Setting reading goals in the new year—open book with glitter floating in the air.

A new year is a great time for new beginnings! People have a natural urge to change as the year changes, but it’s easy to relinquish a resolution—especially when everyday routines and other obligations get in the way. 

If your resolution this 2025 is to read more, staying committed boils down to building a habit out of reading. Read on to explore how you can set realistic reading goals this year! 

Sticking to Resolutions

Creating resolutions to better yourself in a new year has been a tradition for centuries. Researchers say it began with the Babylonians over 3,000 years ago, when they would make vows to pay off debts and fulfill other obligations at the beginning of spring.

Breaking these vows has become just as widely-discussed as making them, and it has been for years. In fact, the first documented use of the phrase “New Year’s resolutions” is in an 1813 Boston newspaper that criticized those who superficially make resolutions, setting themselves up to break them in the new year. Today, studies show that only ~25% of people who make New Year’s resolutions stay committed after 30 days. Fewer than 10% end up achieving them.

Don’t be intimidated by these statistics—you can be one of the people who outshine them! While having a resolution can be a steep task that not everyone is able to achieve, many do stick with their resolutions. So, why do resolutions generally fail, and how can we prepare ourselves to execute our goals?

1. Setting Reasonable Goals

Many people quit on their resolutions because their goals are too lofty. For example, if you are not an active person at all, it may not be the best idea to set “running a marathon” as your New Year’s resolution.  Creating a realistic goal for the year will motivate you to achieve it, since you deem it attainable. If, say, you want to be able to run a marathon but aren’t an active person, focus your resolution on building your baseline endurance and athletic ability.

2. Make your Resolution Specific

Resolutions like “get better at math”, “be more positive”, or “volunteer more” are great ideas, but achieving them can be tricky because they’re quite vague. Make your goal a concrete objective you can reach on a regular basis or by the end of the year—studies show that people can more easily attain specific goals than abstract ones. 

For example, if you want to get better at math, set your resolution to something like, “Do at least 90 minutes of extra math practice every week.” That extra studying, whether you choose to do online math practice, review past homework or tests, or set up sessions with a tutor, will add up over time (together with your in-school math learning). You’ll be way more comfortable with math next January than you are this month!

3. Turning Goals into Habits

Many people give up on their resolutions because they aren’t able to integrate them into their routine. Any big accomplishment is made up of several tiny steps. Break down your resolution into a small, daily or weekly habit to make way on the path towards your goal. 

Habit-forming requires an initial investment of extra time and energy before it solidifies into your routine. You may have heard that it takes 21 days to form a habit, but this is actually a widely-accepted myth—researchers found that it can take anywhere between 18 and 254 days to develop a habit, an average of 66 days. This uncertain stretch of time can seem intimidating, but consistency and dedication will help that time breeze by. One day, you’ll look back and wonder how you didn’t do it for so long!

4. Track your Habits and Reward Yourself

Tracking your habits is an excellent way to remember your goal and stay motivated. There are tons of habit-tracking apps, and you can even use manual methods like keeping note in a journal (“bullet journaling” is a creative method that tons of people swear by) or marking a calendar. Looking back on your habit tracking and seeing how far you’ve come every few months and at the end of the year will be a rewarding feeling! 

On that note, feeling proud and rewarded for the effort you’re putting into your habit will help you stay motivated to keep going, especially towards the beginning of your journey! A great way to reward yourself is to do so while you do your habit. If your goal is to bike to school every day, take the scenic route or think of it as your peaceful alone time. If you want to volunteer, see if a friend is also interested and go volunteering together. 

Creating Reading Resolutions

There are so many benefits to reading more—not only does reading introduce you to new perspectives and compelling stories, but it strengthens your critical thinking abilities and overall literacy skills. So, setting a reading goal is an excellent resolution for anyone, especially K-12 students who are regularly tested on their reading comprehension abilities. However, like other common resolutions, this reasonable objective can seem daunting to complete is you haven’t made headway by the time Valentine’s Day comes around next month.

So, how do you make a reading resolution stick? Consider the general resolution-reaching advice above as we think specifically about how you can prioritize your literary mastery in 2025.

Why Do You Want to Read More?

There are so many benefits to reading goals (as we’ve discussed above), but consider why exactly you want to read more. To be truly dedicated to your resolution, understand why you want it as your goal. 

Maybe you want to be more well-versed in literature—having a strong understanding of the classics is incredibly useful if you enjoy media and culture. Perhaps you want to grow your vocabulary or improve your ELA abilities ahead of standardized tests. Or, maybe you just have a lot of books in mind you’ve been wanting to read but never found the time for.

Hone in on the reasons why you want to read more to find the motivation and inspiration to pick up a book!

Set Specific Reading Goals

How many books do you usually read a year? How many do you want to read this year? And, how many do you think you’ll be able to read this year? As we discussed earlier, setting specific goals is key in making a realistic resolution, so think about each of these questions to determine your reading goal for this year. Suitable reading goals for students are:

  • Challenging. If you want to read more, your goal should obviously be higher than the number of books you read in 2024. Pick a number that’ll get you out of your comfort zone and dedicate time to reading.
  • Attainable. Choose a number of books that you can realistically see yourself reading. Don’t compare yourself to others! Everyone has their own reading speed and time available to read.
  • Calculated. Will you be able to read at least one book every two months? How about every month, or every 3 weeks? Will summer break give you more time to read, allowing you to be able to finish a book every couple of weeks? Books vary in length, so you won’t finish every book in the same amount of time, but break down the year into months and weeks to get a rough estimate.

