Reading Goals for 2021

I set a goal to read 80 books in 2020. I read 81. Nailed it!

Also, I re-designed this site so check out my homepage. 🙂

The Books I Read in 2020

Yes, I added both of my own books. I actually read them many times in editing, but only counted them once. I read a few of these twice. That’s why the numbers are a little off.

Book Title	Author
10 Branches of Growth: Real-Life Productivity for a Fruitful Life	Kalen Bruce
10 Ways to Kickstart Your Financial Coaching Business!: How I went from part time to full time in just 1 year	Craig Dacy
A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life	Donald Miller
Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think	Peter H. Diamandis
All Things New: Heaven, Earth, and the Restoration of Everything You Love	John Eldredge
Born to Win: Find Your Success Code	Zig Ziglar
Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America’s Youth	Ben Shapiro
Broke Millennial: Stop Scraping by and Get Your Financial Life Together	Erin Lowry
Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen	Donald Miller
Courtship After Marriage: Romance Can Last a Lifetime	Zig Ziglar
Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High	Kerry Patterson
Decluttering at the Speed of Life: Winning Your Never-Ending Battle with Stuff	Dana K. White
Dollars and Sense: How We Misthink Money and How to Spend Smarter	Dan Ariely
Erasing Hell: What God Said about Eternity, and the Things We’ve Made Up	Francis Chan
Every Man’s Battle: Winning the War on Sexual Temptation One Victory at a Time	Stephen Arterburn
Every Man’s Marriage: An Every Man’s Guide to Winning the Heart of a Woman	Stephen Arterburn
Everything is F*cked: A Book About Hope	Mark Manson
Evil and the Justice of God	N.T. Wright
Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit	Francis Chan
Free to Focus: A Total Productivity System to Achieve More by Doing Less	Michael Hyatt
Get Your Life Back: Everyday Practices for a World Gone Mad	John Eldredge
Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success	Adam M. Grant
Greenlights	Matthew McConaughey
Growing Money: A Complete Investing Guide for Kids	Gail Karlitz
How the Bible Actually Works: In Which I Explain How An Ancient, Ambiguous, and Diverse Book Leads Us to Wisdom Rather Than Answers‚Äîand Why That’s Great News	Peter Enns
How to Be Rich: It’s Not What You Have. It’s What You Do With What You Have.	Andy Stanley
Intentional Children: Raising Money-Smart, Mindful Kids of Intention and Purpose	Kalen Bruce
Intermittent Fasting: Lose Weight, Heal Your Body, and Live a Healthy Life!	Amanda Walker
Knowing Christ Today: Why We Can Trust Spiritual Knowledge	Dallas Willard
Lead… for God’s Sake!	Todd Gongwer
Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life	Martin E.P. Seligman
Letters to the Church	Francis Chan
Living in Christ’s Presence: Final Words on Heaven and the Kingdom of God	Dallas Willard
Master Successful Personal Habits: Zig Ziglar Success Legacy Library	Zig Ziglar
Minimalism	Joshua Bell
Mom and Dad, We Need to Talk: How to Have Essential Conversations with Your Parents about Their Finances	Cameron Huddleston
Multiply: Disciples Making Disciples	Francis Chan
One Meal A Day: Improved Health, More Time, More Money With One Meal A Day	Pong Lizardo
Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger: Moving from Affluence to Generosity	Ronald J. Sider
Romance That Lasts a Lifetime	Zig Ziglar
Scary Close: Dropping the Act and Finding True Intimacy	Donald Miller
Searching for God Knows What	Donald Miller
Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus: A Devout Muslim Encounters Christianity	Nabeel Qureshi
Sifted: Pursuing Growth Through Trials, Challenges, and Disappointments	Wayne Cordeiro
Small Faith–Great God: Biblical Faith for Today’s Christians	N.T. Wright
Spiritual Parenting: An Awakening for Today’s Families	Michelle Anthony
Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church	N.T. Wright
The $500 Cup of Coffee: A Lifestyle Approach to Financial Independence	Steven Lome
The Art of Public Speaking	Dale Carnegie
The Bible Jesus Read	Philip Yancey
The Bogleheads’ Guide to Investing	Taylor Larimore
The Case for Hope: Looking Ahead With Confidence and Courage	Lee Strobel
The Challenge of Jesus: Rediscovering Who Jesus Was and Is	N.T. Wright
The Greatest Minds and Ideas of All Time	Will Durant
The Illusion of Money: How Chasing Money Is Stopping You from Living	Kyle Cease
The Laws of Lifetime Growth: Always Make Your Future Bigger Than Your Past	Dan Sullivan
The Logic of God: 52 Christian Essentials for the Heart and Mind	Ravi Zacharias
The Minimalist Way: Minimalism Strategies to Declutter Your Life and Make Room for Joy	Erica Layne
The New Raising Positive Kids in a Negative World	Zig Ziglar
The Opposite of Spoiled: Raising Kids Who Are Grounded, Generous, and Smart About Money	Ron Lieber
The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives	Dallas Willard
The Warrior Diet	Ori Hofmekler
The Wealthy Gardener: Life Lessons on Prosperity between Father and Son	John Soforic
The Year of Less: How I Stopped Shopping, Gave Away My Belongings, and Discovered Life Is Worth More Than Anything You Can Buy in a Store	Cait Flanders
Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything	B.J. Fogg
Trust First: A True Story About the Power of Giving People Second Chances	Bruce Deel
Unfollow: A Journey from Hatred to Hope	Megan Phelps-Roper
Victory Over the Darkness	Neil T. Anderson
Virtual Freedom: How to Work with Virtual Staff to Buy More Time, Become More Productive, and Build Your Dream Business	Chris C. Ducker
Waiting On God	Francis Chan
Who Was Jesus?	N.T. Wright
With: Reimagining the Way You Relate to God	Skye Jethani
Worthy of Her Trust: What You Need to Do to Rebuild Sexual Integrity and Win Her Back	Stephen Arterburn
Your Best Year Ever: A 5-Step Plan for Achieving Your Most Important Goals	Michael Hyatt

