How I Track My Reading: The Progress Bar Method & Completed Shelf Method
Tracking your reading progress might seem like a waste of time and unnecessary to accomplish your reading goals, but it can be incredibly motivating. When I first started my reading journey, I wanted to see if keeping up with my goal of reading every day would show how many books I could read in my first year.
At the time, my wife was building a bullet journal, and I had just watched this video by Peter Mckinnon, so I thought I would give it a try. This was the birth of the "Completed Shelf Method," as I call it, and it ended up being so rewarding in my first year that it is now my favorite way to track my books. The second method I use is called the "Progress Bar Method." Over the years, I have experimented with a lot of different ways to keep track of my reading, especially since I read multiple books at a time, and this method is one of the best motivators. Here’s a closer look at each method, how they’ve helped me stay motivated, and how you can incorporate them into your own reading routine.
The Progress Bar Method
The Progress Bar Method is a technique I first heard about while scrolling through TikTok. It's often used in video games to show how far you’ve come and how close you are to completing a level or task. This method leverages our natural human desire for completion and provides a visual representation of progress, which can be incredibly satisfying and motivating.
Why It Works
Visual Motivation: According to the video, studies have found that watching something be completed is just as fulfilling as actually completing the task itself. That's why watching someone paint or build something can give us a good feeling. So for this method, seeing a progress bar gradually fill up as you read through a book will give you little hits of dopamine. It will give you a clear sense of how far you have come and how close you are to finishing. This visual can be a powerful motivator—it certainly is for me—that will encourage you to keep going.
Sense of Accomplishment: Reaching 100% on your progress bar provides a significant sense of accomplishment. It feels like a tangible reward for your efforts and can make the reading experience more gratifying. Plus, I have found that finishing a book gives me a huge amount of momentum for starting my next book.
Goal Setting: As I mentioned in my blog, "How I Read Every Day," making your reading so simple that it would be stupid not to do it is key to accomplishing your reading goal. This progress method means that as you achieve your daily goal, you get an additional sense of accomplishment when you update your progress.
How to Implement It
While there are a lot of apps out there specifically designed for this, I have two favorite ways:
Goodreads: I use Goodreads to track my progress because it is simple and a lot of people use Goodreads. You can update the percentage or page number of the books you've read, and it will automatically show you a progress bar.
Notion: One of my favorite customizable productivity solutions is Notion. Notion allows you to create your own reading tracker with a progress bar. You can update it manually and add notes or reviews as you go. I personally love it because I read a lot of books at one time, so keeping them straight is extremely beneficial for me.
Apps: If you don't want to go with either of those options, there are several apps designed specifically for tracking reading progress, such as Bookly or Reading Tracker, which provide progress bars and other motivational features.
This is my Notion page
I made a lot of changes from the template to mine stylistically. If you want to try the base template I used, you can get the FREE template here
The Completed Shelf Method
The Completed Shelf Method is my favorite method. It is so easy to do, and it continues to be my recommendation for keeping track of what books I read in the year. It involves creating a visual representation of a bookshelf that is only for the books you have finished. There is just something so immensely satisfying about seeing a "shelf" fill up, whether it's a physical bookshelf, a bullet journal, or a digital tracker.
Why It Works
Tangible: Physically or visually placing a book on your designated completed shelf provides a solid sense of achievement. Similar to the progress method, seeing a shelf fill up is equally satisfying. It's a reminder of the effort you’ve put in and helps you celebrate completing books.
Motivation to Read More: Seeing your completed shelf grow motivates you to fill the shelf, and for me, I take that motivation and put it into the next book.
Personal Satisfaction: I feel an enormous joy in manually updating my reading tracker. I find both updating my journal and adding it to a digital shelf to work best for me. It is a ritual at this point that adds to my reading experience.
How to Implement It
Bullet Journal: As I mentioned, it was by pure luck that my wife introduced me to a Bullet Journal. It is so simple yet so rewarding that I will always do it. I think this especially works for those who listen to audiobooks and/or read digitally because this is so tangible—it feels extra satisfying. Here is what I do: I draw the most simple bookshelf—it's a square with lines across it. When I finish a book, I draw a small book on the shelf with the title of the book. This adds a personal touch, allows for creativity, and feels good to do something away from the digital world.
Goodreads: Another way I track my completed books is through the Goodreads challenge. I have found that this is a great way for me to go back and easily search for when I completed a book. I also like that it is a backup of my progress.
Notion: As mentioned in the Progress Bar section, you can combine the Progress Bar and Completed Shelf methods in Notion. Notion is such a powerful tool, and it might be too much for many, but if you want an awesome way to track it all, I would highly recommend Notion.
My First Bullet Journal Entry - It doesn’t need to be pretty.
While there are many more beautiful ways to use the Completed Shelf Method, this way is so simplistic and it worked for me.
Combining Both Methods
For the best of both worlds, it is really easy to use both the Progress Bar Method and the Completed Shelf Method. Track your progress as you read, and then move the book to your completed shelf once you’ve finished. This has worked for me, and I know that it will provide you with continuous motivation and a rewarding sense of accomplishment.
Final Thoughts
While there are a ton of ways to track your reading progress, and it might sound unnecessary to do so, tracking your progress will significantly enhance your reading experience. It's why tracking your progress is recommended in many other parts of life. Whether you choose the Progress Bar Method, the Completed Shelf Method, or a combination of both, these techniques will help you stay motivated. The last thing I want to emphasize is that the two most important things you can do are read and celebrate your reading accomplishments—in whatever way you choose.
One more thing... I would love to hear from you! In what ways do you track your progress (it doesn't have to be related to reading)? Have you tried these methods? What did you think? Let me know in the comments!
