A book content creator and digital marketer, Stella Adjei, has explained how she successfully read 120 books in 2025 despite working full-time. Adjei, 25, said reading has always been a passion for her, alongside her career as a digital marketer and content creator. In an exclusive interview with Guardian Life, she explained that the decision to read 120 books in a year was a personal challenge aimed at building discipline and consistency.
“I set out to read 120 books in a year as a personal challenge to push my limits and create a consistent reading habit,” Adjei said. On how she made time for reading, she said it was about fitting books into her daily routine rather than waiting for free time. “On a typical day, I carve out dedicated reading time in the mornings and evenings. On especially busy days, I read in short bursts during commutes, lunch breaks, or even before bed,” she said. She added, “The key is to make reading part of the rhythm of your day, not just a separate task.”
Adjei noted that consistency came naturally because reading was something she genuinely enjoyed. “It’s a passion, not a chore. Consistency came from remembering why I started. Even on tired days, I’d read a few pages to keep the habit alive,” she said. She said reading 120 books had a strong impact on her personal growth. “Reading 120 books has broadened my perspective, improved focus, and taught me patience and empathy,” Adjei said. “One lesson that really stuck is that growth often comes from small, daily commitments rather than grand, sudden efforts,” she added.
Her post about the achievement later went viral on social media, drawing widespread reactions. “Seeing the post gain so much attention was surreal,” she said. “I was surprised by how many people resonated with the challenge. It showed me that sharing personal journeys can inspire others in ways I never imagined.” Adjei revealed that reading challenges are a yearly habit for her. She said she read 130 books in 2023, 110 books in 2024, and 120 books in 2025, with all the milestones going viral online. “I do this yearly. I standardly set 100 books every year. The rest are always top-ups,” she said.
Speaking on her reading preferences, Adjei said she mainly reads fiction. “I majorly do fiction, and my favourite genres are mystery and thriller, fantasy, romantasy, found family and romance,” she said. She advised people struggling to read more to start small. “For anyone struggling to read more, start small. Even 10 to 15 minutes a day can build momentum. The key is consistency, not speed,” Adjei said. “Pick books that genuinely excite you, and gradually challenge yourself as the habit grows,” she added.
Reading vs Scrolling: What Your Brain Gains and Loses
Endless scrolling is easy, but it can fragment attention. Reading demands focus, yet it strengthens memory and concentration. Both habits shape your brain, but in very different ways. While reading forces your mind to stay with one thing, scrolling rewards constant switching. This is why reading can feel tiring. Your brain decodes language, holds context, and keeps attention steady, all at once. In a major study published in The New England Journal of Medicine, Verghese and colleagues reported that “participation in leisure activities is associated with a reduced risk of dementia.” Reading sits inside that wider group of mentally engaging habits. The point is not that books are magic. It is that reading repeatedly trains your brain to practise focus, memory, and meaning, instead of jumping from one stimulus to the next.
A separate study in JAMA by Wilson and colleagues found that “frequent cognitive activity in old age is associated with reduced risk of incident AD.” In everyday terms, people who stayed mentally active were less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease during the study period. However, this does not mean reading guarantees protection. A 14-year study published in International Psychogeriatrics also put it bluntly: “Reading was protective of cognitive function in later life.” It added that frequent reading was linked to a reduced risk of cognitive decline over time, even across different education levels.
Social Understanding
Reading fiction is not just entertainment. It is social practice. One paper on narrative comprehension explained that “narrative comprehension rests on the ability to understand the intentions and perceptions” of characters. It also argued that story understanding draws on brain systems used for Theory of Mind, the skill behind recognising what other people think and feel. That is why reading can support empathy and better judgment. You learn to sit with context, motives, and consequences, instead of reacting to isolated snippets.
Where Scrolling Lands
Scrolling is not evil. It trains novelty, speed, and constant switching. A 2024 study published on ScienceDirect linked doomscrolling with negative mental health patterns, including higher distress and anxiety-related symptoms. However, the evidence largely remains correlational, meaning it shows association, not direct causation. If most of your day consists of quick digital hits, reading will feel harder at first. Not because you are lazy, but because your brain has been practising something else.
Reading Tips to Try
- The 10-minute rule: Read for 10 minutes every day. Same time, same spot.
- The five-page or one-chapter goal: Keep it simple. Stop when you hit five pages or one chapter.
- Phone trap fix: Put your phone in another room. No notifications. No “just one scroll.”
- The two-page trick: Promise yourself only two pages. Once you start, it is easier to continue.
- Start small on purpose: If focus is hard, choose short reads like essays, short stories, or comics.
