Are Reading Resolutions Helpful? || Let’s Talk Bookish

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme, hosted by Rukky @ Eternity Books & Dani @ Literary Lion, where we discuss certain topics, share our opinions, and spread the love by visiting each other’s posts. It’s supposed to be posted on Friday, but being on time is hard and it’s better late than never.

I’m going to be especially late this time, because I actually liked last week’s prompt and missed it. So this week is as good a time as any, I suppose.

This week’s topic is: reading resolutions.

New year means new books means new reading resolutions, am I right? Unfortunately, as it turns out, a ridiculously large amount of people give up on their resolutions by the second week of January. I mean, I failed my “resolution” to request fewer books from NetGalley in 2021 by … mmm … the last third of 2020. Pretty sure that’s a record. I deserve a trophy.

Everyone knows the new year is for resolutions, but does setting resolutions actually help? Are they useful? As I’m sure you can imagine, the answer is yes and no and it’s complicated (there’s not an option for that on Facebook yet – I checked).

Why people set bookish resolutions.

I’m not a sociologist here, but I’m assuming it’s because they have a goal in mind. Probably not rocket science here. I’m sure there are studies and all sorts of important things that I should look up and cite here, but I’m not going to. Obviously, you set a resolution with the hopes of reaching said endgame. Unless you do it out of peer pressure, in which case … skip down a few sections, because there are other options, I promise!

When most people make a resolution, they do so with good intentions. Although, they say the way to hell is paved with good intentions, so you know … maybe when you see a bunch of good intentions, you should run the other way? Wait … that’s what I’m supposed to take away from that saying, right?!

If people mean so well when setting their resolutions, though, why do they fail?

So why do people have such a hard time completing resolutions?

*shrug* I don’t know. There are a ton of studies showing why people fail at resolutions, with a myriad of answers. I’m not sure any one of them has any concrete “why,” since so many factors can go into it. What I can tell you is that “resolution” is such a loaded term. Many people (myself included) feel the pressure to set New Year’s resolutions, even if they don’t really mean them. Peer pressure is a thing.

Another problem is that a year is a loooong time (source: see the decade that was 2020). It’s all too easy to set a really inflated goal thinking you’ll have all the time in the world and then things change (again … see 2020).

Whatever the reason, the truth remains: resolutions are just plain hard.

Are resolutions really helpful?

The knee-jerk reaction might be to say no, but actually … yes. If you’re wondering why, the long answer is that human beings are complex creatures with a lot of fluff and stuff going on in their brains, thus needing to trick themselves into things, which is not even to mention the gamification and reward cycle and Pavlovian response side of things. It’s all very sciency and I am not qualified in any way to break it down. All I’m qualified in doing is maybe recommending you books for more research. If we’re honest, I’m just barely qualified for that.

The short answer is that having defined tasks helps not only focus a person’s attention on a task but also provides a goalpost to reach, plus that sweet, sweet satisfaction of having successfully done the thing (which your brain loves … almost as much as books, I’m sure).

What’s better than bookish resolutions? Bookish GOALS!

Why the idea of “bookish goals” is better:

• “Goal” has a more positive connotation, whereas resolutions are entered into with almost this “doomed to fail” attitude, where jokes are made about how long someone will stick to their resolution.
  
• Goals can be any time frame and can be smaller in scope.
  
• Everybody loves screaming, “GOAL!” Does anyone scream, “Resolution!”? No, of course not. That’d be silly.
  
• Goals feel way less daunting. They’re smaller, cuddlier beasts. Like a puppy wagging its tail instead of a hellhound trying to eat your soul.
  
• Resolutions tend to be set at the beginning of the year, but goals can be set anytime, which means you can actually want to achieve the goal or set the intention when you pick a goal. To heck with diamonds, goals are forever.
  
• When you finish one goal, you can set another on the spot. Betcha resolutions can’t do that.
  
• Goals are flexible. No one changes resolutions. That’s not how it works.

Tips for Meeting Your Bookish Goals

• Make your goals realistic. If you read 30 books in 2020, reading 300 books in 2021 may not be feasible, no matter how much you want to read all the books.
  
• Chunk them up. Have more goals, but with shorter endpoints and time frames. If you want to read 200 books in 2021, set your first goal at 50 books for the first three months of the year. That way, at the end of the three months, you can re-evaluate whether your goal of 200 for the year is realistic or if your initial goal might need to be adjusted.
  
• You can aim big, but start small. Setting a goal to read 200 books in a year might seem a little daunting going in, especially if you don’t normally read that much and it’s a stretch goal for you. So start smaller—say with a goal to read 50 books. You can always continue to increase your goal every time you hit it. Besides, hitting multiple goals and challenging yourself to hit the next one after that just feels better in general than not hitting a goal. So start at 50, and when you get there, ramp it up to 100, etc.
  
• Little wins add up. They say sometimes it’s hard to see the forest through the trees. Well, the same principle applies here. If you want to hit 500 followers by the end of the year and you’re currently at 300 … that might seem daunting. Getting a follower here or there may not seem like enough. If you break it down by month, though, and say you want to get 18 new followers every month, then the small wins suddenly do matter and have meaning. Hey, five followers is already a good portion of your goal right there!
  
• Celebrate each success. This is a great way to train yourself to want to accomplish goals, because you’ll associate accomplishing them with something positive. Tricks your brain into wanting to seek out those rewards from then on. So say if you read 50 books, you can reward yourself by spending $15 on new books or something like that.
  
• Readjust your goals if something isn’t working out. I’m not saying throw in the flag because your initial goal is hard and requires actual work. No, not that at all. However, if you initially set out to read 200 books and then situations change, realize that it’s perfectly okay to adjust your goal accordingly, rather than setting yourself up to fail. Goals aren’t written in stone.
  
• Track your goals. This one may seem obvious, but I’m not sure many people do it. If you’re aiming for 500 followers by the end of the year … make sure you see how many followers you’re getting per month, week, etc. This’ll help you stay on track and show you how you’re progressing.
  
• Write your goals down and put them somewhere you can see them. No out of sight, out of mind for you. No, sir/ma’am/wyrm. You want them displayed loud and proud, where you will be constantly reminded that you do, indeed, have goals that you should be working towards.
  
• Make a list and check them off. This is another reason chunking works so well. There’s nothing quite so satisfying as being able to dash/check something off your list. Why? I have no idea. There’s just something inherently pleasing about it.

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