For example, if you read 10 books on your own in 2024, that means you have the groundwork ready to be a habitual reader in 2025. You can easily 1.5x that number, or even double it if you’re feeling up to the challenge. Or, maybe you only read 1-2 books for fun (meaning, outside of school-assigned reading) in 2024. Especially if you’re a struggling reader, setting a steep goal can be too much pressure, dissuading you from attempting to complete it. If that’s the case, consider setting a goal of around 6-8 books—that’s just over one book every two months. 

Track your Reading 

Having a specific reading goal means it’s easy to track! If your goal is 8 books, you should be on-track if you’re reading 1 book about every 6 weeks. If your goal is 20 books, that’s a book every 2.5 weeks. Knowing these averages can help you stay on course with this reading resolution—even though you probably won’t be perfectly on pace, especially if you expect to read more after standardized testing season or during the summer and fall breaks.

Track the books you read, too! That way, you can look back in the months ahead and see how far you’ve come. You can keep a journal to write down the books and your thoughts about them as you read, or just a single page to write their titles and the dates you finished them. 

Book-Tracking Sites and Apps

Of course, there are now virtual ways to track what you read! Using a fun site to log and find books can also help motivate you to read more—most even have social media features that let you add your friends.

Here are some popular digital destinations for keeping tabs on what you read, making lists of books, and reviewing reads. Each one has its own unique interface and features, so try them out and see what works best for you.

1. Goodreads

The most well-known book logging site is Goodreads, owned by Amazon. Users can rate & review books that they’ve read, log books they are currently reading by page count, and create custom lists of books called “shelves”. The social media features of the site let you follow authors and other users, discuss books in forums, and join reading challenges. It even has a yearly reading challenge feature built-in that tells you if you’re on-track to meet your goal!

2. StoryGraph

If the idea of seeing your reading data visualized in charts and graphs interests you, StoryGraph may be the perfect logging site for you! It shows users how their reading habits change over time, and it uses a refined algorithm to recommend your next read. It also has social features, including virtual book clubs and live reactions you can post about certain pages and chapters.

3. Hardcover

An easy-to-use book-logging site, Hardcover also lets you keep track of your books, share your thoughts in reviews, and discover new reads. Users especially love its friendly interface and its “MatchScore” feature, which shows how likely it is that you’ll enjoy a book based on what you’ve read in the past.

4. Oku

If you aren’t looking for too many features and want a clean, simple app to let you track your books, Oku may be perfect for you! While its focus is on straightforward book-logging, it also has book reviews and custom lists you can create. Plus, its yearly reading goal feature will also help you meet the reading goals you’re setting.

5. Literal

Very similar to Oku’s simple interface and clear functions, Literal is another straightforward option when it comes to logging the books you read. If you tire of sifting through hundreds of reviews to decide whether to pick up a book, Literal lets you follow authors, content creators, publishers, your friends, and even book stores for their recommendations. Plus, it has excellent book clubs for different tastes—you can make private, virtual book clubs for just you and your friends!

Find Books You’ll Enjoy                           

The best motivator for those looking to read more is an amazing book! Meeting your reading goal for the year will be fun and easy to do if the books are tailored to your tastes.

To find a book you like, consider what you’ve enjoyed reading in the past. Try out more works written by those authors, other books they’ve been compared to, and interesting titles from that genre. All of the book tracking sites above have excellent features for helping you discover your next read. Librarians can also help you narrow down your options at your local library!

We at Piqosity have also developed several lists of reading recommendations based on different holidays, topics, and authors. Whether you’re looking for a mind-bending science-fiction novel or an adventure story to sweep you away, peruse our recommended books for K-12 students for a captivating tale!

Integrate Reading into Your Everyday Routines

If you’re wondering how to read more in your daily life, start small by finding moments throughout the day where you can involve reading. 

Read on your commute to and from school, during lunch, in class when you’ve finished all your assignments, or at any other times where you’re between obligations and activities. Once you get in bed at night, try reading instead of scrolling on your phone—studies show that reading before bed can improve your sleep quality by helping you relax and easing any stress.

It’s all about making a habit out of reading. Start by picking up your book when you have smaller moments of free time, and you’ll feel more motivated to read when you have more time. 

Reach your Reading Goals with Piqosity’s Help

Setting a resolution to read more in 2025 is an excellent way to learn about different cultures and perspectives, improve your literacy skills, and care for your mental wellbeing. If you found it difficult to set realistic reading goals and stick to them, we hope this article helped you form an attainable challenge for this year! If you want to read more to improve your ELA abilities (especially ahead of those standardized tests this spring), Piqosity can help even more.

Along with our ISEE, SAT, and ACT test prep courses, we offer full online English courses—each includes dozens of concept lessons, personalized practice software, and over 100 reading comprehension passages.

The best part? You can try out all of Piqosity’s features with our free community account. When you’re ready to upgrade, Piqosity’s year-long accounts start at only $89. 

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