For 2021, I’m going back to the basics.

Instead of constantly trying to read all I can — reading every minute I have free and listening to audiobooks at 2x the speed — I’m going to re-read some classics I haven’t opened in a while.

While I’m still going to keep track of all the books I read — I am still a nerd after all — I am not setting a reading goal for this year.

The idea is absorption, not quantity.

So these are some of the books I’m going to start with and some of the new books I really want to slowly take in.

I tried to keep it small. I was thinking like 20 books, but it quickly turned into 32. If I only read 10 books, that’s fine. If I read 80 again, so be it. Again, I have no set goal for 2021. Here’s my plan…

Books I Plan to Re-read

These are mostly classics, but it also includes some “classics-to-me”…

A Praying Life by Paul Miller
A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Malkiel
After You Believe by NT Wright
Atomic Habits by James Clear
Better Than Good by Zig Ziglar
Debt Free for Life by David Bach
How to Have Confidence and Power in Dealing With People by Les Giblin
Intentional Living by John Maxwell
Mere Christianity by CS Lewis
No Excuses by Brian Tracy
Procrastinate on Purpose by Rory Vaden
Smart Money Smart Kids by Dave Ramsey
Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
The 5 Levels of Leadership by John Maxwell
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
The Cost of Discipleship by Bonhoeffer
The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey
The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz
The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod
The Power of Purpose by Les Brown
The Present Perfect by Greg Boyd
The Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins
The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey
The Ultimate Jim Rohn Library by Jim Rohn
Walking With God by John Eldredge

Seeing now how many of those books started with “The,” I should’ve alphabetized them with the “The.”

Books I Haven’t Read

These are some of the books I really want to go through and get as much as I can out of…

All You Need to Know About the Music Business by Donald Passman (I know this may seem random, but I’ve been in a lot of bands and still plan to pursue music)
Biblical Minimalism by Cheryl Smith
The Bitcoin Standard by Saifedean Ammous
The Economics Book by DK
University of Berkshire Hathaway by lots of people (Warren Buffett’s letters to shareholders for the last several decades)
Willpower Doesn’t Work by Benjamin Hardy

Again, I’m Trying Fiction

I still haven’t been able to get into fiction. I enjoy fiction when I read it, but I always want to read non-fiction instead. This year I’m going to try one to start with. The story is based in Arkansas and Texas where I grew up, but written by a guy from the UK, so that’s weird… and intriguing!

The Dark Inside by Rod Reynolds

I’m looking forward to slowly going through these books and getting as much as possible out of them.