Are you in that phase of life where you feel like everything is falling to pieces and you had no control over it? You feel lost, overwhelmed, and unsure about what lies ahead and you have no idea what path to take in life. There comes a point where you can’t get any lower. That is when you hit rock bottom.
In this instant, you feel – this is enough; you don’t want to live like this and question how you can get out of this.
“And the moment u decide that u want better for yourself is the movement the entire universe starts working in your favor.”
That is where self-help books come in. They are like your mentor, ready to guide you when you need them most.
I remember the first time I picked up a self-help book—it felt like the author was speaking directly to me.
Here are my top 12 books that have helped me a lot and will have a strong impact on you, helping you with the situations you might currently be facing.
To enhance your experience, I’ve divided the book list into 3 categories – Mindset, Relationships, and Finance.
So, let’s jump right in…
Category 1 — Mindset
1. The Mountain is You – By Brianna Wiest
It’s an outstanding piece by Brianna Wiest. Honestly, I have cried while reading this book as it left a lasting impression on me.
It goes on by telling you that you have been the only one — your habits, patterns, and thoughts, who’s standing in your way of becoming a happy and fulfilled version of yourself. This book takes you on a deep dive into understanding self-sabotage, why and how we do it, and how we can transform it into self-mastery.
It will help you to recognize your destructive habits and offer you strategies to overcome them.
2. 101 Essays That Will Change the Way You Think
101 Essays is another remarkable book by Brianna Wiest. It’s a collection of 101 thought-provoking essaysthat give you a new perspective on a wide range of scenarios and challenge your thoughts and mindset in such a way that it leads you to a meaningful and satisfying life.
Most of the pieces will sound familiar to you while some sound new and have not been seen before. This book addresses a variety of topics that are crucial to know for personal growth, like self-awareness, mental strength, success, health, mindset, and so much more—guiding you to become the best version of yourself.
These essays force you to rethink your thinking and they’re perfect for you if you’re ready to challenge yourself, break free from the limiting beliefs, and build a positive mindset.
3. The Power of Your Subconscious Mind – By Dr. Joseph Murphy
In his book, “The Power of Your Subconscious Mind”, Dr. Joseph Murphy teaches you about the power of our subconscious mind and how it influences our day-to-day life.
As a result of reading this book, you get to understand how our subconscious mind operates and how can you use it to your advantage to live a thriving life. It will make you realize the importance of positive thinking and affirmations and how your beliefs manifest things and circumstances in your life.
It’s one of those books that’s not only super easy to read but also offers you practical advice that you can start implementing right away to see the changes you have been craving and take control of your life.
4. How to Stop Worrying and Start Living – By Dale Carnegie
I read this book when I was at a low point in my life.
After completing high school, I wasn’t sure about which course to pursue or exactly what I wanted to become. On top of that, neither, my family had the money to support me in exploring different paths or pursuing my ideal course.
At that time, I accidentally ordered this book while placing an order for something else and didn’t realize until it was delivered and that’s how I came across this book. I’m so glad that I decided to read this book—it was exactly what I needed at that point.
It showed me the impact of worrying on a person’s physical, mental, and psychological well-being and taught me how to manage it and put an end to it entirely.
The biggest takeaway for me was that if you find yourself worrying about something – Think about “What’s the best that could happen if everything goes right?” and “What’s the worst that could happen if things go wrong?”. Then ask yourself — Will you be able to handle the worst-case scenario or can look for ways of coping with it?
Once you do this, you will realize that there is nothing to worry about.
Category 2 — Relationship
1. How to Win Friends and Influence People – By Dale Carnegie
This is *the* everlasting guide to mastering the art of building healthy and strong relationships in personal as well as professional space.
This book is divided into four parts — the First part deals with techniques for handling people, the second part provides you with six ways to make people like you by showing genuine interest in them, the third part provides you tips on how to win people to your way of thinking and the last part tells you, How to be a leader and change people without offending them.
Throughout the book, you are given practical techniques along with real-life examples and can revisit the book anytime to remind yourself of the ideas to serve as inspiration. This book has the potential to impact anyone’s life who reads it.
