Pros and cons of the Goodreads reading challenge

The Goodreads reading challenge.. A lot of people participate in it (like me), but I’ve also seen quite a lot of people who refuse to participate in it. I understand both groups of people. In this blogpost I will list the pros and cons of the Goodreads reading challenge (for me).

A big pro for myself is that the challenge motivates me to read more. The goal I set for myself, is a goal I really want to reach, and I think it’s really cool that Goodreads makes a 20xx in years for you. That way, the books you read are put in a handy overview.

However, I experience some cons of it aswell. From the moment that I reach my premised goal, I only want to raise the goal so that I can read even more books. Because of this I experience that I sometimes put this pressure on myself to actually read a lot of books. Because of this I experience less fun while reading. This obviously isn’t the intention of reading. You read because you want it yourself and to relax, not to strive to a number.

Lately, I strictly keep an eye on whether I read because I want to myself, or because I want to reach a certain number of books. I will always strive to read for fun.

Let’s talk about the current situation of my Goodreads reading challenge 2020. At this moment, my goal is set on 50 books. While I’m writing this, I have already surpassed this goal by reading 68 books. I’m still thinking about whether I’m going to raise my goal to a higher number or not, because if I raise it, I’m scared I’ll put pressure on myself again. I’m still thinking this through!

What is your personal experience with the Goodreads reading challenge? Do you like it?