Let me get straight to the point, there are thousands and thousands and thousands of self help books out there. Now you could read them all, but you'd probably waste a lot of time, money, and energy in some are good, some are meh and some are bad. So, to help you save time in this book, I'm going to share just 3 of the ones that are the most unforgettable, the most life-changing, and the most powerful for me and many others. So, keep reading. Before you read them there is something you should know. I really believe it's not how many self help books you read that matters but the books that really get through to you, the books that make a difference. So, to help me with this list I went back through all the books that I've been reading over the last few years and asked myself three questions.
Question #1: Did it have a long-lasting impact on me?
Question #2: Did most people find the same?
Question #3: Was it good was it a great book that I could read over and over again?
If the book was a yes to all these questions, then hey presto it made the cut.
Self Help Book #1
It's extremely new and it's a bit like going to the theme park and riding every single ride in there. It's called 'How to live' and it's by one of my favorite authors Derek Sivers. You should read this book for two reasons It cuts out all the fluff, to the point that you can read it in just an hour or two and It's a book of 27 different ideas about life and sometimes opposing ideas of how to live your life. One chapter will be all about doing what you feel like in the moment and never planning or never looking too far ahead and then the next chapter is purposely about the opposite, about how you should think long term and you should plan for the future and delay your gratification.
My personal takeaway from reading this book was that we have this library of competing ideas and values for how we want to live. These values will inevitably collide as we make our way through life. Should you live in the moment today with reckless abandon or should you be practical and plan for the future and prioritize delayed gratification. Now none of these are in themselves wrong but they can't all be applied in the same way at the same time and I like that the book gives you a bit of food for thought to think about these values which matters to me specifically most and which one do I want to prioritize at this moment.
Self Help Book #2
Is 'War of art' by Stephen Pressfield. Do you feel a calling inside you to create or to inspire the world and do you struggle to follow that calling because of doubt fear or a lack of motivation? Well, the war of art spells out the reason why you struggle to reach your dreams and it provides powerful and really inspiring strategies to help you overcome these obstacles. In the book, Stephen Pressfield explores how every creative person experiences this thing called resistance and it's basically a form of fear that stops you from approaching your true work. The book helps you to understand where fear comes from, how it manifests in your life, and how you can truly commit to your work and reach your full potential.
This book is one of the best self help books that I've ever read and one that I come back to over and over again every year. Because it's full of timeless universal wisdom from the first time I read it to the most recent time. I always know that I'm going to get something valuable from taking some time to study these ideas. It's absolutely no secret that 90 percent of the time or even 99 our biggest block and barrier is ourselves for one reason or another. There's an enemy within you that's holding you back from releasing your full potential and unleashing your best life. Now I really believe you don't just want to read books and collect knowledge but the most important part of any book is applying the lessons.
Self Help Book #3
Is one that you absolutely have to read and you'll get crazy value from and it's one that my regular viewers know because I reference it often. It's called 'The chimp paradox' by renowned psychiatrist Dr. Steve Peters. This is a man who has worked at the most elite level with footballers, Olympic athletes, and more on how to control your brain and succeed better and in this book, he breaks down those same cutting-edge insights for you and for me. To be honest, I wasn't a fan of how dumbed down the book is, I felt a bit uh patronized reading it but what I did love is the concept behind the book. That each of us houses a psychological chimp inside our brains, primitively reacting to the world spurring us on to act emotionally impetuously and irresponsibly, just like a baby chimp.
If you've ever struggled to control your urges to succumb to temptation and you sabotage your own success your chimp has probably taken the reins for a bit. Fortunately, our brains also have an inner human who when functioning properly keeps our inner chimp under control and allows us to interact with the world in a stable, positive, and productive way. The book goes on to outline a mind management program that can help you manage your inner chimp and lead you towards whatever your version of happiness, success, and balance looks like by balancing your emotional and your thinking self.
All right that is it for this I hope you enjoyed these self help books.
