 So the great thing about setting goals is that it's supposed to help you achieve them and I don't always do that. I hope you're all good today. I usually do a reading goals video at the start of the year every year but this year I don't actually have that many goals. My kind of goal this year is to not set as many goals. I kind of want my reading to be freer, a bit less constrained. I don't want to have as many goals on my brain. Do you know what I mean? Like I think when you set goals, if you're actually trying to achieve them, like they're constantly like oh I look around and like there's another bag in your brain and I don't want any more bags in my brain. You get me? One piece of advice, don't read anything. If you don't read it, it can't harm you. So I'm not saying as many reading goals this year and the ones I am setting are pretty basic so I thought it'd be fun to combine this with chatting about whether I fulfilled my 2021 reading goals or not. So I've already watched the video because I wanted to get all my statistics up from what I have achieved, what I haven't. Otherwise I'd be just sitting here ages. There'd be like loads of dead screen time of me on my laptop like... So I have watched it already but I'm gonna put little clips in here of what I've said in that video last year. But yeah let's just get straight into it because whenever I set goals or TBRs like with me you already know there's a little bit of like it's not gonna quite happen. So let's chat about what I did achieve and what I didn't and then we'll get into my goals, my reading goals and my channel goals for this year. So my first big goal for last year for reading was to read a hundred books. I am gonna be in my final year of uni this year and then after that do I find a job? But like what? So I don't think I even want to try and go that much about a hundred if we're being realistic even if I scrape a hundred by reading like four graphic novels on the 31st of December I'm happy with that. So I was 100% right that uni was gonna kill me and I wasn't gonna read as much this year. I read 116 books in 2021. I keep saying this year but we're 10 days into 2022 so let's like get it together. Let's get it together. I didn't read much in the first couple months of the year. I read 131 books in 2020 then 116 in 2021. Whoa years, all the years emerging. So I think if it hadn't have been for like the first five months of the year where I read five, seven, eight books each month I would have read more than I read in 2020 but uni was a bitch but we're done now we're done. Also I think it's so funny that in that video I was like I'm gonna be a uni and then I'm gonna have to find a job. I'm like Megan you're still here doing this shit. This is your job which is kind of crazy. Yeah I achieved my goal of reading 100 books very happy with that. I knew that it was gonna be a bit more of a struggle but I definitely pulled through in the kind of latter half of the month to get it up a bit. Now my second goal was to read more new releases. I feel like as a booktuber I have a responsibility to tell you about new releases that are coming out and review them. I would say I'm going to try and get like two to three new releases a month and fit them into my reading somehow and I definitely did this. I listen I bought a lot of new releases I've bought a lot more than I've read. Me with 50 unread 2021 releases but no money in my bank account. But I went and had a look back I'm not sure on the exact number but in terms of how many 2021 releases I read last year it was at least 30 at least 30. It could have been a few more but it was at least 30 that I read last year which I think is really good because I generally read 116 books. It's like a quarter of what I read was new releases and in the video I say I want to read two to three a month and 30 is 2.5 a month so I was pretty spot on with knowing how much I would actually read. That's something I definitely want to continue into this year. I haven't even made my list of 2022 books I want to read yet because my brain is still fucking fried guys my brain is still like... 2022 hasn't really started for me yet like it has in some areas of life but not in books. Books hasn't happened yet and we'll get into that in my goals but it's definitely something I want to continue and also continue reading like 2021 and 2020 releases especially 2021 because I have a lot of them that I still have to get through. Goal number three was to track my reading. I've said in the past that I want to do it and I'm gonna do it and then I never end up doing it and I absolutely did this. I had a reading spreadsheet for the first time ever which I really enjoyed. I really enjoyed seeing my statistics. I'm just gonna continue tracking my reading it's a big part of my reading now. I've also on like good reads I find their shelves quite useful. I've also organized that into like genres so I can see what genres I have and that is more up to date so I feel like my tracking has gone really really well this year. Goal number four was to read more romance and horror. I think I read maybe like three each but I want to read more of them. I want to be a romance horror horror. I think in the video I've said I've only ever read like three of each right? Like three romance three horror. Well in 2021 I read six romance and eight horror so I feel like I did this. Yay wee. In one year I read double to triple