My Favourite Books on Self-Development
This blog post is here to share with you my favourite books on self-development. There are so many to choose from so I’ve narrowed it down to the ones that have had the biggest impact on my life. I’ll give you a brief overview of each one and then tell you why they are so important to me. I honestly can’t recommend them enough and hope that you find them as helpful as I did. Enjoy!
Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway by Susan Jeffers
This is one of my all-time favourite books and completely changed my relationship with fear. The concept of the book is based around going out and doing the things that scare you. It teaches you how to overcome fear and understand why you are afraid in the first place. This was monumental in helping me to deal with the anxiety in my life.
2. The Obstacle Is The Way by Ryan Holiday
This is where I first discovered Stoicism. The Ancient Greek philosophy is explored in detail in this book and there are tons of examples as to how it’s being used in the modern world. There are sports teams, CEOs, military leaders, authors, thinkers and teachers who use Stoicism on a daily basis. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg! It’s a philosophy for everyone and anyone and is extremely practical.
3. Mindset by Dr Carol Dweck
What an incredible book! The premise is that there are two types of mindset. One is a “fixed mindset” and closed to new ideas. This attitude believes that if we can’t do something, we won’t ever be able to do it. The other is a “growth mindset” and focuses on improvement and learning from our mistakes. Understanding how to recognise these mindsets in our lives and how to change them can be incredibly powerful. I used to have a very “fixed mindset” towards a lot of things. This book taught me how to become aware of this and ultimately, changed my approach to challenges in my life. If it wasn't for this book, I don’t think I would have had the right attitude or confidence to start learning Japanese.
4. The Chimp Paradox by Dr Steve Peters
This book is all about learning how to manage your mind. It’s packed with loads of practical tips and tricks and helps us to better understand what’s going on in our heads. There are lots of very accessible anecdotes used to explain complex ideas and I found these to be really helpful. Understanding why we sometimes act like chimps (our animal instinct) is extremely interesting. I learned a lot about the way my mind works and this helped me to break the pattern of negative thinking that previously dominated my life.
5. Any book by Tim Ferriss
I know, I know, this may seem like a copout as it’s not a specific book but hear me out. I’ve always been a massive fan of Tim Ferriss’ work and genuinely believe that all of it is pure gold. Whether it’s advice on starting a business, becoming fit and “superhuman” or learning from fascinating people that he’s interviewed, you really can’t go wrong by reading his books. If you want something that you can dip in and out of, try Tools of Titans or Tribe of Mentors. Both of these are packed with interviews from the world’s top performers in a variety of different fields. If you’re interested in business, try The Four Hour Workweek. If you want to “hack” your body, try The Four Hour Body. And finally, if you want to read about accelerated learning mixed with cooking (what a combination), try The Four Hour Chef. I love all of these books and found that I took so many notes when reading them.
So there you go… my top five books in the self-improvement genre (I know I cheated with the last one but hopefully you’ll forgive me). I feel that each of these books has had a massive impact on my life. I wouldn’t be who I am today if it wasn’t for the ideas found within these pages.
Reading is a very effect way to create change in our lives and choosing the right kind of uplifting, empowering and motivating material is really important. I hope that these five books will be that for you. I’d love to know how you get on and what you thought about each one. Have you already read any of them? If so, how many did you get out of five?
“So many books, so little time.
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