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As some of you may be aware, over the last two months, I have been challenging myself to read all the books I own/have out from the library before buying/borrowing any more.
For the most part, I have failed rather miserably in this. The lapses were mainly because I forgot to take into consideration that my birthday is in February, which led to a rather large influx of books…and if I saw a book that was cheap, nothing was going to stop me…and I allowed myself to continue buying new releases.
However, despite this failure, I have learned some valuable lessons in how to manage the TBR pile, but I’ve also discovered that I’m hopeless at following my own advice.
Go One Book at a Time
Pick up a book, start reading. Demonstrate amazing self control and don’t start any other books until that book is done. If the book is frustrating you, then put it down and start the next one.
Life is to short for unamazing books.
Do NOT Under ANY Circumstances Look at the TBR Pile
There is nothing more discouraging while trying to do something than seeing how far you have to go. Looking at and counting all the books you have left to read is a sure way to make you want to curl into a ball and cry.
Don’t do that to yourself.
I mean, seriously, look at that pile.
It’s SCARY!
Set Yourself Mini-Challenges
With a time limit or without, doesn’t matter. But this is a similar strategy to the previous one. Setting yourself small challenges, and then completing said challenges is a great motivation to keep going.
Make Time For Reading
This is probably obvious, but here’s the thing…I’m one of those people who like to read books in one sitting. And if it is unlikely that I’ll be able to read it in one go, I’m likely to put off reading it until I can.
Unfortunately, this often leads me to spending a couple of weeks obsessing over planning a time to read one book, and not reading anything else.
This is how I fall behind in my Goodreads challenge.
Since I started the challenge, I’ve been a lot better at the whole ‘read for an hour every night’ thing, but I still definitely prefer the ‘read it in one sitting’ thing.
What do you think? Do you have any more tips for those trying to shrink down their TBR Pile?
(Disclaimer: I have actually read most (not all) of the books in the pile pictured. The books chosen for the pile were chosen for photogenic purposes only. Blame my sister for any inaccuracies.)
