---
aliases: ["Read 24 Books in 2024"]
Is A: Goal
Belongs to: "[[2024]]"
Status: Behind
---
# Read 24 Books in 2024

Consistent reading is the primary input for original thinking and content quality. A target of 24 books (2 per month) ensures a steady flow of ideas feeding into newsletter essays, podcast topics, and [[responsibility-learning]]. Falling behind on reading directly correlates with weaker content output.

## Success criteria

- Read 24 books by December 31, 2024 (2 per month average)
- Maintain at least 1 book per month even in busy periods
- Track progress via [[measure-books-per-month]]
- At least 50% should be non-fiction relevant to the newsletter (engineering, business, leadership)
- Create at least 5 [[measure-evergreen-notes-created]] from each book

## Key milestones

- Establish the reading habit in Q1 with 6 books by March
- Maintain pace through Q2 despite the busy season for [[24q2-10-pillar-articles]]
- Reach 18 books by end of Q3
- Close the year at 24 by maintaining 2/month in Q4

## Notes

- Final count: 18 books. Missed the 24-book target by 6 books (75% completion).
- Q1 started strong at 7 books, ahead of pace. Q2 dropped to 3 books due to the pillar articles push and podcast launch.
- Q3 recovered to 5 books. Q4 was only 3 books as year-end business priorities took over.
- The shortfall was entirely a time management issue, not a motivation issue. During weeks with heavy content production, reading was the first thing to get cut.
- Adjusted the 2025 target to 20 books ([[2025-read-20-books]]) to be more realistic given current business demands.
- Key insight: audiobooks during cycling training significantly boosted volume. 6 of the 18 books were consumed this way. Will lean into this more in 2025.
