Best personal development books | Self-development library
I am one of the people, that is OBSESSED with personal development (self-improvement or however you want to call it). Even to the fault sometimes – it’s sometimes hard for me to just relax if I’m not seeing progressions in at least one way. Sometimes I even get anxious because of it. So, I’m all about improving myself.
And one of my favorite methods that I go to, to achieve that, is reading self-improvement/ best personal development books. About 90 % of all books that I read are for self-improvement – I really enjoying getting new ideas on how to improve and make my life better – in any kind! I just find it so awesome, that I can read an idea, integrate it into my life and my life gets better. And with good books, that happens very often.
Below is my list of over
20 best personal development books
that can change your life.
I included books from various categories, so I hope and believe that everyone will be able to get something out of this. Click on the category that interests you the most and you will be redirected to the section or to the page with the reviews of those books.
Oh, and by the way – you can get ANY of these books for FREE! Just follow my method in THIS POST and you can get three books for absolutely free (in audio version).
Hope you enjoy the list!
I will be very happy if you share your favorite self-improvement books with me.
I will continue to add more and more books to these lists, so make sure to check them out again, for some new and great books!:)
I’ve categorized it in a couple of main categories so you can see the books from a specific category that interests you:
Best personal development books for amazing life improvement
This is a book that really “kicked me in the butt” in my college days and got me going and motivated me a whole lot to improve my life situation. It’s basically an Eric Thomas’s life story. Who is Eric Thomas, you ask?
He’s one of the best motivational speakers out there, that really came from the bottom through hard work and positive attitude and that mindset is exactly what you can inherit from reading this book. Take a look at this video, to get to know what he’s about – so you can see if this is your type of motivation – here’s his probably most famous video:
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life
This book is as awesome as it is its title! As the title would suggest, this book talks about not caring about most of the things in your life. It’s a special book because Mark Manson is super direct and honest with what he thinks and he adds just the right and fun amount of vulgarity to it.
It’s totally different from other self-help books – Mark doesn’t tell you to be positive all the time, he tells you, to be honest, I quote:”Fuck positivity, let’s be honest; sometimes things are fucked up and we have to live with it.”.
Another quote:“This book is not some guide to greatness – it couldn’t be because greatness is merely an illusion in our minds, a made-up destination that we obligate ourselves to pursue, our own psychological Atlantis.”
This is just an example to help you get the feel of his writing style and the point of this book. It’s a super fun to read or especially to listen, but it holds some real value for the readers – Mark teaches you to care only about the things that matter to you – he encourages you to not stress yourself over what society or any other people tell you to do. And while it may seem, just from reading this, that it’s negatively oriented, this book will leave you feeling positive – it will help you accept the things the way they are, it will help you free yourself of the outside pressure and encourage you to care only about the things that you care about, which will ultimately lead to you being more satisfied with your situation.
As I said, I recommend this book to most of the people – it holds real practical value to one’s life, but it’s also super entertaining and fun to read/listen to. One of the most different, but also one of the best personal development books out there!
This is a bit less known book, at least I never saw it on any list like that. But my girlfriend picked it for me pretty randomly in the library, so I went and read it. And guess what, I really enjoyed it and find it very useful for many people.
It talks about one main idea – your life is what you make of it and you have the power to make choices on every aspect of your life. This books will try to empower you to take your life into your own hands and make the decisions in your life that you want to make but are maybe afraid to make them right now or help you realize what those choices are. It will try to get you to make decisions, that will get you closer to your dreams, no matter what everyone else thinks/tells you that you should do. It talks about making those decisions on the personal level, business level, relationships, etc.
If you are struggling for standing up your yourself or your dreams, this is a book that you probably should read.
The purpose of this book is to help you to realize the steps that you need to take to achieve mastery at whatever you want to achieve. It all starts with research and 10.000 hours of work/practice of whatever you want to be great at. It also talks about putting your own spin on things, finding yourself a mentor, social skills, etc.
If you want to know what this book is about and if it’s appropriate for you, here’s a great video about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I131v_cruvg
Who would I recommend this book to?
I’d recommend it to everyone that wants to learn the skills and methods that are common for so many great people. However, I did find this book a bit more on the theoretical side – it doesn’t give you that many immediately applicable tips as some of the other books, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
Since the 90s, this book has been THE book that a lot of people think about when they hear the term personal development.
The book talks about 7 core values/methods/mindsets, that you can apply pretty much to any area of your life. It encourages you to inherit these principles, that will make you a more effective person – you will learn how to tackle life’s challenges in a more organized fashion, based on your core values.
The 7 habits that this book talks about are:
- Be Proactive
- Begin With The End In Mind
- Put First Things First
- Think Win/Win
- Seek First To Understand, Then Be Understood
- Synergize
- Sharpen the Saw
Who is this book for?
Well, for everyone that wants to become more effective, more systematic and more in-control of his life’s decisions. Take a look at the habits above, and if you want to learn about why and how you should implement these habits into your own life, you should read the book.
The Alchemist is Paulo Coelho’s most famous novel and even one of the most famous novels by anyone. It’s a great novel, it tells a story about an Andalusian shepherd, that decides to travel the world, in a search of a treasure, that he’s been dreaming about.
And while it tells a story, it teaches you various life lessons, it really encourages you to focus on the positives in your life, to follow your dreams, to live in the present.
I really recommend you to read it – no matter what your goals are, this is one of the first books that you should read. It’s not really a self-improvement book like the others are, but it can teach you great lessons, while you read about an interesting story – a bit easier to read than other, more specifically and goal-oriented books (the goal being self-improvement).
Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation
I really enjoyed this book, because it is based on various theoretical studies, but gives some very practical insights into creativity – like what environments spark creativity and breed the best ideas.
One example – bigger cities produce exponentially more ideas than smaller cities than villages, because they are more motivating for hard-working people and allow more opportunities for networking with other smart people, etc – that’s one of the studies that are showcased in the book and it was revelations like that, that made me really happy that I came across this book, because as I’ve said, you can draw some practical conclusions out of studies like that.
Steven Johnson offers 7 patterns behind innovation, great ideas, and revolutionary “sparks”. You can make practical decisions based on these patterns and make sure that you put yourself in the best possible position and surroundings, to enable yourself to think more creatively and produce genius ideas.
Who would I recommend this book to?
Very simply, to everyone that wants to start thinking more creatively.
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Don’t forget – I will add more and more books to these lists, so make sure to check them out again!:)
Check out the other categories to achieve personal-growth on every area of your life!
