralysis.

Take your yearly goal and divide it into milestones for you to hit throughout the year. Then take those milestones and break them down even further.

That may look like a weekly reading habit, or a daily page count. Break your goals down into small, doable steps that are easy for you to check off and complete.

6. Track Your Progress

The goals you set need to be, in some way, quantifiable. In other words, they need to be things that you can actually achieve and are within your control. This goes for your milestones and bite-sized steps as well.

In order to track your progress, take those milestones and small steps that you broke down from your big yearly goal and make some sort of tracker that you can check in with daily, weekly, and/or monthly.

Tracking your progress is not only a great way to ensure you are on target, but also a great way to keep you motivated. Who doesn’t love checking off a to do list? Plus, you’ll be able to see what is working and not working for you.

You can make a habit tracker for time spent reading or number of pages read each day. Or make a list of action steps for the month.

Set dates to check-in with your goals throughout the year. Make a quarterly date with yourself to evaluate your progress.

7. Get Accountability

This is one of the best ways to make sure you reach those goals this year.

You can make steps to hold yourself accountable, like setting rewards for hitting milestones.

But the best kind of accountability comes from outside. Find reading buddies and other bookish lifestyle people that you can meet with and check-in with and help support one another.

I think the book community is one of the best out there! I am also here to help in any way I can and to be your bookish friend.

Check out social media sites like YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok. Check out your local library or other online book clubs. Your people are out there.

My Goals for 2023:

I like to keep my reading goals fairly simple.

My first goal is to read 200 books this year. I track this in my journal, which I will show you below, and on the Goodreads Challenge. In 2020 I had a goal of 100 and I made it to 98. Last year I had a goal of 150 and I made it to 170, so we’ll see if I can up it again. I know for some people this may seem like a lot, but reading is also part of my job, so that definitely helps.

My second goal for this year is to read 12 non-fiction books. I want to focus on topics such as entrepreneurship, finance, productivity, and mindset. I really want to make it a priority to work on bettering myself and my life this year. We all have room for improvement, and my reading goal reflects my journey towards living the lifestyle of my dreams and becoming my best self.

My third goal this year is one I am super excited about! I want to read (at least) 12 books by indie authors. This year I really want to help support more independent authors. What better way to do that then to get their books, write reviews, and share them everywhere. As an editor, I mainly work with indie authors, and I want to be a person who loves and supports other creators doing what they love and sharing it with the world.

Reading Goal Ideas:

Here are some other ideas for reading goals (and bookish lifestyle goals) that you could set this year:

• writing a certain number of reviews
• reading and sharing reviews on a certain number of ARCs
• reading in various formats
• reading a variety of genres
• reading from diverse authors or books with diverse characters
• sticking to a book buying budget
• selling books
• organizing book shelves
• joining and participating in a book club
• being active on bookish social media
• creating/maintaining better reading habits

Reading Journal Spread:

Here is the spread I made in my reading journal for my goals this year! I think it turned out super cute. It’s nice a simple with just a few stickers to spice it up. I created the trackers to list out both the indie and nonfiction books I read. Plus a checkbox for each goal once they are completed.

This is the tracker I made to track my first reading goal of 200 total books. There are actually over 200 squares but I wanted to fill up the entire page evenly.

These are my yearly tracker spreads for both number of pages and number of books read each month.

Next, I created a “battle of the books” spread, where I will choose my favorite book from each month, and then narrow it all the way down into my favorite book of the year. (It’s going to be SO hard to choose just one.)

I also love this spread because I can see what my top 12 book for the year were on one page. I left a big square for the number one book so I can print the cover and put it in.

Lastly, I have my yearly bookshelf where all the books I read and their ratings will go. I sketched out these cute photo squares where I can put little pictures of the book covers and left enough room below each one to put my rating.

I have decided this year to do it a little differently. At the end of the year, I’m going to reflect back on all the book I’ve read and decide if I still agree with how I rated it at that time. I think it will be super interesting to see if there are any changes to the way I feel about the book over time.

I created some a free printables that you can download and use for your own goals.

These are premade spreads so all you have to do is download, print, add them to your journal, and start using them right away, without having to take all the time setting them up.

There are eight pages included to get you going:

• yearly goals
• yearly reading tracker
• monthly reading tracker
• books per month
• pages per month
• 100 book challenge tracker
• battle of the books
• yearly bookshelf

Download Free Printable Journal Spreads Here

Here are the spreads that are included:

Note that these images are watermarked as “proof” copies to protect my work but your downloads will not be!

I have more posts in my reading journal series that give exact guides on how to create my spreads in your own journal. Plus plenty of other free printables in the resource library.

Want help or accountability with your reading goals this year?

Feel free to reach out to me via email or in the comments!

I’d love to help you set your goals, break them down, give more tips and motivation, and help keep you on track.