A business owner I know reads 50 books per year. He can barely remember the titles, let alone apply anything he learned. Another reads just 12 books per year but each one directly influences a strategic decision in his company. The difference comes down to intention.
Most professionals approach business books like they’re collecting stamps. You add titles to your “books read” list, accumulate knowledge passively, and hope something useful sticks. This approach treats reading as consumption rather than transformation. You finish feeling accomplished but struggle to point to specific ways the book changed your thinking or actions.
Reading with purpose flips this dynamic entirely. You begin each book with a clear goal that directs your attention, filters what you capture, and ensures you extract maximum value from the time invested. Coming up, we’ll explore how to set effective reading goals using the SMART framework, when to read for breadth versus depth, and how intentional reading compounds into a significant competitive advantage over time.
The Problem With Aimless Reading
When I ask business leaders why they’re reading their current book, the most common answer sounds like “it was recommended” or “everyone’s talking about it.” These responses reveal reading driven by external validation rather than internal need.
Books recommended by others might address problems you don’t have. Popular business books often target broad audiences, which means much of the content may be irrelevant to your specific situation. Reading these books without a filter wastes time on interesting but useless information.
Nick Hutchison, founder of BookThinkers and author of Rise of the Reader, captures this precisely when describing what he encounters with most readers:
When I meet people, oftentimes I’ll ask them what they’re reading. And they’ll tell me and I’ll say why? And they’re like, What do you mean why? And I’m just kind of met with a blank stare. So one of the things that I like to do is read with intention.
That blank stare signals a fundamental misunderstanding about what reading should accomplish. Reading without purpose is like attending meetings without agendas. You show up, time passes, and you leave without clear outcomes or next steps. The activity happened but nothing changed.
This aimless approach also prevents you from properly evaluating whether a book delivered value. Without a clear purpose, how do you judge success? You finished the book, but so what? Did it make you smarter? Did it improve your business? Did it change how you approach a specific challenge? Without intention upfront, these questions have no meaningful answers.
The SMART Framework for Reading Goals
Hutchison sets a SMART goal for every business book he reads. The framework transforms vague reading intentions into actionable targets:
When I set a goal, it is specific, measurable, attainable, meaning it’s possible to achieve. It’s relevant, meaning you’re emotionally connected to the goal. And then it’s time bound.
Let’s break down each component and see how it applies to reading.
In this full conversation with Nick Hutchison on the Deliberate Leaders podcast, you’ll hear him explain his complete approach to intentional reading, including how he uses SMART goals to transform books from entertainment into business tools.
1. S – Specific: Define Exactly What You Want
“Learn about marketing” fails as a reading goal because it provides no filter for what to capture. Marketing encompasses dozens of disciplines from brand positioning to conversion rate optimization to customer retention. A 300-page marketing book cannot teach you everything, and you cannot implement everything it contains.
A specific goal sounds like “identify three tactics for reducing customer acquisition cost in my service business” or “understand the framework for positioning my product against a market leader.” These goals tell your brain exactly what to look for while reading.
Specificity also helps you choose the right books. If your goal involves reducing acquisition costs, you need books focused on efficiency and optimization, perhaps with case studies from similar business models. If your goal involves positioning strategy, you need books about competitive differentiation and customer perception. The specific goal guides book selection as much as it guides reading.
2. M – Measurable: Quantify the Outcome
Vague goals like “become a better leader” offer no way to assess whether you achieved them. Better leadership means different things to different people. You need concrete markers.
Measurable reading goals include numbers and tangible outputs. Hutchison’s approach demonstrates this:
I’m looking to find and implement at least two lead generation strategies for my business BookThinkers by the end of October.
Notice the measurement: two strategies, implemented, by a specific date. At the end of October, he can objectively evaluate whether he achieved the goal. He either implemented two strategies or he did not. The measurement eliminates ambiguity.
For your reading goals, consider these measurement types:
- Action count. Implement X strategies, test Y tactics, apply Z frameworks.
- Problem resolution. Solve the challenge with employee retention, fix the bottleneck in the sales process, address the issue with customer complaints.
- Decision clarity. Make a decision about whether to expand to a new market, choose between competing strategic options, determine the right pricing model.
- Knowledge milestones. Explain the concept to your team, create a one-page summary of the framework, teach the approach to a colleague.
Each measurement type provides clear evidence of whether the reading delivered value.
3. A – Attainable: Set Realistic Expectations
Goals that demand too much create failure and discouragement. If you’re running a $2 million business and set a goal to “learn how to scale to $100 million,” you’re setting yourself up for disappointment. The gap between where you are and where that goal requires you to be spans years of execution.
Attainable goals match your current situation and capacity. They challenge you without overwhelming you. Hutchison emphasizes this:
It’s attainable, meaning it’s possible to achieve. I think sometimes we get hung up on trying to implement these really long, complex strategies from books. And as a result, we don’t take any action.
An attainable reading goal focuses on what you can realistically test or implement within the timeframe you set. Reading a book about building sales teams becomes attainable when your goal is “identify the first three hires I need to make” rather than “build a world-class sales organization.” The first goal can be achieved through reading and reflection. The second requires years of execution.
Consider your current constraints when setting goals. If you have limited budget, goals requiring expensive tools or consultants may be unattainable. If you’re already stretched thin on time, goals that demand 20 hours per week of new activities set you up for failure. Choose goals that fit within your reality while still moving you forward.
4. R – Relevant: Connect to Your Actual Challenges
Relevance means the goal addresses a problem you’re facing or an opportunity you’re pursuing. It connects to your emotional and strategic priorities, the things keeping you up at night or driving your excitement about the business.
Goals that lack relevance get abandoned. You might set a goal to “learn about artificial intelligence applications” because AI feels trendy and important. But if your immediate challenges involve improving team communication and fixing cash flow issues, the AI goal competes for attention with more urgent needs. When push comes to shove, you’ll prioritize the urgent over the merely interesting.
Hutchison describes relevance as emotional connection:
It’s relevant, meaning you’re emotionally connected to the goal.
Emotional connection provides the motivation to follow through. When your reading goal addresses a challenge that frustrates you daily or an opportunity that excites you deeply, you bring more energy and attention to the reading process. The emotional stakes make you more likely to implement what you learn.
Test relevance by asking: “If I achieve this reading goal, what changes in my business or leadership?” If the answer feels vague or minor, the goal lacks sufficient relevance to justify the time investment.
5. T – Time-Bound: Create Urgency and Accountability
Goals without deadlines drift into “someday” territory. Someday you’ll implement those strategies. Someday you’ll test that framework. Someday rarely arrives.
Time-bound goals create healthy pressure. Hutchison’s goal specified “by the end of October.” This deadline forced him to review his highlights, evaluate potential strategies, and choose the highest-leverage options to test. Without the deadline, he might still be considering his options months later.
The timeframe should be short enough to create urgency but long enough to allow proper implementation. Setting a goal to implement a complex system in three days sets you up for rushed, poor execution. Setting a goal with a six-month timeline removes the urgency that drives action.
Most reading goals work well with 30 to 90 day timeframes. Thirty days pushes you to act quickly. Ninety days allows time to test, learn, and adjust. Beyond 90 days, the goal loses urgency and other priorities crowd it out.
This article was written by Allison Dunn, business & executive coach, who has a 30-year career as an owner and executive across diverse industries. After helping hundreds of clients, Allison has cemented her reputation as a dynamic and results-driven coach whose systems work regardless of the industry. To learn more about her please visit https://deliberatedirections.com/about/