New Year’s Resolution Reading Challenge #NewYearBooks

What do you want to accomplish in the New Year? Will reading a book help you reach your goal, keep your resolution, or complete your project? Start the year off right by reading books that support your goals, resolutions, and projects.

Whether you want to write a novel, start a new career, or be happier, there are books to aid you in your quest. The New Year’s Resolution Reading Challenge is to read one to four books that will stimulate action on your goals. Here are the levels:

Resolved: 1 book
Determined: 2 books
Committed: 3 books
Passionate: 4 books

The books can all support the same resolution — you could read four books on getting organized, for example. Or, read four books to help with four different projects — one book on moving to a foreign country, one book on health and fitness, one book on small business, and one book on knitting (on your way to becoming a healthy expat entrepreneur with great scarves).

The New Year’s Resolution Reading Challenge is a short event, running to the end of January (about seven weeks) as we end 2014 and start 2015. Later in the week I’ll announce a full-year challenge for those of us who have “Be Healthier” as one of our New Year’s resolutions.

We will have a link-up every Sunday from now through February 1st to share our book reviews, list posts, and early progress on our 2015 goals.

[Edited to add: We’re reading The War of Art — watch of a post on January 1 with further details] For the last few years, in conjunction with this challenge, we’ve also done a Read Along. I’m open to suggestions. I would be interested in re-reading The War of Art by Steven Pressfield or Taming Your Gremlin by Rick Carson. I perused my Goodreads list earlier today and came up with these titles that might have wide interest:

A Blueprint for Your Castle in the Clouds: Make the Inside of Your Head Your Favorite Place to Be by Barbara Sophia Tammes
A Short Guide to a Long Life by David B. Agus
Clutter Busting: Letting Go of What’s Holding You Back by Brooks Palmer
Do More Great Work: Stop the Busywork. Start the Work That Matters by Michael Bungay Stanier
Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long by David Rock
Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip Heath, Dan Heath
Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink
Emotional Equations: Simple Truths for Creating Happiness + Success by Chip Conley
Thrive: Finding Happiness the Blue Zones Way by Dan Buettner

Are any of these books on your TBR? Or, do those titles remind you of books that you would like to read?

The link-up below is for sign-up posts. They are a great way to introduce The New Year’s Resolution Challenge to others and to declare what books you’ll be reading to support your resolutions, goals, and projects in 2015.

Comments

New Year’s Resolution Reading Challenge #NewYearBooks — 34 Comments

Belle Wong on December 15, 2014 at 8:10 pm said:

I’m probably not signing up for any reading challenges in the new year, but if you’re doing a reread of The War of Art I’d love to join in.

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Isi on December 15, 2014 at 11:45 pm said:

I can’t commit to a new challenge right now, but I think I’ll follow the challenge later in the year
I’ve read (audioread, actually) Your brain at work, and even though is told by a original perspective, I didn’t like it as much as other books in the matter.

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Create With Joy on December 17, 2014 at 6:55 am said:

Dear Joy,

I am SO happy to see that you are hosting this challenge again – it’s one that I look forward to each year!

I am signing up now to let you know that I am joining you on this quest, but will work out the details of what my challenge will entail over the holidays.

I’ll let you know when I write about the challenge and the book(s) I’ll be reading in the new year!

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Laurie C on December 17, 2014 at 6:57 pm said:

I don’t seem to do well with the challenge part, but I always manage to participate in group reads if I sign up for them, so I’ll see how things look in a couple of weeks! I’ve been noticing buzz about The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Condo and wondering about whether that would be interesting to read or not. But I would go along with any one of the titles you’ve already listed.

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Vasilly on December 21, 2014 at 10:48 am said:

I love it when you post about this challenge! I have a ton of goals for next year, but I need to figure out which books, if any, to read for them. The War of Art has been on my Nook unread for years. Count me in for the read-along and challenge.

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Snowball on January 1, 2015 at 7:45 pm said:

I’m back again. My goals are much more personal this year than before, and this challenge has been so helpful in the past that I am very optimistic.

The link for my post is: http://comesitbythehearth.blogspot.com/2015/01/new-years-resolution-reading-challenge.html

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Savvy on January 4, 2015 at 4:19 pm said:

I missed this one last year, so I’m excited to participate this year. I have The War on Art on hold at the library – if it comes in soon I will participate in the read-a-long. I created a live healthy on a budget challenge for myself this year, but feel like such a newbie after reading so many great health posts on the web.

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yesha on January 5, 2015 at 4:54 pm said:

I just saw this post, and have requested this book via our ILL system! Yay!

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MizB on January 11, 2015 at 7:26 pm said:

“Switch“and “Drive” are both excellent books! Hope you enjoy them!

(my reviews of eachcan be found here, if you’re interested)

~MizB

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Create With Joy on January 16, 2015 at 3:59 pm said:

Hi Joy,

Finally got my computer back online and have “officially” signed up – even though it’s late in the month!

Also, have launched a new party called the Book Nook for book lovers – would love it if you’d join us and also, if you could help spread the word!

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Gina on January 16, 2015 at 10:07 pm said:

I read The War of Art last year!
(I found you over on Create with Joy)

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Bryan G. Robinson on January 3, 2016 at 9:47 am said:

Although I didn’t sign up for this, I’m basically doing it anyway, with reading The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz to start the year. I’ll be interested, though, in following your, and others’, progress.

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