7 Common Reading Pitfalls to Avoid

Building good reading habits is just the first step—knowing what can derail them is equally important. While you might intend to implement new reading practices, there are common pitfalls that can undermine your progress. 

Whether you're working to establish the reading habits we discussed in our previous article or just starting your reading journey, understanding and avoiding these seven mistakes will help you build a more sustainable and rewarding reading practice.

1. Setting Unrealistic Reading Goals

We've all been there—January arrives, and suddenly, you've pledged to read 50 books, tackle all the classics, and finally finish that 800-page biography collecting dust on your shelf. While ambition is admirable, unrealistic reading goals often lead to frustration rather than growth.

The most common trap? Getting caught up in numbers. Reading challenges and Goodreads goals can motivate, but they can also turn reading into a checkbox exercise. 

When you're racing to meet a number, you might choose shorter books, skimming rather than absorbing, or worse, giving up entirely when you fall behind.

Another subtle pitfall is loading your reading list with books you think you "should" read rather than books that genuinely interest you. War and Peace might be a masterpiece, but it's okay to skip Tolstoy for another time if military history isn't your thing.

If you set a goal to read 52 books last year—one per week seemed reasonable—you might find yourself five books behind by March and feeling discouraged. 

Rather than giving up, try adjusting your approach. Keep the 52-book goal but reframe it as a flexible target rather than a rigid rule. Start tracking reading sessions instead of completed books, aiming for 30 minutes daily. 

Some weeks, you might finish two books, others none, but maintaining a consistent reading habit feels more successful than racing to hit a number.

The other thing to do is ask yourself what you want to gain from reading this year. 

• More knowledge in your field? 

• Better understanding of a specific topic? 

• Pure enjoyment?

Let your answer guide your reading goals.

When setting your goals:

• Start with a conservative number and adjust up if needed.

• Mix challenging reads with lighter ones to maintain momentum.

• Build in flexibility for life's unexpected demands.

• Focus on reading sessions rather than book counts (like "read 20 minutes daily").

You can always adjust your goals. If you realize mid-year that your target isn't serving you, change it. The only person you're accountable to is yourself.

2. The "Perfect Time" Syndrome

If you're waiting for the perfect reading moment—a quiet house, an empty schedule, and hours of uninterrupted time—you might never open a book. Wanting ideal conditions for reading is one of the biggest obstacles to building a consistent reading habit.

Have you ever done this? You spot an interesting book and think, "I'll save that for my vacation," or "I'll start it when work calms down." 

But let's be honest—there's never a perfect time. Life stays busy, quiet moments remain rare, and that book keeps gathering dust.

Perhaps you've convinced yourself that reading requires long blocks of time. If you can't dedicate at least an hour, why bother? But this all-or-nothing mindset is precisely what keeps you from reading at all. 

If you read for just 20 minutes during your lunch break, that's over two hours of reading per workweek. In a month, you could finish a book you've been "waiting to start."

Look at your typical day. You might scroll through social media while waiting for your morning coffee (potential reading time), watch TV for an hour before bed (could be 30 minutes of TV and 30 minutes of reading), or sit in a waiting room before appointments (perfect for a few pages). 

If you added up all these small windows, you'd likely find an hour or more of potential reading time hiding in plain sight.

The solution is to embrace imperfect reading moments. Read a chapter while waiting for your coffee to brew. Keep your e-reader app handy for unexpected downtime. Listen to audiobooks during your commute. 

These "stolen" moments add up quickly, and you might find they're more sustainable than those mythical perfect reading sessions.

Try these strategies to make the most of your time:

• Identify three 10-minute windows in your daily routine for reading.

• Always keep a book within reach (physical or digital).

• Set a timer for 15 minutes—you'll often read longer.

• Create reading triggers (like reading during your morning coffee).

A "perfect" reading practice isn't about finding perfect times. It's about making reading fit into your real life, whatever that looks like.

3. Ineffective Note-Taking

You finish a brilliant book filled with insights you can't wait to apply. Now, fast forward three months—all you remember is that you liked it, and those yellow highlights might as well be someone else's. 

Sound familiar? The problem isn't that you took notes; it's how you took them.

Many readers fall into the "highlight everything" trap. When every other sentence seems profound, you end up with a technicolor book but no clear takeaways. 

Or maybe you're on the opposite end—convinced you'll remember the key points without notes, only to find your brilliant insights have faded within weeks.

Even worse is taking extensive notes that you never review. If you've ever spent an hour writing detailed summaries in a notebook you never opened again, you know this pain. (Raises hand.) It's like creating a map and then trying to navigate from memory.

Consider your last non-fiction read—if you highlighted 50 passages but can only recall one or two, your note-taking system isn't serving you. 

Instead of highlighting what sounds good in the moment, try asking yourself, "What do I want to remember or act on in three months?" That single question can transform your highlighting from passive collection to active curation.

Here's how this might work with a productivity book. Instead of highlighting every tip, mark the three strategies you could implement tomorrow. 

For instance, if you highlight a passage about morning routines, immediately add a note: "Action: Start tomorrow—10 minutes of planning during morning coffee." When you spot a helpful framework for decision-making, note: "Try this at Tuesday's team meeting." 

These specific, actionable notes are far more valuable than a dozen highlighted principles with no clear plan for using them.

Make your notes work harder with these strategies:

• Limit yourself to 3-5 key highlights per chapter.

• Write a one-sentence action item for each highlight.

• Review your notes within 24 hours of finishing the book.

• Create a simple organization system (digital or physical) that you'll use.

The goal isn't to create a perfect collection of notes—it's to capture ideas that will make a difference in your life and work. One well-chosen highlight you review and apply is worth more than 50 you forget.