the amount of what I'd read previously of these genres so I'm kind of happy with that. Like I wasn't when I said read more romance and horror I was not expecting them to suddenly be my biggest genres because they're not what I like to read mice but I definitely wanted to explore them a bit more and I feel like I have especially horror. I feel like I'm starting to understand what I like but horror like I find horror books are so much more different to one another than romance like romance you pick one up you kind of know what you're getting. I mean a romance book for me this year was my third favorite book of the year which is kind of crazy. I never thought I'd be saying that so I guess this goal was achieved and I became a little bit of a romance ho. What can I say? What can I say? Like a little bit. Like a little bit. But yeah I feel like romance I've figured out more what I like because they're kind of similar you know what you're getting but horror can be all over the place in terms of story structure, in terms of idea so I haven't quite figured that genre out yet but I'm really happy with what I read in 2021. Goal number five was to read at least 50% non-white authors. I just want to be reading as diverse as possible and I think there's so many amazing stories out there that we need to speak about. So this one I got close to achieving but I didn't quite achieve. I read 43.1% non-white authors so I think I read 56.9% white authors and 43.1% non-white authors. So not perfect. I would have liked that number to be over 50% but I feel like I still achieve my goal of diversifying my reading more and being a lot more conscious of it, being a lot more conscious of who I was reading or what I was reading, what perspectives I was consuming. I feel like it's formed the habit which was the intention of it. I may not have hit 50% but it's very hard for me because so many of my series, so many of my blogs on my channel I have no control over what I'm reading. Booktube print test wrapped up. Booktube rewind. I have no control over what I'm going to read and it's kind of in the lap of the guards of the booktuber who's picking what I read or unwrapping a certain book or what booktuber's reading. Do you know what I mean? So I think it's hard to fulfill this when those factors are at play. You know it's not just me picking what I read. If it was just me picking whatever I wanted to read I could have bossed this. I could have done it but it's not. Like often when I'm reading I don't have a choice in the matter. For example this month in terms of little spoiler sneak peek for the vlogs that I've got coming up this month. One were books that were voted for so I had no control and one the books were chosen for me by someone else so I have no control. So I literally have no control over what I'm reading this month. Anyway so I'm in control but I'm out of control and I'm also um controlled so in a way I'm everything. So I think that shows it's often it's hard to fulfill this but I think I still did an alright job with it. I think it made me a lot more conscious and like I said it formed that habit so I was happy with that element of it. Goal 6 was to read more non-fiction. I used to read 50% non-fiction 50% fiction before I started my channel. I say this every year. I'm pretty sure in my goal the year before it was reading more non-fiction it's every year and every fucking year I say before I started my channel I wrote 50% non-fiction. Like girl that was only a couple months of your life it's not that deep like you weren't reading long before you started your channel. So I had the goal of reading one a month I read eight. So listen we weren't completely far off I'm not actually sure how many I read in 2020 to compare that that's why I'm happy I'm tracking my reading now so going forward I will be able to track it but yeah I read eight it wasn't quite one a month we're gonna talk about non-fiction more later in this video. My next goal was to read 80 pages every day. I just want to start reading a fair amount every day this previously hasn't been the way I read I will often read like nothing for two days and then read like 300 pages in one day that's just the way I've read. I did not do this I did not change my ways I still sometimes read 300 pages a day and then don't read anything for three days after like that's just the way my reading works. I read an average I worked it out of 104 pages a day I think yeah 104 pages a day which I'm happy with I want on average over 100 pages a day on average but in terms of like actually reading every day over 80 pages did not fucking happen no hope no hope this one was abandoned straight away never thought about it again I ain't staying here sorry I love you but I ain't staying here and then just quickly I did have some YouTube goals last year the first one was to hit 15,000 subscribers we're at a point now where my head can't really wrap around the number my goal for this year for subscribers is 15k and like my head like past 10k like the fact that we're only a thousand from 10k like I can't I can't really compute it which we absolutely did we did reach 15,000 subscribers I reached 16k in 2021 like I said I'm still gonna set a goal for this at the end of this video for this year but I still find it kind of crazy like once we pass 10,000 like my brain can't wrap around like in terms of views in terms of subscribers like my brain is just