Every year since 2011 I have participated in the Goodreads’ Reading Challenge. And every year I have met or exceeded my goal. So at the start of this year, I set a particularly big goal for myself—104 books, which meant I needed to finish 2 books every week to meet the goal.

We are now in the middle of week 24 and I just finished book #31. Granted, 31 books in 24 weeks is more than 1 a week, but less than the 2 a week I needed to make my 104 book goal.

In other words, I’m 15 books behind schedule.

I’ve read comments from other people on other sites who get stressed out from number-based reading challenges. I get it. Setting a number puts pressure on you. And you may be rolling along, but then BAM! Life happens. Other priorities have to take precedent. No one wants to fail. Everyone wants to succeed, even with an arbitrary goal.

So to get back on track and meet my 104-book goal, I would have to read almost 2.5 books a week. That could be doable. But here’s the thing:

I’m okay with failing.

So I don’t read 104 books this year. Say I read only another 26 books (1 per week) for a total of 57. Or say I only read 13 more books (1 every two weeks) for a total of 44 books.

Or let’s say for some strange reason, I don’t read another book this year. Let’s say my final total for the year is 31 books. I still read 31 books.

If I read only 1 a month, that’s still 12 books. And if I only read 1 book all year, that’s still 1 more book in the read column.

The point is the number is inconsequential. It doesn’t matter what the number is. What matters is that you read.

Whatever it is that you like to read, just read. Don’t worry about the number. Don’t worry about anyone else’s number. One of my Goodreads’ friends reads over 300 books a year. (Don’t ask me how she does it.) So it doesn’t matter how many books anyone else reads. All that matters is that you read.

And that’s why I’m okay with being behind in my Goodreads Reading Challenge.

(Although I will note that Goodreads lets you edit your goal. I changed my goal to 70 and now I’m right on track! And if you want to check out my Reading Goal and the 31 books I’ve read so far this year, check it out here.)

Do you have a reading challenge goal for 2017? Tell me in the comments below.