The 2025 Book-Stack Challenge—Discipline Yourself with Reading

The 2025 Book-Stack Challenge—Discipline Yourself with Reading

I’ve always been an avid reader. All my family have always loved books, and a treat for me as a child was a Reading Party night, which involved a trip to the library and returning home to immerse myself, alongside bowls of popcorn, in the books I checked out. As I’ve gotten older, reading has remained a very large part of my life. As far as I can remember, I don’t think I’ve ever gone through a day without opening a book.

In my experience, reading has several benefits to your lifestyle and overall health. The most obvious benefit I’ve noticed is that, by sitting down and reading without interruption for any period of time, my attention span has increased, not only for reading, but for other activities as well. In a world dominated by the internet, where we are satisfied by quick bits information and videos before scrolling down for something more interesting, we are used to instant gratification without the need for long periods of concentrated thought. For a student, as for any adult, this is not conducive to getting things done or developing ourselves intellectually in any way. A solution to this, for me, has been disciplining myself by reading.

For example, a few months ago I was somewhat addicted to the internet, and I found sitting and concentrating on a chapter of a book difficult. I was always flipping ahead, trying to see when the next break was, or wanting to know what happened without waiting. After some time spent in a house without internet, however, I’ve found that I’ve managed to wean myself off this constant need for instant gratification and entertainment, and it’s been so much easier to concentrate on a book chapter—or even several chapters—without getting up and looking for something “more interesting” to do. In addition, this has made several activities easier: meditation and prayer, crafting, and even conversations with others have been easier to concentrate on for longer periods of time. I’ve found that by reading, I have become a more focused and alert person.

Along my reading journey, about eight years ago I began keeping track of the titles that I read during the year. Then, in October 2021, a friend challenged me to join her on a “50 books in a year” goal. With less than three months left to the year, I raced to increase my 30-some finished book titles to 50, managing 51 before 2022 began. From there, my goals increased, hitting an all-time high when, in 2023, I read 92 books. By setting myself a “Book Stack Challenge” at the beginning of the year, I discipline myself throughout the next 12 months by ensuring that I get in a certain amount of reading each week. Doing it with a friend adds to the motivation, helping me to make it a priority to read another chapter. Of course, I have to remind myself that I’m not doing it just to “get ‘er done” and add another title to my list; I’m doing it to enjoy the written word, expand my horizons, learn new things, and re-read old friends occasionally.

This year, my goal is a non-ambitious 80 (I unofficially aimed for 100 last year, but only managed 86 when I realized that 100 books would actually require more time than I had to spare). And this year, I challenge you to join me in my Book-Stack Challenge. Set yourself a goal now, whether it be 20, 50, or even 100 books to complete in 2025, and stick to it. Keep track of your finished titles, and soon you’ll be amazed by how much you’ve read!  I’m sure you’ll notice some changes to your lifestyle as you go through this book reading travels, whether it be discovering new authors that you’ll want to read more of, finding that you can concentrate on sitting still for longer, or forwarding your learning journey by delving into topics that you’ve always wanted to learn more about. By disciplining yourself through reading, I guarantee that 2025 will change your lifestyle in little, book-sized ways.