Are you new to reading self-help books? Or maybe you’ve already read hundreds of them. Books play an important part in the self-growth process, since they contain experiences of other people’s hardships that we can learn from. I’ll include some of the best books in this article that you can start with or even reread. I’ve chosen books from some life areas where we could use improvement. I hope these will resonate with you just like they did with me and many others.
How To Win Friends and Influence People
by Dale Carnegie
Everyone’s favorite subject, relationships, is the focus of this book. It was released in 1937, almost one hundred years ago. It includes practical strategies on how to deal with people and win their approval, whether it be employees, friends, or even your children. As opposed to what I thought before reading it, this does not encourage caring about what others think of you or being desperate for their attention. It teaches good communication and management which are skills that we need to develop, after all. This book helps build those skills.
For me, the main takeaway from this book is to be interested, not interesting. That means asking people about themselves and their passions, other strategies include spreading smiles to others and saying their names, along with many other practices. So whether you want to improve your relationships with your colleagues, be a better parent, or a better manager, this book is for you.
Attached
by Amir Levine, Rachel S. F. Heller
I believe reading this book is the best choice someone can make to improve their relationships, especially romantic ones. It is a book by a psychiatrist and a psychologist that is based on actual research and experiments. It helps you identify your attachment style—avoidant, anxious, disorganized, and secure—which often develops throughout early childhood. Unfortunately, the majority of individuals are unaware that attachment styles even exist, even though it is likely the root of most of their failed relationships. It explains the reasons behind your specific style and how to begin creating a more secure attachment style, which is what everyone strives for.
It also goes on to give exercises on communicating effectively with your partner to create a healthier environment. Through it, I was able to identify my attachment style, and I’m currently on a healing journey to improve my relationships. I would highly recommend reading this book with your partner, whether you’re having relationship problems or simply want to build a healthy one.
Subtle Art Of Not Giving A F*ck
by Mark Manson
This book was a huge eye-opener to me and it is kinda obvious because it’s on my home page. This book doesn’t teach you to be indifferent, meaning having no interest or sympathy for anything or anyone, rather it encourages you to carefully choose what to care about. We care about a lot of things that we wish we didn’t, including what people think of the way we dress, that it all goes back to our values. Our decisions and the things we care about are determined by our values, so changing our values and deeply rooted beliefs is necessary to shift our way of thinking. Mark also discusses 5 values that he thinks everyone should develop to have a life with a better mindset and quite literally give better f*cks.
Related Articles: Why You Make Bad Decisions and How To Stop.
Atomic Habits
by James Clear
Let’s talk about habits. Whether you want to get rid of bad habits or incorporate brand-new, positive ones into your life, this book is for you. We’re all living on autopilot, repeating the same actions every day. It doesn’t make sense that you want to have a better life and still lead the same exact actions, those habits are what got you here after all. This is why habits are very important and can literally help you transform your life. Remember, habits last, motivation doesn’t. It all comes down to improving by 1% every day, which will add up to 365% improvement in a year. James Clear offers advice on how to create new habits or get rid of unwanted ones. There are four rules for creating habits:
- Make it obvious.
- Make it attractive
- Make it easy.
- Make it satisfying.
If you want to let go of bad habits, do the exact opposite of these 4 laws.
Rich Dad Poor Dad
by Robert T.Kiyosaki
This book is about Robert Kiyosaki who talks about two dads, his father (poor dad) and his best friend’s father (rich dad). Both dads had different money mindsets which caused them to have different financial outcomes. It also touches on a common mistake we all do, which is to ignore life’s expenses like bills and rent while assuming that if we work high-paying jobs for 10–20 years, we will be millionaires.
Robert helps you change your mindset on money to make it more abundant in your life. He also teaches you the lessons taught by the rich dad. This can be a simple change in the narrative you use. For example instead of “I can’t afford that” say ” How can I afford that?”. One of the main points mentioned in the book was to focus on investing and minimizing liabilities. So if your goal is to be more financially free, you should definitely give this book a read.
Master Your Emotions
by Thibaut Meurisse
Are you someone that always gets caught up in negative feelings? Unfortunately, that can usually take the form of fear, or anxiety. I’m sure we have all experienced that and we can all agree that it doesn’t feel good. This book gives a detailed explanation of why we are the way we are, strategies to use to deal with challenging situations, and how to finally take control of our emotions and reactions. It helps you achieve inner peace and calm. Thibaut Meurisse claims that the main key to mastering your emotions is self-awareness. He also gives other strategies to use such as disidentifying with your thoughts, adjusting body posture, and meditation.
The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
We probably all think that the idea of waking up at 5 am is crazy, however, most successful people wake up during that time and some even before that. Robin Sharma emphasizes the importance of rising early and how that can greatly affect someone’s productivity. He presents different strategies to make the most out of your morning. One strategy is called the 20-20-20 rule that he suggests you do between 5 am and 6 am, he says that if you get that done everything else in your day falls into place. This rule suggests that you exercise for the first 20 minutes upon waking up, then reflect, write in a journal, or meditate for the next 20, and then learn something new, like reading a book for the final 20 minutes. He also discusses how to develop the habit of getting up early.
Can’t Hurt Me
by David Goggins
David Goggins is known for his discipline and hardship. He had a very tough upbringing of physical and emotional abuse and he is also the first man to complete all three trainings which are the SEAL training, US Army Ranger School, and The Air Force Tactical Air Controller Training. In his book, he shares 10 lessons he gained from his own difficult experiences. This includes things like setting and achieving goals, discipline, and confidence. This book is definitely not for the weak and requires a strong and tough person, but only because it has blunt facts and realities.
The One Thing
by Gary W. Keller, Jay Papasan
This book teaches us one important lesson on how to succeed and stand out from the crowd: focus on one thing at a time. For most of us, including me, given that I like to get everything done right away, this may be challenging. However, this book opens your eyes and teaches you to focus on learning one skill at a time. For example, if you want to learn the piano, don’t try to learn it while taking another guitar class; instead, focus entirely on mastering the piano. One of two things will happen if we try to achieve everything at once: either we will become extremely worn out and eventually lose motivation, or we will end up being average rather than masters at those skills. So, what’s your one thing?
Recommended Read: The Ultimate Strategies To Applying What You Read
Download Free E-Books
Although I personally like to purchase books in hardcopy, if you’re more interested in the digital aspect, the following websites provide free e-books with no sign-up required:
- https://digilibraries.com/
- https://z-lib.is/
- https://www.pdfdrive.com/
- https://www.gutenberg.org/
- https://manybooks.net/
You’re welcome ☻
Conclusion
To recap, we have talked about self-help books that might help us grow and become better people. Which resonated with you the most? Remember, you must put the strategies you read in these books into practice if you want to see change. Don’t worry, I will be writing a separate post to help you apply and incorporate what you read into your life.
So, how was that? Which self-help book will you first be reading? Let me know what you think of them in the comments. To help motivate yourself, share this with a friend and begin reading a book and discussing your thoughts together. I’ll always be here cheering you on!