4. The Unmanaged TBR List

Your To-Be-Read list should be a source of excitement and inspiration—not a source of stress. Yet many readers stare at an endless list of titles, unable to remember why they added half of them.

The problem isn't the size of your TBR list—you can never have too many books that interest you. 

The real issue is losing connection with why these books called to you. Without context, that book someone recommended six months ago becomes just another title in a sea of possibilities.

Or maybe decision paralysis sets in. You spend more time scrolling through options than actually reading. Worse, you keep forcing yourself through books that no longer align with your interests or goals, just because they've been on your list for so long. (Guilty.)

Here's how this might play out.

You add Think and Grow Rich because a podcast guest praised it, The Thursday Murder Club because it seemed perfect for your upcoming vacation, and Deep Work because you wanted to improve your focus. 

Three months later, you open your list and see these titles without context. Which one matches your current needs? 

Now, imagine each entry included a note. "Think and Grow Rich—recommended by Tim Ferriss episode about morning routines, specifically for the goal-setting framework" or "Deep Work—for developing better concentration habits during work-from-home transition."

Transform your TBR list with these strategies:

• Add a one-line note about why each book interests you when you add it.

• Create flexible categories that match your reading moods ("Quick Wins," "Deep Dives," "Pure Entertainment").

• Review your list quarterly to reorganize and remove books that no longer call to you.

• Keep a "Maybe Later" list for books that don't fit your current season of life.

Your TBR list is a tool for inspiration, not a to-do list. Let it change with you, and don’t feel guilty about reorganizing or removing books that no longer serve your reading journey.

5. The Implementation Gap

Reading about personal growth is easy. Actually growing? That's the hard part.

If your shelves are filled with life-changing books but your life hasn't changed, you might be stuck in the implementation gap—the space between knowing and doing.

It's a familiar pattern. You read an inspiring book about productivity, habits, or personal development. You finish it feeling motivated and ready for change. 

But instead of taking action, you immediately start another book, collecting more ideas without implementing the ones you already have. Soon, those brilliant insights gather dust alongside your good intentions.

The "I'll do it later" trap is sneaky. You tell yourself you're just gathering more information, waiting for the perfect time to start. 

But let's be honest—reading another book about time management won't magically create more hours in your day.

Here's how to break this cycle.

Say you're reading a book about building better habits. Instead of highlighting every strategy, stop after reading about habit stacking—linking a new habit to an existing one. 

Close the book and decide on one tiny implementation step. "Every day after I pour my morning coffee (current habit), I'll write down my top priority for the day (new habit)." 

Try this for a week before reading the next chapter. When you return to reading, you’ll have an experience to build upon, not just theoretical knowledge.

Transform your reading into action with these strategies:

• Pause after each chapter to identify one small, immediate action.

• Create specific implementation triggers ("When I... then I will...").

• Keep an "Action List" separate from your reading notes.

• Celebrate small wins—even tiny changes count as progress.

Books are fuel for growth, not substitutes for action. (Assuming you’re reading for personal development rather than fun.) The most valuable insights are the ones you put into practice, no matter how small they seem.

6. The Echo Chamber Effect

It's human nature to gravitate toward familiar ideas and perspectives. While there's nothing wrong with knowing what you like, reading only within your comfort zone can limit your growth.

The danger lies in confirmation bias—only reading books that reinforce your beliefs while avoiding those that might challenge your assumptions. 

When your reading diet consists only of familiar viewpoints, you miss out on the insights that come from seeing the world through different lenses.

This isn't just about genre diversity. Within your preferred categories, you might read the same authors, similar perspectives, or books that all approach problems in the same way. It’s like having a conversation where everyone agrees with you—comfortable but not enlightening.

Here's how this plays out.

If you're a professional focused on leadership, your reading list might be full of contemporary Western business leaders sharing similar success strategies. 

Try expanding your perspective by reading a biography of a historical leader from another culture or a novel that explores power dynamics in a completely different context. 

For instance, read The Art of War alongside modern leadership books or supplement startup guides with anthropology studies about how different cultures approach innovation. 

These unexpected connections can spark valuable insights.

Here’s how to broaden your reading horizons:

• For every three books in your comfort zone, read one that challenges you.

• Seek out authors with different backgrounds and life experiences than yours.

• Look for books that oppose your current views on important topics.

• Use your existing interests as bridges to new genres (like reading historical fiction related to your industry).

You don’t need to abandon the types of books you love. You just want to add new perspectives that make you think differently.

7. The Mismatched Reading Community

Not every book club is worth your time, and not every reading experience needs to be shared. Yet many readers stick with reading groups or communities out of obligation or habit.

The signs of a mismatched reading community are subtle but significant. 

You skim books you'd never choose independently, sitting through discussions that don't engage you, or feeling guilty about your reading preferences. Meanwhile, your own reading list grows neglected as you keep up with book club selections.

It's equally problematic when you spread yourself too thin across multiple reading communities. 

Between your workplace book club, neighborhood reading group, and three different online reading challenges, you might find your reading life governed by other people's choices rather than your own interests.

Create authentic reading connections with these strategies:

• Before joining a reading group, ask about reading pace, genre preferences, and discussion style.

• Set clear boundaries about your reading time and commitments.

• Consider alternative ways to share your reading life (like a monthly coffee date with a reading friend or sharing reviews on Goodreads).

• Give yourself permission to leave groups that don't enhance your reading life.

• Balance social reading with protected time for your personal reading goals.

The best reading community energizes your reading life rather than depleting it. Sometimes, that might mean no community at all—and that's perfectly fine.

Final Thoughts About Reading Mistakes You Should Avoid

Recognizing these pitfalls is your first step toward a more rewarding reading life. 

Remember, the goal isn't to create a perfect reading practice, but to build one that genuinely serves you. What small change will you make this week to enhance your reading life?