The not-so-challenging challenge: Bullet journaling techniques to track your reading

Dot grids, made popular (beyond geometry class) by the bullet journaling trend, are a great tool to track your reading goals because they’re so flexible. That’s why we’ve put one on the RPL Adult Reading Challenge gamecards: so that you can record your reading in the way that makes sense to you! Here are some techniques to get you started.

Building your tracker

Think of your tracker as a hand-written spreadsheet: the information you gather here becomes the stats for your reading goal. You’ll see your progress accumulate, and this visual can help motivate you to keep going and let you know when you’ve hit your goal.

You can use a dot grid to make any kind of tracker that works for you, from minimalist to ornate. The open space lets you express your artistic side or make simple rows. Add as few or as many details you want, such as:

• graphs or charts
• drawings or doodles
• stickers or washi tape
• colouring 
• dates
• reviews 
• reflections

…or simply draw a checkmark for every reading goal accomplished. Choose what keeps you on top of tracking your habits instead of what you think a perfect tracker “should” look like – the goal is the reading! 

Pacing yourself

Customizable trackers like dot grids make goals less overwhelming by helping to break them into manageable chunks. You can write out your reading list for the whole year, or you can chop it into smaller goals, like each of the series or genres you plan to explore that year. Don’t forget that each of your RPL Adult Reading Challenge gamecards acts as another entry for prize draws! It’s easy to record your progress when each tracker focuses on one clearly defined goal, whether you’re listing the books you’ve read, the number of pages you read in each sitting, or the minutes you spent reading each week.

Reflecting

Dot grid trackers are not just for planning and recording; they are also great for reflection. Jotting notes after you read can help you deepen your understanding of the material and make connections between different books. Like a diary or a blog, you can use your reading tracker to write reviews, rank books, reflect on personal connections, or rant about your favourite characters. 

Staying accountable

Physically writing down your goals and keeping them somewhere visible is a great strategy to stay accountable to yourself. The task of adding to your reading tracker every day reinforces the habit every time you intentionally note your progress. 

Accountability partners can also help keep us going. Sharing your reading goals with family might motivate them to give you more uninterrupted space to read. Joining a book club could give you monthly incentive to binge-finish the meeting’s book topic. Starting a Library Reading Challenge (hint, hint!) can win you big prizes, earn you a cool custom sticker, and get a proud smile from library staff. By sharing your goals with others, you can stay motivated and hold yourself accountable for reaching them.

Join the RPL Adult Reading Challenge to get started on your reading goals!