Setting Myself Goals (In Life And Books)

Next week, I go back to university for my fourth and final year to get my Masters in Mathematics. This should be great but whilst I enjoy maths, I’m not in love with it. Some of my friends would happily devote all of their time to the subject but I have always enjoyed learning other things as well. For instance, my maths friends all think I’m crazy for having studied English Literature and History alongside my Maths A-Levels. They disliked all essay subjects and stuck to the sciences which is perfectly fine but I enjoy a bit more variety.

So I need to do something else to feel a bit more fulfilled. Currently, I have no money so I will have to wait to be able to travel. In the meantime, there’s a few free things I’d like to do over the next year:

1. Continue reading as many books as I can (more about this below). Previously, I never read much whilst at uni but I’m hoping to change that with this blog to keep me motivated.
2. Join the book club at university to meet new people and motivate me to keep reading.
3. Start to learn a new language. This is something I have always wanted to do and if I keep putting it off I will never do it. I’ve set up a Duolingo account to start me off.
4. Write. I would love to write a book and have participated in NaNoWriMo a few times before (I even won once). Again, I think it’s just a matter of doing it and not putting it off.

This is a lot to do alongside having to study and needing to apply for lots of graduate jobs ready for when I finish university. I’m realistic in that I probably won’t have the time to do everything but maybe if I’m super organised I can spend a bit of time reading, learning a language or being able to write as a break from maths.

My main problem is that I procrastinate too much but I have discovered an app called Habitica which treats your life like an RPG game. The more tasks you complete in real life, the more XP and gold you collect to spend on gear. Alongside my bullet journal, I’m hoping this will motivate me to get stuff done.

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So onto the books! Throughout summer I read quite a lot of books from my TBR list, leaving me with a few to take to uni including:

• The City & The City by China Miéville
• The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkein
• The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

But I still haven’t read City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare and being the last book in The Mortal Instruments series, I would ideally like to reread the entire series before I read it (partly because I can’t remember what happened). This will involve taking all of those books with me to uni and my goal was to take as few things as possible, so that may have to change.

Whilst I’m finishing off my TBR list, I will hopefully be reading books from the uni book club as well. I don’t think I’ll be able to afford to buy them all (even though I would love to) so I may need to make a trip to the library which will suit me just fine!
I also want to start reading some graphic novels. It’s not really something I’ve ever done before apart from having read one manga series, The Demon Ororon by Hakase Mizuki, which I really enjoyed. If anything, I really like the artwork in comics/graphic novels. I’m thinking of reading The Walking Dead because I love the TV show but if anyone has any recommendations please let me know!

If you have any comments or suggestions to help me to do everything and stay organised, I would really love to hear them! 🙂