I spent so much time this month to get everything prepared for tomorrow that I can’t quite believe that I’m finally done with all the presents, wrapping, shopping, etc. I also can’t wait for my family to open their gifts, I think they will really love them and I honestly prefer giving presents more than receiving.
Tomorrow I will be worrying about cooking and setting the table, but today I thought I’d take a few hours off to look back at my 2019 Goals and see what worked for me, what didn’t and what goals will need to migrate to next year.
1 – Read for Fun
I don’t like putting too much pressure on myself when it comes to reading, that’s why one of the goals for 2019 was to Read for Fun and fall back in love with reading and blogging. I definitely accomplished that.
2019 was by far the most productive reading year. I read many amazing books. I read many amazing blog posts! I feel like I’m a part of a very friendly and loving community. And all of that thanks to you!
2 – Read 50 Books
The easiest goal of 2019 was to read 50 books. I knew I would be able to accomplish this goal, but I didn’t expect to get it done so early in the year. I hit my 50th book at the end of June! Which was very satisfying, especially because last year I definitely fell in a little bit of reading slump, when reading, reviewing, blogging became a chore and I had to push myself to do the things I ultimately love.
I’m writing this post on the 23rd of December and right now I have 89 read books. I’m sure I will be able to read a couple more books before the end of the year.
3 – Discover New Authors
I’m going to make a separate post about all of my new favorite authors of 2019. There are so many of them!
I finally read Brandon Sanderson. In my goal, I said I was going to start with «Mistborn» trilogy but I didn’t. Instead, I started and finished the Reckoners trilogy by him. I see why everyone loves his books so much, he is the master of big surprising endings, and I’m looking forward to reading «Mistborn» next year.
Other authors I loved this year were Ruta Sepetys, Madeleine Miller, Mark Lawrence, Tayari Jones, and many others!
4 – Rekindle my Love for ARCs
Last year I was constantly feeling close to or in a reading slump, so I didn’t request that many ARCs on NetGalley. And I wanted 2019 to be different.
ARCs are a great source of (1) new and exciting releases and (2) content for the blog, as reading books as they come out sparks more conversation around them. This year I’ve read tons of ARCs, and surprisingly there were only a few that I didn’t like. I’m preparing all my 2019 stats for the last post of this year, and I’m excited to see the percentages of ARCs and owned books that I read this year.
5 – Finish Book Series
Since this was such a vague reading goal, and I did finish some book series this year, I could count it as Achieved, but I didn’t focus on series this year as much as I wanted to. Just a couple of days ago I made a list of all book series I started, finished, and dnfed and the number is mind-blowing! You’ll see in my 2020 Goals post that one of the things I want to do next year is to finally organize my book series.
These were all of my 2019 reading goals. I think I did pretty well! They were definitely on the “chilled” side, and most of them I accomplished naturally without trying too hard or focusing too much on them. But that’s one of the reasons why 2019 was such a great reading year for me!
Have you done your 2019 Goals Wrap Up yet? Make sure to link it down below or let me know in the comments how you did this year!
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WhimsyPages 
Oh boy … finish series needs to be on mine too ha-ha! I also want to make sure I read for FUN. I did REALLY good at DNFing this year, which helped with that — rather than trying to force myself to read books that I’m not enjoying.
I really want to focus on more collabs with bloggers and posts on my bullet journaling, since people seem to like those ha-ha! I also want to try my hand at epic graphics like yours! They just add so much!
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“Epic” graphics 😀 Thank you, but they definitely could have been better 😀 I’d love to see more bullet journalling posts from you, your spreads are gorgeous! ❤
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Awe! Thank you love!! And they are epic graphics!! I’m always so envious !
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I’m glad you were able to accomplish so many of your goals! It definitely does help when you don’t put too much pressure on things and set manageable goals.
I’m kind of doubting where to set my goals for next year. Goodreads for example. I want to try to read 2 books a week for the entirety of the year, so I’m thinking of setting my goal at 100, since maybe it will be motivating to see I’m on schedule each week. But then again I don’t want to have to lower my goal if it turns out to be too optimistic, so maybe I should set it at something like 72 (6 books a month). Do you usually set a number goal, are planning to this year ?
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Since I joined Goodreads I always set my yearly goal at 50. In 2017 I read 89 books, in 2018 I think I read 53 and thus year I’m currently at 91. So… I kinda like number 50 for myself. If I achieve it early I always try to get to 100, if I don’t hit it early I KNOW that I most likely will get to it by the end of the year, so I don’t stress myself out. Lol
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I LOVE your goals and I’m sure you can achieve each one of them!!👏🏻
I also set my Goodreads challenge in 50 books this year but then I increased it to 60 and I like it this way because it feels comfortable knowing that you can achieve it without pressure, right? 😅❤️
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Exactly! Next year is going to be even more relaxed in terms of reading. I have my exams to the lawyers’ bar coming up and I will need to focus on that first before anything else.
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Looks like you did really well with your 2019 goals! That’s awesome. 🙂 I think I was 50/50 with my 2019 goals…maybe. I have to go through all my goals and work on my yearly recap post to see if that’s true though, haha.
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Ahah, you def need to get that post going to see how you did 🙂 I honestly believe that New Years resolutions are made to be broken in February, so usually don’t get too upset about not completing my “yearly” goals and try to work on my monthly goals instead. In 2019 my reading goals were already things I was doing anyway, so I didn’t feel stressed or pressured by them which I totally loved 😀
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I keep forgetting I didn’t actually write my goals for 2019 but I’d definitely say it was a good reading year – I don’t even remember DNFing a book? And I enjoyed most of what I read! It’s nice! For 2020 I’m being extremely ambitious, tho. I’m really happy you had a successful reading year! 😀
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