This idea came to me as I was preparing January 19th's post, "Eight Tips for Achieving Your Yearly Reading Goals." What makes a period of time - day, month, or year - when you read "good" or "bad"?
For me, it's the quality of your reading and not the quantity of your reading. I know, it's the cliche "quality over quantity," but it's true, especially when it comes to hobbies like reading. I'll play out a couple of scenarios for you.
Scenario One: You read 150 books in one year, but you did not like or even hated, 100 of them.
These figures are big: 150 books, 100 of which you didn't like, and 50 of which you did. That's roughly 66% of books you didn't like versus roughly 33% of books you did like. While you read a lot of books, you, in a sense, did not have a "good reading year" because you did not like over half of them (half would have been 75 books).
Scenario Two: You read 150 books, and you enjoyed 125 of them.
A similar scenario to the first one, but you enjoyed more books. You enjoyed roughly 83% of the books you read, and that's what makes a good reading year "good."
Let's look at some smaller numbers now.
Scenario Three: You read 10 books, and you enjoyed 4 of them.
So, this wasn't a great reading year. But that doesn't make it a "bad" one.
Scenario Four: You read 10 books, and you enjoyed 9 of them.
This was a good reading year since you enjoyed most of the books you've read.
For me, I try not to use the phrase "bad reading year" when it comes to my own reading. If you're up for it, I suggest that you try the same. Every year is different, and each year has its own challenges. Just because you don't read as much or enjoy as many books one year as you did the year before, that doesn't make it a "bad reading year." Simply focus on what you did enjoy that year.
No comments:
Post a Comment