25 reading goals for adults, from 20 pages a day to a book a week

Reading goals for adults

These goals are for books you choose yourself, sized to the time you really have. Reading for a class is a different job, and academic goals cover it.

• Read 20 pages a day for 30 days.
• Read for 30 minutes before bed on 25 nights out of 30.
• Finish one book you started and put down.
• Read 5,000 pages this year. That is about 14 pages a day.
• Read for 15 minutes in your lunch break on 20 working days.

Book count goals and reading challenge ideas

A book count is the classic reading challenge, and it works best as the sum of your pages. To pick the number, this guide to setting a yearly book goal turns it into pages a day first.

• Read 12 books this year, one a month.
• Read 24 books this year, two a month.
• Read 52 books in a year, one a week.
• Read one whole book in a single weekend.
• Read the 5 unread books on your shelf before you buy a new one.

Daily reading habit goals

Daily goals count the days you open a book, and they hold best when reading hangs on something you already do. "After I pour my coffee, I read one chapter" is habit stacking.

• Read one chapter with your morning coffee for 21 days.
• Read for 10 minutes a day for 100 days.
• Read on 300 days this year.
• Put your phone in another room for the first 20 minutes of reading, every day for 2 weeks.
• Listen to 30 minutes of an audiobook on 20 walks or drives.

Reading goals to read wider

Wider goals pick a stretch: a new genre, a long classic, another language. A sacred text read in a year is a reading goal and a spiritual one, and there are more of those in spiritual goals.

• Read one book from each of 12 genres this year.
• Finish one classic over 500 pages. At 25 pages a day, that is 20 days.
• Read one short book in a language you are learning.
• Read 6 books written in 6 different countries.
• Read one poem a day for 30 days.

Reading goals with other people

Reading is a quiet thing. These goals add someone else: a club, a friend, a child at bedtime.

• Go to 10 book club meetings this year.
• Read the same book as a friend and talk about it once a week until you both finish.
• Read aloud to a child for 15 minutes a night for 30 nights.
• Ask 5 people for their favourite book and read all 5.
• Post a 3 line review of every book you finish, until you reach 12 books.

What is a good reading goal?

A good reading goal counts what you do on an ordinary day. A review of 35 years of goal research found that specific, hard goals lead to higher performance than being told to do your best. "Read more" is a wish. "20 pages a day for 30 days" is a goal you can check tonight.

The book count is the famous reading goal, and the weakest one on its own. A 900 page novel counts the same as a 150 page one, so late in the year the goal starts picking short books for you. Pages and minutes are fair to every book. Set the year in books if you like, and count pages day to day.

A daily page count is also a habit, and habits take time. One study found that a new daily habit took a median of 66 days to become automatic, with a range from 18 to 254, and that missing one day did not undo it.

How to track reading goals

Write down the page you stopped on before you close the book. A review of 138 studies found that people who monitored their progress reached their goals more often, and that recording it beat keeping it in your head.

Pages, minutes and books are amounts that add up. Days read are a day count. If you also want to remember what you read, 3 lines after each book is the start of a reading journal, one of the easiest journaling goals.

A thick book can feel like it never moves. A picture that fills a little with every page shows that it does.

Frequently asked questions

How many books should I read in a year?

Pick the number whose daily version you would really do. 12 books of 300 pages is 3,600 pages, or about 10 pages a day. 24 books of that size is about 20 pages a day.

What are good reading goals for adults?

20 pages a day for 30 days, 30 minutes before bed, and finishing one book you put down. Each one fits around work. When they feel easy, set a page total for the year.

Do audiobooks count toward a reading goal?

That is your rule, and the time to make it is before you start. If your goal is more time with books, count them. Write the rule down so it does not change in December.