Books fueling early 2000s nostalgia have joined the New Year’s Resolution party

Do you want to know why the masses set themselves up for failure when they make a New Year’s Resolution? One reason is that they’re not specific. Nor are their goals measurable. Nor attainable. Nor relevant. Nor are they on a time clock.

I first heard of S.M.A.R.T. goals shortly after I ordered a few textbooks that would kick off what was once a promising career as a personal trainer all the way back in 2009. Not long after I graduated high school if you want the truth. When I landed my first real personal training gig in 2012 at age 21, I was well-versed in them, and it was probably why I managed to work almost full-time as a trainer at such a young age.

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It was September 2012, and the old 24-hour fitness center in Northern West Virginia was where I ultimately spent some of my best days. Leaving that job in January 2017 in search of greener pastures that ultimately, following a plethora of starts, stops, sputters, stalls, and a pandemic, led me back to my original passion: writing.

Well, writing and reading. Strange how things work out. But throughout my four-and-a-half, or nearly-four-and-a-half years at that fitness center, I saw a lot, and I mean a lot of failed New Year’s Resolutions. While I’m no longer a trainer, I still spend a good two hours in the gym a day, and I’ll surely see it again. The resolutions, that is.

This is why, if you look at the subheading of this article, I put some specifications there:

Books for readers between ages 10 and 14

25, to be exact

By December 31st

Why this New Year’s Resolution will work in my favor

Before I talk to you about why that will be the case, let’s talk about why I saw so many fail in the gym and continue to see that today. I know, this is a book review page, but bear with me. Anyway, most of these people say they just want to exercise more and eat better, and nothing more.

Yeah, that means they already set themselves up for failure. I didn’t want that to happen when it came to this particular book reading goal, so instead of saying that I’d like to dig into and add books that are suitable for readers between the ages of 10 and 14, I wanted to add some specifications.

I needed a number that I could hit, which was 25. For me, that’s almost one book every other week. Now, this doesn’t mean I need to read them all this year, as some books that I have in mind, like Holes by Louis Sachar, just to throw a work out there, I’ve read about a million times.

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There’s also a timetable on it: by December 31st. This means that Recommended Reads list which I’ll have available at Goodreads and right here as well must have that number by December 31st.

It’s not just a goal with specifications, but one that’s measurable, given the number that I presented. It’s also more than attainable, as what’s 25 books, really? Relevance is self-explanatory, and there’s a timetable on it.

Now, it’s your turn

As you read this, it’s already January 3rd, 2025, the day after most New Year’s Resolutions begin, right? Or, maybe it’ll be January 6th, since it’s the first Monday of 2025. So, my question to you is this: Did you just say something out of the blue that you were going to do this year, or did you get specific?

If not, you still got time. I’ll be lenient and say you have until the 6th. So, if your goal is to read more books, why not write down the following:

I will read X pages per day

I will read X pages by day by (specific time)

I will read X pages per day before (or after) (insert activity)

Easy, right? Hey, even the toughest New Year’s Resolutions can be easy if you allow them to be. As for me, I thankfully have a few books that I know I’ll be adding to that Recommended Reads list, including A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck and its sequel, A Year Down Yonder.

Books like The Giver and Number the Stars by Lois Lowry, Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt, Nothing But the Truth by Avi, and Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt will also be tagging along. All seven Chronicles of Narnia books by C.S. Lewis will grace the list, too, and I also crossed a few other forgotten gems that gave me early-2000s nostalgia.

And yes, I know, very, very few of these books that I mentioned were written in the early 2000s. But that was when I discovered them, even if I actually didn’t read a few of them until sometime later. But still, it’s where the nostalgia comes from.

Anyway, you may’ve noticed that I’ll already have plenty of books to add to that list, to the point I’ll get to 25 in no time. So, once this goal is inevitably reached, what then? Why not increase to 30, 35, 40, and even more should I get there?

Ultimate failure ain’t a bad thing

As you can see, the Resolution will just keep increasing until the clock strikes 11:59 PM on December 31st, 2025. That said, this Resolution is destined to fail since I’ll be upping the ante every time I accomplish another goal.

But who cares? Hey, if there’s another lesson I’ve learned about working out for what will be my 21st year pumping serious iron (started when I was 14), it’s that failure ain’t a bad thing. Sometimes, it’s good, because you know you still have a little more work to put in. And yeah, I’m the old-school type here, so I love that lactic acid, work ‘til I drop mindset.

It doesn’t just come in the gym; but in life. That said, I’ll clear 25 books long before Lord Voldemort celebrates his next birthday while he’s still stuck in limbo. The real burning question is: Will I fail at 30, 40, or even 50 books until I fail?

In the meantime, I’ll just keep setting those S.M.A.R.T goals just like you should be doing, and I’ll succeed numerous times before failure is ultimately reached. And that ultimate failure will be a beautiful, beautiful thing.