As Told by Tina - Why I’m Not Doing the Goodreads Challenge In 2017 (Guest Post)

Hi! My name is Tina and I blog over at As Told By Tina. First, I would like to thank Kenya for having me on her blog today.

Today, I am going to talk to you about why I’m not doing the goodreads challenge for 2017 and how I plan on tracking my reading in 2017.

I’ve thought hard and long about what my goal should be for 2017 when it comes to the goodreads challenge. For the past two years my goal has been 150 and both years I didn’t make it. I was reading really short books in order to attempt to make my goal and most of the time this lead to me being in a reading slump. It also made me feel like a lot of pressure to meet my number. It was taking time away from my family because I was so focused on trying to reach this reading goal I set for myself.

For 2017, I decided I’m not going to do the challenge. I’m not even going to set my challenge to 1 like most of my friends did to see how many books they end up reading throughout the year. I’m doing something a little different.

This past year, I discovered bullet journaling and it has definitely changed my life. If you don’t know what bullet journaling it is, it is a planning system that works for you created by you (of course you can check out the official website here). I decided to have a bullet journal just for reading and blogging and this is how I plan to track my reading.

I haven’t completely finished setting up my bullet journal but my general idea is to have a couple spreads for my book of the month that my readers vote for, my book club BOTMs, challenges I’m taking part in and then a spread where I can keep track of the books I read per month.

I want to be able to enjoy reading again because sometimes it feels like a chore. Sometimes I’m reading books that are hyped only to hate them. Other times I start so many books that I never even finish one. I really want to change that. I want to find a healthy balance between reading, work and my home life because sometimes I feel like I’m sacrificing one for the other.

I’m hoping by not having a certain number to read in 2017, I can fall in love with reading again.

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About the Guest Blogger:

My name is Tina to the adult world but to three littles one I'm Mommy. I'm the face behind As Told By Tina. When I'm not blogging, reading or breaking up endless toddler fights, you can find me bullet journaling or binge watching a reality show on VH1. 
Website: www.astoldbytina.net  Twitter/ IG @asreadbytina