i read a book a week for a year and it changed my life

Summary

In this video, Elena reflects on her achievement of reading a book a week for an entire year, sharing the benefits and challenges she experienced. She discusses how reading has expanded her perspective, improved her focus, and enhanced her mental health. Elena offers practical tips for incorporating reading into a busy life, such as using a Kindle, limiting distractions, and choosing books that excite you. She also highlights the importance of adjusting reading goals to fit personal interests and goals. Finally, Elena lists all the books she read and encourages viewers to set their own reading goals.

Takeaways

• 📚 Elena set a goal to read a book a week for an entire year, successfully completing it.
• 🎓 She values reading as a way to continue learning after finishing her formal education.
• 🧠 Reading helped Elena expand her perspective, improve her focus, and boost her mental clarity.
• 📖 Fictional books reignited her love for reading, leading her to explore more diverse genres over time.
• 🕰️ Elena emphasizes the importance of finding time to read, even by cutting down on other activities like TV or social media.
• 📱 Using a Kindle and the Libby app helped her read more by making books easily accessible and portable.
• 📝 She recommends marking up books or taking notes to better retain information and engage with the content.
• 🚫 Elena advises not to force yourself to finish books you're not enjoying, and instead, focus on books that truly interest you.
• 👥 Having an accountability partner, like a friend or social media, can help you stay on track with your reading goals.
• ⚖️ While she enjoyed the challenge, Elena acknowledges that reading a book a week might not be for everyone and suggests setting personalized reading goals.

Q & A

What motivated the speaker to set a goal of reading a book a week for a year?

The speaker was motivated by a desire to get back into reading, especially after having more time in 2020. This led to the decision to challenge herself to read a book a week in 2021.

How did the speaker's reading habits evolve throughout the year?

The speaker began by reading a lot of fictional books to rekindle her love for reading. As she progressed, she gradually moved on to more complex subjects like politics, history, and minority experiences.

What are some of the benefits the speaker experienced from reading regularly?

The speaker noticed an expansion in her perspective, an improvement in focus and attention span, better mental clarity, and enhanced self-awareness. Reading also provided her with a broader array of knowledge and opinions.

What tips does the speaker offer for maintaining a regular reading habit?

The speaker suggests starting with books that excite you, cutting down on TV or social media time, using a Kindle for convenience, utilizing the Libby app for free books, and limiting distractions while reading.

How does the speaker choose the books she reads?

The speaker is a fan of Goodreads and uses it to set reading goals and track progress. She also likes the ability to create her own educational or entertainment experience by selecting books that interest her.

What does the speaker mean by viewing reading as a 'muscle'?

The speaker likens reading to a muscle that can be strengthened over time with consistent practice. The more you read, the easier it becomes, leading to faster reading speeds and better absorption of information.

What are some potential downsides to setting a goal of reading a book a week?

The speaker notes that setting such a goal can limit the types of books you choose, as you might avoid longer or more complex books that require more time to digest. It’s important to adjust your reading goals based on your interests.

How has reading regularly impacted the speaker's mental health?

The speaker found that reading provided mental clarity and helped her feel better about herself, especially when she replaced mindless social media scrolling with reading.

What role does accountability play in the speaker's reading journey?

Accountability was crucial for the speaker, who used Instagram to post updates on her reading progress. This public commitment helped her stay motivated to reach her goal.

Why does the speaker recommend marking up books while reading?

The speaker recommends marking up books, especially non-fiction, to help retain information. Highlighting and underlining key points makes it easier to refer back to important sections later.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Embracing the Challenge of Reading a Book a Week

Elena shares her ambitious goal of reading a book a week for an entire year, which she successfully achieved in 2021. She reflects on her journey of reigniting her love for reading, initially spurred by having more free time during the pandemic in 2020. Elena discusses the power of books to foster lifelong learning and personal growth, highlighting how reading can offer profound insights and expand one's perspective. She emphasizes the value of platforms like Goodreads for tracking progress and choosing books, as well as the mental and emotional benefits she experienced from this consistent reading habit.

