Do THIS, Not THAT: Reading Goals

In this continuing series, I provide concrete dos and don’ts for a variety of writing and reading practices.

Do THIS: Have a reading goal before you start.

Not THAT: Pick up and read a book without a plan.

Explanation: The chances that any book you start to read will suck you in is small. The chance that a book you’re assigned will suck you is, unfortunately, even smaller. You won’t keep reading if you haven’t made up your mind to do.

You have two options for your goal: input or output.

You can read for certain amount of time (input) or you can read for a certain number of pages (output). Either works.

Reading a chapter per sitting makes sense. Reading for fifteen minutes works too. I’m not telling you what your goal should be, but you must have a goal.

The beauty of this plan is that should you fall in immediate love with the book you’re reading and then blow right past your time or page commitment, you’re fine. If you make a plan, you will get your work done and you’re still open to the power of page-turner. If you pick up the book without a plan, you lower your chances of getting your work done, much less being sucked in by it.