Reading Misogi - 2026

During one of those pointless discussions about objectives for the next year, a friend suddenly came up with the word "Misogi" and also added a link so that we could read about the topic.

Link: https://pursueperformance.com/misogi-challenge/

Unlike its Wikipedia counterpart, it is not a religious ritual but the practice of setting a goal for oneself where success is not guaranteed.

The aforementioned link contains several examples of potential "Misogi" challenges. Many of them are related to physical activity, which means I am already engaging in such challenges each year (running and cycling).

Hence, one entry in the list caught my eye: "Read 100 business books in 100 days". This is graded with a difficulty level of 6 and a success probability of 70%. I guess it depends on the page count of those 100 books.

Even though I read on a regular basis, I am challenged by the usual daily overhead: day job, wife, kids, training for the physical "Misogi" events, age (I am not getting any younger). That is why reading keeps being pushed to the end of the queue.

My challenge, therefore: "Read 26 books in 52 weeks".

That is one book every two weeks and should give me the chance to find several time slots to read. Not documenting my challenge —and the progress— would mean I could silently drop it and nobody would notice. It is not that I need recognition, but human psychology works like this: if you write about it and let others know, you are more likely to fulfill your own promises and commitments.

Each time I complete a book, my personal review will be added to the site along with the date of completion. Let us see how the list looks at the end of 2026.