How to Read 100 Books in a Year

I first explored the idea of reading 100 books in a year in 2016. It was part of my new year resolution and have tried to do it yearly ever since: a

2016

Goal: Read 100 Hardcover Books
Outcome: Read 50+ Books by December 31st 2016

2017:

Goal: Read 100 Books from my Amazon Kindle.
Outcome: Read 80+ Books by December 31st 2017

2018:

Goal: Read 100 Books from my Amazon Kindle
Outcome: Read 10+ but stopped to make & execute some life decisions (Relocation et al)

2019:

I did not set the goal to read 100 Books but read some books: was not counting but I guess I read 20+ books all year round.

I am presently committed to reading 100 books in 2020 through my 100 Books reading Challenge, You might be wondering how do I intend to read 100 books in 365 days? Here are the strategies that would enable Me (you) achieve it:

Start with Why

He that has a strong WHY can deal with any How.

Why am I reading lots of books?
Ans: Because am ignorant in lots of subject matters and I want to widen my vision of the future and raise my Standards, change my worldview, have more empathy for people. The list is endless for the reason why I am seeking knowledge and understanding.

“It is not what we know that get us into trouble, it is what we think we know that ain’t so” – Mark Twain

Remembering Why you started would propel you to push ahead. We change for two reasons as Anthony Robbins would always say: because of our desire to avoid pain or the desire to gain pleasure.

2. Determine the areas you want to read about/Improve on – Choose themes for the year.

Craft a list of the areas of your life you want to get better at for the year. For example, I am working on getting better with my Finances, Emotional Intelligence, Listening, Communication, Leadership,Writing Skill, Personal Re-Invention and better understanding the world. These are the themes that majority of the books I would be reading for the year would fall under.

3. Start: Just Do It.

” You don’t have to be great to start but you have to start to be great”

The hardest part of starting a journey like this is starting and maintaining the commitment long after you’ve made the commitment. Buy the books, Borrow from friends, Borrow from the Library like have been doing and would continue to do.

4. Have a Time Block for reading

I read on my way to work in the morning (an hour) and also on my way back from work in the evening. On every given day, I read for at least 2 hours that is an average of 10 hours per week, 40 Hours per Month and 480 hours per year which equates to 4.8 hours per Book and that is not even factoring in weekends.

If you dedicate 5 hours per book on a 250 pages book, you would finish it depending on your reading speed.

5. Don’t give room for Excuses

When you set out on a goal like this there would be lots of things that would be distracting you such as naysayers and your mind tricking you that you can not do it. Here are the common excuses I hear from people on why they can’t that much:

I don’t have time but this same people use 2 hours a day to commute to work but they would rather play games or rather watch the latest episode of How to get away with murder or Suits -I also love this Series am a fan of them both but I do time block on Sundays for them lolz.

6. Stay Motivated: Seek out Models

I stay motivated by seeking out models that I admire that love reading such as Bill Gates, Warren Buffet. Seek out successful people for their insight about reading, William Gladstone former U.K Prime Minister was said to have read over 20,000 books in his life time.

7. Reduce Distractions : Re-order your priorities

Desperate times cause for Desperate Measures, until you begin to see the areas of your life you are trying to work on as a pain point you would not change and execute your goals.

What you tolerate you can not change

I have deactivated/Deleted majority of my social media accounts (Facebook,Twitter and Instagram) and I only install Whatsapp for one hour per week.

Some of this measures might see extreme but it does not seem that way for me cos I am learning to number my days. The gained back time is what I use to read more books as I don’t prioritize checking messages over figuring out my life and purpose here. One last thing turn off the TV.

All the best on your quest to get better and reinvent yourself.. Don’t Settle: Live with Passion.