Happy New Year gapmusers! Hope your year is off to a great start.

We’re so excited we made it into another year and a new decade! We’ve finally set our goals and we’re ready to get going. One of those goals is to read more in 2020.

If you love to read as much as we do, you know how challenging it can be sometimes to find the right books to add to your reading list. This year, while thinking about our 2020 reading goals, we set out to make it easier for you to discover the most intriguing books by sharing:

1. Our gapmuseBookshelf curated throughout the year
2. How we discover our most interesting reads
3. Our Book Collection compiled in collaboration with our Facebook gapmuseWomen community, and
4. The strategies we use to achieve our reading goals (at least close enough)

Every year we resolve to read at least 2 books per quarter (sometimes a tall order with everything going on in our lives!) In 2019, we managed to read 5 books (we’re still reading the 6th), accomplishing 63% of our goal! Who knew it would be so challenging to read 8 books in one year! The good news is that even though we may fall short, it forces us to at least try our best.

We’ve set the same goal this year and intend to do better!

Here are our best of 2019 reads, the resources we plan to use to build our 2020 list, and strategies we will use to help us accomplish our goals.

Best 2019 Reads

1. Becoming by Michelle Obama

Check out our key takeaways from this amazing book here.

2 Moment of Lift by Melinda Gates

3. What Works: Gender Equality by Design, by Iris Bohnet

4. Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success, by Phil Jackson

5. Girls & Sex: Navigating the Complicated New Landscape by Peggy Orenstein

6. Trailblazer by Marc Benioff

Resources to Help You Build Your 2020 List

1. Our gapmuseBookshelf

Our collection of books curated over the last few years. Topics range from women’s issues, leadership, parenting, and career management, to empowerment, feminism, philanthropy, self-care, entrepreneurship, technology, work and family, business/marketing strategy, mesmerizing fiction, inspiring biographies, and more.

As a bonus, you also get access to our gapmuseKids Bookshelf, our collection of awesome books for your kiddos! Hey, we run a democracy around here! 🙂

2. Curated lists by people who inspire us

They include, former POTUS, Barack Obama, who publishes his reading list at the end of each year, Bill Gates, and Oprah’s Book Club.

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A post shared by Barack Obama (@barackobama)

3. Suggestions from family, friends, and colleagues

In 2019, we received awesome recommendations, including “When Helping Hurts,” “Half the Sky,” “The Checklist Manifesto,” “The Plant Paradox,” “Leadership in Turbulent Times,” “City of Girls,” “The Friend,” and “The Mars Room.” Quite the list, wouldn’t you say!

4. Our gapmuseWomen community book collection

Our list is compiled in collaboration with our Facebook Group members. Join our community today to access the collection from our “Units” tab. The collection is located in the “Lifestyle Tips & Information” Unit.

Strategies to Help You Succeed

• Set a goal with a specific timeline. For instance, as mentioned previously, our 2020 goal is to read 2 books per quarter.
• Set a precise time to read during the day. It could be during your lunch break, before bedtime, at your child’s extracurricular activity, or wherever else you can steal some time.
• Commit to reading at least 30 minutes per day and at least 4 hours during the weekend
• Alternate reading between two books
• Share what you’re reading with your family or friends. If you’re reading the same book at the same time, have a meet up over coffee or virtually (FaceTime, WhatsApp, etc.) to talk about it
• Join a book club if you have the time (I find it challenging to fit into my schedule but it may work for you)
• Share the book you’re reading with your friends on social as soon as you purchase it. It will motivate you to read and complete it.
• Read in the format you’re most comfortable in. Don’t feel pressure to read on a tablet because everyone else seems to do it that way. If you love curling up with a book, do just that!
• Go audio! If you’re in your car or train for long periods of time (commute to and from work, or even lengthy errands like the grocery store.) You’d be amazed how relaxing it becomes to shop while listening to your favorite author narrate a book.
• Take notes as you read your book (works mostly for non-fiction books) and commit to sharing key takeaways from it on your blog, social media, Facebook Group, or anywhere else where you think someone will be empowered
• Most importantly, don’t beat yourself up because of the time length it takes you to complete your book. It doesn’t matter whether it takes you a day, week, month, or even more! What matters is that you got through it.

So there you have it! We hope our reading list, book discovery resources, and reading strategies will inspire you to read more in 2020.

What’s on your 2020 reading list? Please share so we can be inspired to read more too.

Looking for a book to strengthen your relationships this coming Valentine’s Day? Check out our list here.

Happy Reading!