like sure that's a number but in terms of like sheer amount of people if I think about it too long I'll break down and you'll never see me on this channel again like I can't really allow myself to think about how many people that is because I want to make a video again that's a lot of people seeing me and seeing me being stupid like so I set the number goals as more of like you know an analytical kind of thing but if I think about it seriously no my other goal was to kind of improve my channel branding and aesthetics you don't understand how to redo my header my channel header my video intro and my end screen has been on my to-do list for four months every week does it ever get done no because I'm terrified I need to just do it I hate them like I hate them so much I made them in like 20 minutes when I started my channel a year and a half ago and I did this now listen I say in the video last year that for four months it had been on my to-do list every week to redo my header intro outro all that stuff it took me until like July of this year when I'd finished uni and recovered for a bit to finally get around to doing it but I really like my branding now I think it's fun I think it's me I'll probably get sick of it in like a year and I'll change it again but for now I still like it I still like my kind of branding on my channel and I was very happy with what I made and I feel like I waited until the right moment to make it but I did hate that old shit that was so ugly the stuff I used to have on my channel that was so ugly and I feel like it would turn people off of watching the video so glad she got cut she got the cut okay so like I said I don't have many goals oh squeaky check I don't have many goals this year I want it to be chill out I want my reading to be a bit freer but I do have a few so my first one is a big one it's a big one my first two in fact are the big goals this is so big it's mind-boggling I want to read 150 books this year I've been thinking about it I've been thinking about it and I was like I think I can do it like I think I can give it a go now like I said that is not happening for me right now uh Goodreads is very excited to tell me I'm three books behind schedule but honestly we're just we're just not talking to her we're just not paying attention that girl I think she is disgusting stupid love rat I've never read 150 books in a year like I said in 2020 I read 131 then last year I read 116 we're hoping for 150 this year I feel like we can do it now that like I say I'm doing YouTube full time reading is my job so I feel like I can do it but it is gonna be hard like it's gonna be a push so I'm a little bit scared but I'm gonna hopefully in January February read a lot of like novellas short audiobooks like I'm gonna try in the next couple weeks to get that up a bit and yeah I don't know it's a big goal I am scared of it like I thought about it for a long time I thought listen setting 100 is safe I will read that I could set 125 but it's not as exciting so we're going for 150 everyone we're gonna go for it I'm gonna read the most books I've ever read in a year and that is kind of my big goal but my even bigger goal is my second one and that is to do with series okay are we ready it's crazy it's crazy I think this is crazy the whole ongoing conversation about how many series I'm reading I've had a lot of people have shamed me a lot of people have shamed me for how many series I'm in the middle of I went and I updated my spreadsheet today and I counted how many series I'm in the middle of and I'm in the middle of 41 in the middle of 41 series yeah it's a problem it's a problem it's a problem um I don't know how I've let it get to this point but really this year is gonna be the year of finishing series I went and I counted through my spreadsheet and about 16 of the series I don't think are gonna be completed this year a few of them may be but like the vast majority of them I know are ongoing will not end this year so I can't finish them so that amount I had to be like okay I'm gonna be ending the year with like at least 16 series ongoing even if I read every other single one and I thought what is realistic what's realistic I decided my goal by the end of the year is to be in the middle of 26 series so I want to have those 16 obviously I can't finish this year and 10 more I can be currently reading 10 more series other than those 16 but other than that I want to get it down to 26 which I feel like is realistic I feel like I can do that it might be a flop I'm confident no the truth is that's the only series that's like 15 15 series I need to finish this year which I feel like I can do I genuinely feel like I can do I might do even better but I want to give myself a little bit of leeway to maybe start a few series this year but kind of the the impetus is there to like if I start a series to finish it oh I'm just so scared you may be like Megan it's not that hard to finish 15 series in a year that's not really a big goal why are you making it such a big deal well let me tell you something in 2021 do you want to know how many series I completed five I completed five series in the whole of 2021 five do you want to know how many I started 20 so I feel like getting it down to 26 with that 16 being ones I can't complete I feel like I can do it but that's a big focus me this year it's going to be a big focus on my channel it's going to be a big focus in