05:02

📖 Finding Joy in Fiction and the Benefits of Reading

Elena discusses how she rekindled her love for reading by diving into fictional books, which helped her overcome the mindset that reading had to be productive. This approach allowed her to enjoy reading for pleasure, ultimately strengthening her reading habit and building her 'reading muscle.' She explains how reading broadened her perspective, particularly when exploring topics like politics, history, and minority experiences. Elena also notes how reading improved her focus, attention span, and mental clarity, serving as a form of self-care and a remedy for the negative effects of social media.

10:04

💡 Tips for Making Time to Read More Books

Elena shares practical tips for incorporating more reading into a busy schedule, such as substituting TV time with reading or using a Kindle for its convenience and portability. She highlights the Libby app, which allows users to borrow e-books from their local library for free, making reading more accessible. To enhance focus, she suggests limiting distractions by putting your phone on airplane mode while reading. Elena also emphasizes the importance of abandoning books that aren't engaging and finding an accountability partner to stay motivated. Additionally, she encourages marking up books or taking notes to retain information better.

🖋️ The Value of Marking Books and the Limits of a Book-a-Week Goal

Elena discusses the benefits of actively engaging with books by underlining and taking notes, particularly for non-fiction and educational content. She shares a personal anecdote about how this practice helped her in a conversation about the Syrian conflict. However, she also acknowledges the downsides of her book-a-week goal, such as avoiding longer or more complex books that require more time to digest. Elena advises adjusting reading goals based on personal interests and the types of books one wants to read, cautioning against setting rigid goals that might hinder deeper learning.

📚 Quick Overview of the Books Read in a Year

Elena provides a rapid rundown of all the books she read over the year, listing titles that span various genres and topics. From fiction like 'The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo' to non-fiction works like 'The Defining Decade,' her reading list reflects a diverse range of interests. She invites viewers to explore her Goodreads for more details and recommendations. Elena wraps up the video by encouraging viewers to like, comment, and subscribe, and she expresses her appreciation for their support. She also asks for book recommendations in the comments, fostering community engagement around reading.

Keywords

💡Reading Goal

A reading goal is a personal objective set to read a certain number of books within a specific timeframe. In the video, Elena set a goal to read one book per week for an entire year. This concept is central to the video's theme, as it drives the narrative and provides the structure around which Elena discusses the benefits, challenges, and strategies of maintaining such a goal.

💡Goodreads

Goodreads is an online platform where users can track their reading progress, set reading goals, and discover new books. Elena mentions being a 'Goodreads die-hard,' using it to monitor her progress and stay motivated. The platform is a tool that supports her commitment to reading regularly and helps her engage with a community of readers.

💡Attention Span

Attention span refers to the amount of time someone can concentrate on a task without becoming distracted. Elena discusses how reading regularly helped her increase her attention span, particularly in contrast to the short bursts of focus often required by social media. This improvement in focus is highlighted as one of the key benefits of her reading habit.

💡Self-Care

Self-care involves activities and practices that improve mental, emotional, and physical well-being. Elena frames reading as an act of self-care, explaining how it provided mental clarity and helped with her mental health. By choosing to read instead of engaging in less fulfilling activities, she found reading to be a therapeutic way to unwind and nurture herself.

💡Accountability Partner

An accountability partner is someone who helps another person stay committed to their goals by offering support and motivation. Elena suggests finding an accountability partner, whether it's a friend or through social media, to help maintain the habit of reading. She used Instagram to document her progress, which added pressure and motivation to stick to her reading goals.

💡Libby App

The Libby App is a digital service that allows users to borrow e-books and audiobooks from their local library. Elena mentions using Libby to access books for free on her Kindle, making it easier and more affordable to maintain her reading habit. This app is presented as a practical solution for those who want to read more without spending a lot of money.

💡Kindle

A Kindle is an electronic device designed for reading e-books. Elena discusses how owning a Kindle made it easier for her to read more frequently, especially when on the go. The convenience and portability of the Kindle contributed significantly to her ability to meet her reading goals, as it allowed her to carry multiple books in a compact format.

💡Fiction vs. Non-Fiction

Fiction refers to literature created from the imagination, while non-fiction is based on facts and real events. Elena started her reading journey with fictional books, which helped reignite her love for reading. Over time, she shifted to more non-fiction books, including topics like politics, history, and self-help, which broadened her perspective and knowledge.