2. Surrounded by Idiots
Thomas Erikson’s Surrounded by Idiots is a must-read book for individuals who find it difficult to deal with people or feel like certain individuals always get on their nerves.
The concept of this book comes from a boss he worked with, who kept saying “God, I’m surrounded by idiots, why can’t ever I get anything done? “ And it’s not that people are idiots, they are just different, they just see and process the world differently, they have different motivations, different comfort zones different approaches or preferences.
This book introduces a simple and effective way to understand human behavior with the help of real-life scenarios and helps in recognizing different personality types using the DISC Personality model used by the author to represent different personalities using different colors.
This book is great for anyone looking to improve their interpersonal skills, especially in the workplace or in team settings.
3. All About Love : New Visions – By Bell Hooks
All About Love teaches you what love is. How to show up in a relationship?
You cannot ask Google or ChatGPT what love is and expect to get an actual answer but this book does tell you in a way no other can.
In her book, She embraces self-love as the foundation for all other forms of love and states that you do not have true love until you are giving and receiving all the 7 components of love from and towards your friends parents, or partners.
This book hits you with the reality check because many times you may think you are in love but actually, you aren’t. But still, it will teach you how to show up better for people.
4. Why Men Love Bitches – By Sherry Argov
Every single woman irrespective of her age *should* read this book, especially women in their 20s. This book is a bold and sassy relationship guide that challenges traditional beliefs and assumptions about romantic relations.
It offers you 100 attraction principles on how to maintain self-respect, and dignity, set boundaries, and embody confidence in relationships and teaches you to be a bitch in your relationship, so many people make out it to be a negative term but it’s not. Bitch is a woman who is assertive, independent, and knows her worth.
Further, it goes into detail on encouraging women to prioritize themselves, not to be too nice or to over-sacrifice, and to always stand up for themselves.
Category 3— Finances
1. Rich Dad Poor Dad – By Robert Kiyosaki
Rich Dad Poor Dad should be must read in personal finance.
This is the first book I read at the age of 17 and has been a life changer for me. It’s written in such a language that even a 10-year-old kid could read and apply those principles. It gives you such valuable lessons that no one tells you and changes how you perceive money and your mindset towards wealth.
It teaches you the lessons from the rich, how they operate, what’s their mindset and what separates them from the rest of the world. This book contradicts everything you have ever heard about money.
Saving money isn’t the path to wealth; managing the money you have is. It’s about building your financial IQ, and this book does an amazing job of helping you achieve that!
Whether you’re new to personal finance or have little knowledge, this book will offer you with insights you need to achieve financial independence.
2. The 4-Hour Workweek – By Timothy Ferriss
If you want to break free from the traditional 9-5 and design a life on your terms, this is gonna be the most transformative guide for you.
In his book — The 4-Hour Workweek, Timothy Ferriss introduces the concept of New Rich and Lifestyle Design — people who value time and flexibility over money and live a lifestyle that aligns with their values, goals, and preferences. It talks about choosing how you want to spend your time and live a fulfilling life.
This book follows a framework called DELA – which gives you a technical approach to how to achieve the lifestyle you desire and outsource all the time-consuming tasks so that you can focus on higher-value work.
Rather than spending your life waiting for retirement, it gives insights on building mini-retirements throughout your life to travel and enjoy life.
3. Girls That Invest – By Simran Kaur
Girls! It’s worth it. Like literally.
If you don’t understand anything about investing in stocks, bonds, and all those fancy terms —this book will teach you — How to do all this stuff, and at the same time it builds financial literacy.
Throughout the book, she provides you with actional steps and inspires your investing strategy. You cannot read something and not implement it. She is holding you accountable for this.
As a beginner at investing or someone having a little bit of prior knowledge, this book is perfect for you.
4. Think and Grow Rich – By Napoleon Hill
This book was written after interviewing some of the top successful businesspersons and entrepreneurs of the world about their mindset, values, philosophies, and how they built wealth.
After reading this book you will get information about the wealthiest persons in the world and their life experiences. From beginning to end it’s packed with secrets that you have to unlock yourself.
In his book, Napoleon Hill talks about the burning desire that one needs to achieve goals and how self-confidence and positive thinking play a crucial role in one’s success. It’s more than a guide to wealth, it philosophy for success.
