A change of habits, a change of character, or a change of financial condition—self-help books are all about change. And you are the one to make those changes. Each new year, you commit to a new one that doesn’t come. How many times do you have to try this?

To help you with tips that stick with you when repeated subconsciously, we are here to share a summary of the top 15 self-growth books. Let’s learn! 

15 Best Self-help Books

• 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey is a self-growth book. It starts by defining character and personal ethics.

Seven habits are grouped into three categories: private victory, public victory, and renewal.

Be Proactive: Take responsibility for your actions. Then, focus on what you can control.

Begin with the end in mind: Use defined goals and purpose in life as a guide, and make decisions around them.

Put First Things First: Time and energy are most things, and say no to unimportant things.

Think Win-Win: Seek mutual interactions and look for mutual solutions.

Seek first to understand, Then to be understood. Empathize with others’ perspectives before sharing yours.

Synergize: Collaborate in teams and create outcomes beyond individuals.

Sharpen the Saw: Keep renewing yourself physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually to succeed continuously.

Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is a practical guide to turning habits into action.

• “Thinking Fast and Slow” by Daniel Kahneman

We have systems of thinking and decision-making. I learned three essential things from the book.

Solving complicated problems takes mental work that leads to brain-cut corners when tired. This book showcases how thinking systems work. The thinking system functions intuitively and automatically, while decision-making follows solving and concentration. With focus and concentration, we can make conscious efforts to solve problems.

Confirmation bias leads us to conclusions: Kahneman says our thinking system is biased, while decision-making involves doubting and questioning. We look for evidence that supports our choices.

Always focus on multiple factors when making decisions: It’s incredibly relatable. We should weigh various factors to make decisions.

Anyone having a tough time making decisions should read this book.

• The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle

This is a spiritual guide to discovering our true selves. The book starts with the circumstances and experiences leading to his enlightenment. Here’s its summary.

You are not your mind; The mind is power if used properly. Ask yourself, Who am I? What do I stand for? Enlighten yourself by rising above your thoughts. Choose to quieten your mind. Time is a concept, so use the present that you possess.

Access the power of now: Feel yourself in your mind. Watch the thinker, watch your emotions, and dissolve the pain in your body. Focus on now.

Enlightenment: Show intense presence in the now through stillness, cessation of thinking, contemplation of space and time, surrendering, etc.

The ideas in the book appear simple at first glance, but they have nuances and insights.

• Atomic Habits, by James Clear

Atomic Habits is a comprehensive practical guide to becoming 1% every day. We can summarize atomic habits in three lessons, which are:

Small habits have a bigger role: We can easily understand the importance of small defining moments and how minor improvements add massive value in the long term. This 1% improvement isn’t noticeable but is far more meaningful. You’ll be 37 times better by the end of the year if you get one percent better each day. 

Focus on a system of habits rather than setting goals: Goals are the results, while systems are the processes that lead to those results. If your habits are more challenging to change, the problem is with the system rather than you. Bad habits repeat because you have the wrong system that repeats.

Create a New Identity: Your new identity is a mix of habits needed to succeed. What you do represents the type of person you want to become. You need to start believing that you can improve your behavior by building identity-based habits. Decide the person you want to become and enjoy small wins. Create new habits by making them prominent, attractive, easy, and satisfying.

• The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz

The book has been on the New York Times bestseller list for eight years, selling a million copies. It offers four defining principles:

• Be impeccable with your words.
• Take nothing personally.
• Don’t make assumptions.
• Do your best. 

Don says we’re domesticated animals by many elements, starting from birth. First language, school, and attitudes—we choose nothing. This is a kind of collective dream that we have to live with.

Taking nothing personally is the most important thing to learn. Everything you hear is about other people, not you. You have to acknowledge it, and you can do this only by becoming self-aware. 

You need to free yourself of the old agreement, which you can do by:

• Start noticing the beliefs that make you unhappy.
• Learn to forgive people who hurt you.
• Remember, each day is the last in the present.

• Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert

Big Magic is expressly written as a template to unleash your creativity. Courage, Enchantment, Permission, Persistence, Trust, and Divinity are the big words in the chapter headings. Gilbert offers insights into the nature of inspiration.

Gilbert asks us to embrace curiosity and let go of our suffering. The book offers insights into tackling what we love the most and how to face what we fear. We can live fully if attitudes, approaches, and habits are in order. Uncover hidden “strange jewels“ by balancing soulful spirituality and cheerful pragmatism.

Find new ways to challenge yourself, whether you want to write a book or make art. Embark on a dream long deferred, or simply infuse more mindfulness and passion.

• Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World, by Cal Newport

DeepWork is about focusing on cognitively demanding tasks without distractions. We can perform deep work in a distraction-free concentration that pushes us beyond limits.

Derp work has value, and it’s uncommon that it improves your quality of life. You can significantly increase influence in the new economy with deep work.

Deep work can be built around rituals and habits. It’s not easy to overcome the instincts instilled in us, but you can do this by minimizing distractions. Use mental muscle for use, not for disuse. Become mindful of digital stuff; they steal important moments subconsciously. You can do it entirely, but I prefer to avoid shallow work.

Deep work is complex and involves massive changes. Newport also shares personal experiences, observations, and other references.

• How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie

This is a timeless guide to improving relationships and succeeding in life. Carnegie teaches us that connecting with others is a skill that we can hone by being honest with our shortcomings and intentional in our choices. It was written in 1936 and is still relevant in this modern world.

Carnegie says we only expect some to accept, but rather a few people. Some excel while others struggle in this quest. There is no need to be hard on yourself; instead, take your flaws. You can do this by employing some fundamental techniques:

• Avoid criticizing, condemning, or complaining.
• Become honest; I’m giving appreciation.
• Give another person light to rise.
• Smile often
• Show genuine interest in other people.
• Use the person’s name.
• Encourage others to talk about themselves and listen.
• Talk about other people’s interests.
• Make others feel important.

Carnegie says you should avoid arguments. Show respect for opposite opinions. Act empathetically if you are wrong. Let others talk. Try to see things from another person’s perspective. Throw out your idea by dramatizing it. Become a leader by appreciating, showing indirect connection to mistakes, giving other people a safe face, and avoiding giving direct orders. Make other people suggest things.

• Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins

We all have unlimited potential. Tony Robbins talks about unleashing that potential. He asks to raise standards by starting with a decision. Pain and pleasure are drivers of our actions. Choose them wisely. Tony calls for changing limited beliefs.

We have a neural connection called neuro-associative conditioning (NAC) that strengthens with repeated actions. Choose mindful movements. It can help you change results. Strategize what you want. He says to master emotions with the power of state (internal reaction), the power of questions, and the power of vocabulary and metaphors. Take concrete action, define goals, and unleash your inner giant for lasting gains.

This is a book of insights on 500 pages. Examples of several personalities such as Mother Theresa, Bill Gates, Mahatma Gandhi, Walt Disney, Warren Buffet, Soichiro Honda, Billy Joel, and Robin Williams give a better picture.

• Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy

Nowadays, we need more time to do. Brian Tracy gives 21 tips to avoid procrastination and accomplish more things in this book.

The key to success is to focus on vital parts, take action, and get things done. We need to set the table of vitals, plan, apply the 80/20 rule of getting 80% of things done with 20% effort, and consider the consequences. Become creative about procrastination, focus on critical results, and prepare thoroughly to begin again. Other tips are:

• Apply the Law of Three
• Prepare Thoroughly
• Before you begin
• Take it one step at a time.
• Upgrade Your Key Skills
• Leverage your unique talents.
• Identify your key constraints.
• Apply pressure on yourself.
• Maximize your power.
• Motivate yourself into action.
• Stop Technological Time Drain
• Slice and dice the task.
• Create large chunks of time.
• Develop a sense of urgency.
• Single-Handle Every Task
  
  

• The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg

Habits can have a significant impact on individuals, organizations, and societies. Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Charles Duhigg writes The Power of Habit. He says the trigger element, automatic response, and reward system are components of the „habit loop.“ 

Duhigg says habits are changeable if you keep the trigger element and reward system but replace them with automatic responses. You can do this in four ways:

Keystone habits are routines that we follow unconsciously.