💡Lifelong Learning

Lifelong learning is the continuous pursuit of knowledge and skills throughout an individual's life. Elena emphasizes the importance of being a lifelong learner and sees reading as a key method to achieve this. By reading diverse books, she kept herself intellectually engaged and constantly expanded her understanding of various subjects.

💡Mental Clarity

Mental clarity refers to a state of clear, focused, and calm thinking. Elena attributes reading to improving her mental clarity, contrasting it with the confusion and negativity she sometimes felt after spending time on social media. This clarity is one of the mental health benefits she gained from her year-long reading habit.

Highlights

The speaker set a goal to read a book a week for an entire year, fulfilling a New Year's resolution.

She read 30 books in 2020 and decided to increase that to 52 books in 2021.

The speaker emphasizes the importance of reading as a way to stay curious and continue learning after finishing formal education.

She initially focused on fictional books to reignite her love for reading, which gradually led to exploring more diverse and complex topics.

Reading books on politics, history, and minority experiences expanded her perspective and understanding of the world.

She found that reading regularly improved her focus, attention span, and mental health, providing a productive alternative to mindless social media scrolling.

The speaker uses Goodreads to track her reading progress and share her book journey with others.

She advocates for reading for fun, without the pressure to choose profound or productive books, especially for those trying to rebuild their reading habit.

Investing in a Kindle helped her read more by making books more accessible, especially while traveling or on the go.

The Libby app is recommended as a free resource for borrowing eBooks from local libraries.

The speaker highlights the importance of limiting distractions, such as putting her phone on airplane mode while reading.

She encourages readers to abandon books they don't enjoy, rather than forcing themselves to finish them.

Having an accountability partner, like a friend or a social media platform, helped her stay committed to her reading goal.

Marking up books or using Kindle's highlighting feature helps retain and recall important information.

The speaker acknowledges that reading a book a week may not be suitable for everyone, as it can limit the choice of more complex or lengthy books.

Transcripts

[Music]

hi hello how's it going it's elena so i

decided to set a bit of a lofty goal for

myself i stuck to my new year's

resolution for once and i read a book a

week for the last year 2020 when i had

quite a bit more time on my hands i

decided to try to get back into reading

and i ended up reading about 30 books

that year the following year in 2021 i

was like let's try this let's go all in

i read a book a week so i want to talk

to you guys a little bit about the pros

and the cons as well as how i actually

stuck to doing it so frequently and tips

for doing it for yourself at the very

end i'll quickly tell you every book i

read this year just in case you're

curious i graduated from university

three years ago i always want to push

myself to be a lifelong learner to stay

curious one of the best ways you can do

that as adult outside of the academic

system is through reading there is

something very powerful about a book

someone has taken hundreds of hours if

not many many thousands of hours to

research to write to edit to get it

published and then to get it into your

hands it's become my favorite way

without a doubt to learn something new

or to really dive into a topic i get

asked frequently as well how i choose my

books i am a good reads die hard i love

setting my goal on goodreads so i can

see my little progress bar slowly

growing over time and my like percentage

increasing as i like read more books and

plug into the system if you're curious

what i'm currently reading what i've

read what i want to read it's all in

goodreads you can follow me down below

[Music]

