When I was growing up, I decided that I didn’t really like to read. I seemed like the outlier in my family because all six of my brothers and my one sister all loved reading! In fact, you could see them carrying a book everywhere they went with the hope they would catch a few free minutes to read in between whatever else they were doing. After a long while of feeling this way, I ended up discovering the self-help and other non-fiction type books. I almost instantly fell in love. I realized that I actually did like reading–I had just been reading the wrong genre of books!
In the years since, I have spent a lot of my time reading non-fiction and self-help type books. And because I love to share my favorite things with all of you, I have decided to put together a list of my top 5 favorite self-help books!
How to Win Friends and Influence People
Dale Carnegie is the mastermind behind this book, and I will forever love him for it. I can honestly say that this book is my favorite self-help book of all time. I first ran into the book at an old estate sale a few years ago. They were selling all of their old books for 25 cents each, so I thought, “What the heck?” and started reading it about a week later. The whole book was so interesting and easy to follow! There are SO MANY gold nuggets in there, and I would recommend it to anyone looking for some good life advice and pro people-skill building tips!
12 Rules for Life
Jordan Peterson is an experienced psychologist and political commentator of sorts. He has had a lot of experience seeking out answers for life’s questions and puts it all in his, “12 Rules for Life” book. This is a longer read, but it’s definitely worth it in the end. He gives a lot of interesting analogies and personal experiences that make the book more meaningful overall.
Crucial Conversations
This is an absolute must read if you are looking to build better communication skills. Although some of the tips may seem like things you have heard before, the authors take a new approach to laying out what they view as the most crucial skills to take with you into any high-stake conversation. I especially recommend this book to anyone in a relationship–or anyone looking to be in one soon. Merging two lives together, as relationships do, is hardly easy. Learning how to navigate through important topics and communicate effectively can make the process a whole lot easier.
Leadership and Self-Deception
I recently read this book and ended up really loving the whole, “get out of the box” analogy. I think we all too often get so caught up in ourselves that we don’t look at things as they really are. Taking some time to self-reflect and look at the situation as a whole can help us to live a more meaningful and fulfilling life. It can also help us to become better leaders that people will be happy to listen to and follow.
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Of course we couldn’t get away with writing a list of the best self-help books without including this gem. In “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” Stephen Covey outlines a new approach to success and happiness through adapting our inner core to make necessary changes in our lives. This seems to have become a widely popular and well known book–and for good reason! If you’re looking for a good read and haven’t read this one yet, I would definitely recommend doing so!
I hope you take a least one of these books from off of this list and take some time to read it! If you’ve already read these ones, what are some of your favorites? Leave them in the comments below so I can read them too!
Mind & Body 