my reading is finishing those series I have got a video series about series coming can you believe it and then I just have two kind of mini goals around genres so nonfiction right the past two years I have set the goal of reading one a month one a month minimum um so 12 a year and I have failed it so this year I've decided to up it and I want to read 15 nonfiction books this year 15 15 I really want to do this I miss reading nonfiction the only thing I don't want to do is because I want to vlog a lot of it I'm scared I'm going to try and fill this number up with like random ones I find on script or as audiobooks and not the nonfiction I'm most excited to read and that's what I want to do so a real focus for me has to be fitting them into reading vlogs somehow I love learning about new things I love learning about people other than myself so I really do want to achieve this goal I really want to read 15 nonfiction books I don't feel like it's that hard I failed it at previous months but this year is really going to be a year of reading for me and kind of focusing on what I want to focus on so I I feel like we could do it sure Jan and then my last goal is to read six classics so in 2021 I did not read a single classic I didn't read one I didn't read a single classic and I would really like to read some more classics in 2022 and then let's just quickly talk about youtube goals I know no one really cares about this I've put it at the end in terms of subscriber count I've always found I've reached and got a bit over whatever goal I've set so I feel like it's just the point of putting that number into the universe like I said I don't care if I don't reach this like it's okay like for me it's I just love having my channel so it's not that deep like I'm not gonna cry but I feel like it does something for me psychologically towards motivating me to push harder in what I'm doing so my goal for my subscriber count this year is 25k which like fuck me getting into the 20s is gonna be momentous to me like I can't even imagine that I feel like when you get into the 20s like you're at that bitch a little bit and I'm not ready to be that bitch so yeah 25k like I said I can't really imagine that number but it's what we're working towards it's what we're hoping for I also okay let's just say these next two goals together we'll chat about them in conjunction I want one video that gets over 25k views and I want to push myself to take more risks in the videos I'm making so I think often I just make the videos that I want to watch I'm not very good or I don't really care often about well I don't care but I think in terms of videos I come up with and I'm really excited about they're what I really want to watch not necessarily what is going to do well within booktube not necessarily what is going to do well in the booktube algorithm or even the wider youtube algorithm I don't think I'm great at making videos for that I'm not very great at making videos the general viewer is gonna like want to watch you know what I mean and I want to do that a little bit I want to take risks where I make some videos that could either flop or could do really well do you know what I mean there are a bit different to what I'm doing right now I don't want to change what I'm doing like I don't want to start making complete different kind of types of content because I love what I make do you know what I mean like I make the videos I want to make because they're what I want to watch they're what I love I think that I enjoy that my channel is very catered to me and like what I enjoy and I think that's what makes me enjoy it so much so I don't want to change up too much but I want to do some videos here and there that could pop off do you know what I mean that could like hit it off on youtube and I would like one video that gets over 25k views because for me that's like oh that's like hit it that's like gone somewhere and I've never had a video I think my most viewed video is 21k which is my really old London bookshop video which is shit now when I look back at it it was a great idea then it was very early days of my channel and I'm like Jesus like a lot of people have seen that oh my goodness I'm so embarrassed so embarrassed they love you so there we have it that is me reacting I guess to last year's goals and setting this year's ones like I said I didn't have a ton for this year I kind of want to keep it chill keep doing what I'm doing focus on other like personal aspects of my life as well like my health because I've definitely let my health slip um in the latter half of 2021 because I you know I'm working from home and I was stressed for a lot of it so I definitely want to focus on myself a bit more in my well-being so I've kind of left the reading a bit more chill this year but thank you for watching to the end if you're still here and you care that much thank you for watching to the end if you've gone till the end comment the warthog emoji I love the warthog emoji me and Tom you know like the mimo is it mimoji's I don't know the ones where it's like bigger ones where they're like making like facial expressions me and Tom always send them to one another the warthog it's our favourite so comment the warthog emoji good vibes through yeah the warthog is good vibes um comment that down below if you've gone to the end of this video thank you so much for watching and I'll see you very soon in another one bye