reading a book a week has kind of

changed my life when i kind of started

off this journey of wanting to fall back

in love with reading i started with a

ton of fictional books i'm somebody who

usually does tasks to have a productive

outcome i'm trying to unlearn that and

so i always viewed reading as something

that if i was going to do it i should

read some book that was really going to

shake things up maybe a self-help book

or like a deeply philosophical text but

because i had this mindset around it i

just like wasn't actually getting myself

to the point of doing it so i started

off just reading a lot of really

interesting diverse fictional stories

that really reignited my love for just

sitting down with the book and tearing

through it and then slowly with time i

kind of felt like i had rebuilt up a bit

of this reading muscle and i felt like i

was ready to move on to other things

fictional books are still great i love

sprinkling them in if you're just trying

to start reading and getting back into

it just read for fun read whatever the

hell you want it doesn't have to be

anything incredibly profound just get

back into that rhythm of it that you

know you may have not done since you

were a kid so there was a lot of

benefits of this for me i could feel my

perspective greatly expanding it shook

up the way i saw the world and related

to others especially when i started

reading more books on politics and

history and minority experiences these

authors are pulling on a lifetime of

experiences experiences i'll never have

or can ever really begin to understand

without taking the time to really read

about it we all are in our own limited

thought patterns day by day and it takes

bringing in something different to

finally shake up that you know

restricted concept that we have

obviously i could read whatever i want

so it's kind of like you get to almost

create your own educational or

entertainment experience the library or

the bookstore gets to become your

teacher and you get to create your own

syllabus you can really dive deep into

one topic and become a mini expert one

of the benefits too is that over time i

could really feel my focus and my

attention span growing i mean via social

media i feel like i often have the

attention span of a goldfish sitting

down and reading more and more over an

elongated period of time really

transformed my attention span it's

self-care in a lot of ways too i gained

so much mental clarity honestly really

helped me with my mental health as well

there's been so many times where i've

caught myself scrolling on social media

mindlessly feeling like about

myself because i'm subconsciously

comparing myself to somebody and anytime

i

put my phone down and open up a book i

100 of the time i've felt better after

doing that

all right before we go any further i

want to take a quick break to thank our

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better help let's get back into the

video i definitely throughout this

experience became a lot more self-aware

and introspective i just have a much

more diverse array of opinions and now

knowledge to pull from especially

reading books on psychology or

philosophy or self-help books i could

feel myself recognizing unhealthy

patterns or being able to call things

that no longer serve me mentioned this

earlier but i do think it's helpful to

view reading as a bit of like a muscle

we all have it to a certain extent

because we all had to read in our

education and maybe you barely developed

it even then but it's there and it just

takes time of keeping at it exercising

the muscle for it to get stronger and to

feel more natural it really does get

easier with time i noticed i was

starting to read more quickly just

naturally you know i had a longer

attention span and i was just absorbing

the information more effectively and

more easily i think a big thing for me

as well is it made me a lot more

confident in my own opinions or my own

intellect or you know whatever you want

to call it i have a tendency to

self-doubt a lot or i don't want to

speak up unless i'm really certain i

have a well-formed opinion number one

i'm like oh i actually have spent time

to really read and learn about this

maybe subject or topic or now i have

these diverse experiences that i've been

reading about that i can pull into a

certain conversation and i felt just

more confident in speaking up for the

first time in a while which is honestly

really powerful

[Music]

