Daniel Nazareth's Blog

I read 16 books in 2023. In the past 5 years, I read 59 books 📚

What does my reading habit look like and where do I go from here?

I’m a reader, but I haven’t always been. Even in the last 5 years, those 59 books tell a story:

• 2023 – 16
• 2022 – 11
• 2021 – 1
• 2020 – 19
• 2019 – 12

From 2020 to 2021, I went from my highest ever yearly total, to my lowest. 

In 2020, I was at the peak of my Pharmaceutical Sales career, mostly attributable to reading non-fiction books and testing theories in the field. I took notes and drizzled in observations of my working world. My desire to read stemmed from my curiosity about how the world worked, in particular, why we buy. I had come across a quote which fueled me:

“The goal of education is self-reliance.”

At that time, I had also started to implement a “no phone bedroom” and picked up an eReader, which I kept on my nightstand. After riding a book high going into 2021, I set a goal to read 24 books. I was unaware of the effects of reading for the sake of curiosity vs reading to achieve a “total books read” goal. 

In 2021, I started my Audit career and my eReader became another screen to look at. My incessant note taking turned into an added burden and I was also deep into my Masters degree, so those non-fiction books didn’t appeal to me after hours of studying. As the months rolled on, the 24 book goal seemed daunting.

Acknowledging and understanding why I wasn’t reading as much, I asked myself, “How many books do I have to read to be a reader?” Was it 1? 2? 25? 50? Or does simply the act of reading make me a reader?

Towards the end of 2021, I started putting down the books that I was reading for the sake of completing, and picked up the books I was innately curious about. I reminded myself of how I made reading obvious, easy, satisfying, and attractive (see strategies below).

The following year, I reduced my goal to 12 books and came up just shy at 11. This year, I surpassed my goal, and I am writing this to remind myself that the goal posts don’t always have to move. Next year I plan on keeping the goal at 12, making observations, and adjusting based on where I’m at. My goal is not reading 12 books per se, but to be a little more self-reliant.

Strategies:

• The goal is not to read x # of books. The goal is to be a reader
  • Read at least 1 page a night
• Leave phone outside bedroom
  • Reach for that eReader before bed instead
• Annotate maximum 10% of a book
  • Anything more is a chore
• Read only what I find interesting
  • Put books down when they are not good and move on

Other resources:

• For cheap but new books check out: https://bookoutlet.ca/loyalty/referral/1XH4DMKI?c=url
• If you’re interested in seeing what I read, check my GoodReads page and please send that friend request: https://www.goodreads.com/nazareth_43
• I tried not to go into detail about habits as I think James Clear does it best: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40121378-atomic-habits

With care,

Daniel Nazareth