Automate willpower: Repeated practice internalizes willpower automatically.

Leverage Crises: Habits are hard to break, which creates leverage crises.

Shape Consumer Habits: Sandwich new habits between existing habits or familiar routines.

Duhigg brings to life the three essential parts of a social movement: habits of friendship, habits of communities, and social habits. Examples and scenarios in vivid detail are covered in each chapter.

• You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life by Jen Sincero

This book is written in 27 chapters about what Jen Sincero learned, like how she overcame her limiting beliefs, built her confidence, and more. You can conquer challenges by keeping an open mind.

Sincero says some factors hold us back in life.

Limiting beliefs: We can choose and change them, yet we follow them subconsciously.

The law of attraction: We attract what we consistently think or feel. We must refocus our energy, frequency, and vibration to find new paths.

Negative self-perception: The ego or shadow self creates mental, emotional, and physical barriers.

We can unleash our potential by embracing the following:

Inner Badass: Love yourself, stop worrying about others’ opinions, and discover your calling.

Tap into the energy source: change thoughts, reconnect with the inner child, practice meditation, and practice gratitude.

Stop sabotaging yourself: change personal stories, stop procrastinating, stop feeling overwhelmed, overcome fears, and see others as your mirror.

Start a movement towards the best life: make a real decision, make money for your friend, surrender, and receive.

• Rich Dad, Poor Dad, by Robert T. Kiyosaki

 

Robert Kiyosaki shares what he learned from his rich dad about wealth. His father (a poor dad) was a Ph.D. yet struggled to pay debts and other finances. Hue’s best friend Mike’s father (a rich dad) never finished eighth grade but became the wealthiest man in Hawaii.

The book offers three condensed lessons:

Don’t Work for Money: Get out of the rat race of desire and fear for money. Money is an illusion. Let money make money for you. Education is more important than money in the long term.

Get Financially Educated: Growing assets requires deep roots. Focus on assets, not income statements, because assets generate more income.

Take Charge of Your Wealth: Kiyosaki shares the history of taxes in this part. He says rich people take charge of wealth by creating opportunities. The key is to hone your financial intelligence.

• Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek.

Great leaders and organizations can create sustainable change that inspires others. Simon Sinek explains what it means to start with why.

Simon Sinek says motivation can be instilled with carrots and sticks. It is used everywhere, from sales to marketing. Fear, peer pressure, price, and promotions are all forms of manipulation. You need to touch them differently to go far.

Simon explains the Golden Circle to understand what we do and how it’s biologically built. He further breaks them into the clarity of why, the discipline of how, and the consistency of what. He gives several examples of Apple’s reasons. You can apply the Golden Circle by creating a following, a tipping point, and a lasting success.

Lasting success requires building trust, finding those who believe, rallying those who believe, creating a tipping point, and ongoing success. Finding your why is a process of discovery. Find your reason and stick with it.

• Daring Greatly by Brené Brown

Connection, love, and belonging are our fundamental needs. Brené shares her 12 years of research on vulnerability in this book. Dr. Brene Brown shares three components of scarcity (shame, comparison, and disengagement) and five myths about vulnerability.

Brené talks about shame and shares four critical elements of shame. Shame affects both men and women with different responses. Women expect to look naturally beautiful and slim, be good at everything, and achieve everything effortlessly, while men must never be weak. Shame can tear relationships apart.

We must remove the armor and unmask the need for belonging, hiding our flaws. We all experience gaps in aspired values. The key is to be aware of these gaps because we need help to avoid them. Shame is a significant barrier to creativity, innovation, and learning. Start rehumanizing systems.

Wrapping up 

That concludes our list of the top self-help books. We hope we got enough insight from each book. These 15 books can help you figure out where to start and stick with it for lasting success.

Letting go of certain beliefs is scary, but taking a leap and discovering your hidden jewels is valuable. What ideas speak most about you?

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