i get asked all the time how do i

actually read this much how do i make

time for it the biggest thing is to just

start somewhere start with a book you're

excited about or a story you're excited

about like i said it doesn't have to be

something super profound or something

with a productive output especially from

the beginning we all have so many

distractions and obligations where it

feels like we can't possibly have any

free time to read i was the queen of

saying this like oh i have too much work

i'm enough free time one of my first

tips is just to find things you can

substitute i wasn't a massive tv or

movie watcher before but i drastically

cut how many hours i'd watch tv over the

course of the year if you replace that

little binge or you know your instagram

scroll time with reading the books will

start to really accumulate also think

about how many times for the day you

pull out your phone to distraction

whether it's you're waiting in line or

you're waiting for a friend of me go to

coffee shop you just took that time to

read a book instead you'll realize how

many free minutes there are to start

reading one of my next big tips is to

get a kindle this really helped a lot

more than i was expecting yes i would

much prefer to read a physical copy of a

book and i know so many people use that

excuse all the time as well but getting

a kindle has really helped me read a lot

more part of it is the size i can stick

it in a tiny purse it's super

lightweight so i often will bring it

with me you know if i'm going on the

train to meet a friend and i can pull it

out in the subway whereas a thicker book

i'm not going to want to have to carry

around with me all day so i'm less

likely to bring it or if i'm traveling

on a long trip but i'm already bringing

limited suitcases or luggage i don't

want to bring an extra book or two

that's gonna like weigh me down or add

to my suitcase weight i can download a

book in minutes if i'm excited about it

instead of having to order it online and

wait a couple days i have to go to the

bookstore you're just so much more

inclined to bring it with me places also

if you want to read more but you don't

want to spend a lot of money on books

because it can end up there's an

incredible app called libby it's

basically an app where you connect your

local library card number which is

really easy to get if you don't have one

to this app and you can rent different

books from your local library completely

digitally and upload them to your kindle

i've done this with so many of my books

and i get to read them for free so

you'll have them for two weeks or you

can you know extend your hold you want

to read more if you want to save money

consider getting a kindle my next tip is

to really limit distractions when i'm

gonna sit down with a book i oftentimes

just turn my phone on airplane mode and

it helps so much and so i don't even see

a text pop-up on my phone because that

will kind of break my concentration this

is when i get my best reading done i

guess you could say like i can really

get wrapped up in a story i really

deeply absorb information more so than i

would if i'm just reading here and there

another thing i found to be really

helpful is leave bad books behind even

if you're 50 pages into a book you do

not have to finish it i used to be such

like a die hard when i was like i

started this book i have to like push

through and get there like no you don't

just put it to the side find something

you're going to be more excited to read

another helpful tip is finding an

accountability partner this could be

friend this could be social media in my

case i was posting on my instagram story

every time i read another book i had a

little highlight on my instagram page of

all the books i've read with a little

baby like analysis or book report i

guess you could call it just a few

sentences so by doing that and by

stating i had a goal i had a lot more

pressure to actually like push through

and get there or find a friend or a book

club that you can like read your book

alongside i think having somebody to

read alongside with for one it's more

fun it'll keep you accountable and it's

also really great to kind of be able to

verbally process certain ideas and then

you can gain more from what their

experience with a certain book has been

another thing i highly recommend is just

mark those books up mark your kindle up

highlight underline do what you gotta do

i used to be so sacred with my books you

can do this on a kindle you can sync all

your notes from all your different books

and this helps me retain things a lot

better so a lot of times could just kind

of like go in one ear and out the other

so to actually really sit with it and

digest it i love to mark it up

especially with non-fiction maybe more

educational content this is a very niche

example i read a book called siri

burning on the war in syria and i was

talking to somebody having a little

political conversation on the war in

syria we were talking about the proxy

wars that kind of led to the situation

that's been going on there and i

remember i was like oh there's these

different proxy wars that were mentioned

in this book and i underlined it i was

like texting this person i went and i

pulled the book off my shelf i scrolled

through i found the section where i had

underlined i took a photo and i sent it

to my friend and we carried out a

conversation from there so if i hadn't

underlined it i never would have found

that so feel free to mark your books up

it helps

[Music]

would i recommend this to everybody

honestly no let's talk about a few cons

i would of course recommend setting a

reading goal for yourself reading more

frequently in general but it doesn't

have to be a book a week for an entire

year i think it limited me from picking

bigger books longer books books that i

were maybe you know addressing a more

complex issue that would take more time

to really like understand and digest so

i would say adjust your reading goal as

necessary the number of books can kind

of be this like vanity metric i've heard

it be compared to so like you know pick

what's best for you especially depending

on what you're excited to read maybe you

want to read a bunch of like

light-hearted fictional books it can be

a lot easier to plow through those than

if you're trying to read books on like

physics or like philosophy or whatever

so like you know adjust accordingly

[Music]

all right the time has come let me

speedily read off all the books i read

this year um okay trick mirror by gia

toledino the seven husbands of evelyn

hugo a henna artist beyond religion by

dalai lama the vanishing half severance

throne of glass easy jones and the six

the underground railroad half of the

yellow sun one we believed in mermaids

visible women died about us in a world

designed for men extremes to the ocean

thread back to you green lights go tell

it on the mountain maybe you should talk

to someone a woman is no man even nickel

boys searching for sunday leaving the

world behind another soul wild glass

attached dark places the white album are

timeless now midnight library picture

dorian grave outliers death of ivan

ilyich by leo toystoy 1984 the prophet

the song of achilles untamed intimations

on earth for briefly gorgeous eat a

peach letters to a young quote rain on

fire shaw shaw's whistle is fast company

to shake the sleeping self animal farm

woman in power mad women's ball crying

hmark troubling love the refugees by

vietnam syria burning a short history of

a catastrophe defining decade by meg j

okay again if you want some

recommendations you can check out my

goodreads also don't forget to like

comment subscribe it really helps me out

i spent a year to make this video a lot

of time reading i really appreciate it

and i would love to hear some book

recommendations as well so leave a

little comment down below as usual thank

you so much for watching until next time

bye-bye

[Music]