I like to speed read, to get through each book and move on to the next, but sometimes it is good to remember to slow down, decompress, and enjoy reading. We like to set expectations for ourselves and reach big goals to make ourselves feel good by the end of the year. Reading isn’t meant to raise our blood pressure.
Reading Goals
Setting a reading goal is like a New Year’s resolution, but you likely have an app to remind you of your progress in that goal. Then when November and December come around you’re only half way there and now you’re speeding to get to your end goal, but did you actually enjoy it? Did you spend the end of your year buried in books and remember nothing of it? You’re probably not alone in this.
I am a big fan of speed reading or skimming, especially three star and under books to be able to get through it. I have missed the opportunity to enjoy a book because I was pressured to finish it before some sort of deadline.
Skimming is useful to bulldoze books you want to get through. A book can drag for a while before getting to the good part, and maybe I missed a few things here and there, but I will likely get the drift right?
That didn’t work so well for me in books like The Way of Kings…Oops, maybe I shouldn’t have outed myself like that. But maybe that’s why the book felt like a three star read instead of a five star. Maybe I missed valuable puzzle pieces to miss a picture. But I felt pressured to push myself through the book because I had a month to read it,
I can say the same thing about Dungeon Crawler Carl. I listened to the audiobook in the middle of my volunteer work when finishing nursing school, as it was another book club book.
Goals set a heavy pressure to finish out books and maybe miss important key information to make the book much more enjoyable.
What Happens When you SLOW DOWN
My average reading speed when speed reading is 90-100 pages per hour. When I am taking my time and taking all there is to offer, I read about 60-70 pages per hour. But i gain much more valuable information.
I tested this with Red Rising by Pierce Brown. I went in with the expectation that this book was going to be slow and political through most of it, And did I spend a few pages skimming Absolutely! But I did spend most of my time taking my time, And guess what?
I did miss minor details, but I managed to understand most of the key details of the story and I am so glad I was able to take in every inch of important information and enjoy the ride of a book.
Slowing down to enjoy a story is the whole point of reading all together.
But What About My Reading Goal?
What’s so cool about a reading goal is:
It can be changed!
It’s not necessarily the best feeling to change your reading goa, but it is important to understand that life happens! Sometimes things get in our way of reading. I was anticipating reading most of my maternity leave, and I have read all of 4 books in 2 months because of how busy I have been. It is nothing to be ashamed of or to feel bad about. It is just something that happens to everyone.
So just slow down, and enjoy your reading, Your goal can change, and you will appreciate books much more if you take this to heart!.
Leave a Reply