Remember the first time you read self-help books? I didn't know what to think. During this time, it dawned on me that my future was not set in stone. I could run my own drills and be my own coach. Best self-help books I read would lay out a plan for me to get over my problems. Only then did I know what to do. I had to pay attention to that voice that wanted to go up and up.

Every time I took on a new challenge, I knew it would be outside of my comfort zone. Then, after a lot of times, I also knew that it would not just be part of my repertoire. It would be a part of me, too.

No two self-help books are the same. Some help you get started on your journey, and others give you a boost when you have a lot of experience in certain parts of the world.

Here are the best self-help books that I recommend to read no matter how old you are:

Whatcha Gonna Do with That Duck? by Seth Godin

A good book on how to improve yourself is this one. This book is different from most self-improvement books because it focuses on a wide range of things that you can, and must, improve on.

With its ruthless honesty and real inspiration, Godin makes you think about the hard questions you wouldn't even think to ask yourself. The end result is a completely new way of looking at the world. It's a fresher, more vibrant, and bolder way of looking at the world, full of new and exciting ideas.

To find a friend who knows what you are going through, a boss who pushes you to go deeper into what you don't like, and a guru who tells you what needs to go, look no further than this book. Please get this one.

Fooled by Randomness by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

This book is very important to me because I was a poker player for a long time, and randomness played a big part in that.

We give credit to skill when there is only luck; we confuse correlation with causation, and we don't pay attention to how big of a difference small changes can make.

This book gave me an idea that I don't see very often: you can do everything right and still lose, or you can do everything wrong and still win.

As a result, it isn't about the end result; it's about what you did to get there.

This important message is at the heart of many of the decisions I make in my life. You can learn how to think in this way from this book by Taleb. It helps you live in a world that you can't fully understand, where the results aren't always clear indicators of how well you did, and where chance seems to play games with our fates. Stop being fooled by chance!

The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene

It was at a time when I thought that power was something I should get. I read this book then. Power for the sake of power. Power is real, even though I don't agree with my old self on this point. It is the invisible scepter of all hierarchical relationships around us.

I still think this book is good. I think it's important to know how people use power for their own benefit and what you can do to protect yourself from some types of power abuse.

All the stories in this book deal with power. It has a lot of life lessons and interesting stories from history. If looked at in the right way, the power to use it for good.

From Caesar to Goethe, Sun-Tzu to Machiavelli, this eye-opening book looks at a wide range of human development in a way that is very interesting. If you don't want to read anything that's all about you, maybe Greene's new book, Mastery, will do. I haven't read that one myself.

It's another great self-help book written in the same style as the first one. This time, it covers a bigger range of topics, and maybe even something that will make the world a better place.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen. R. Covey

Title: This book doesn't cover everything. Covey tells us about seven habits that you should adopt if you want to be truly effective at anything you want to do.

Even though it sounds easy, it's not. He says that we need to change how we think about the world and ourselves.

As a guide, this book has exercises and everything else you need to go through the steps to make a change happen. You can read it that way, too. Covey's book is a mix of shock therapy and spiritual wisdom that has been around for a long time. It's full of advice that actually works.

As I said, don't let the title of the book fool you. This book is about more than just becoming more effective. It's about becoming a person who not only wants the best for herself, but also for the people around her.

A must-read for anyone who thinks there's always more to learn.

The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide by James Fadiman

If you were surprised to see a book on psychedelics on this list of self-improvement books, don't worry. I think that any kind of metaphysical difference between tools like books, meditation, or molecules has no place in the world of the real world. It's not fair to judge them all based on how good they are. If you use certain chemical keys to help you, their value may be bigger than any book on this list.

When you read the Psychedelic Explorer's Guide, you'll learn how to get ready, what to take, and what to do when things go wrong. So you can improve your thinking, creativity, introspection, and emotional balance in a safe way.

Everything you need to know about how to use psychedelics as a tool for self-improvement is in this book, which draws on a lot of scientific research and personal experience. I think this is a must-have for anyone who wants to be a psychonaut.

Eat That Frog! by Brian Tracy

Everyone knows how it feels to go downhill in a bad way.

It's hard just to think about some of the big things we have to do. We don't know how to start or where to start, and we feel overwhelmed before we even start. Distraction is a way we can get rid of that feeling. Only to realize that hours have passed, and we're in the same situation we were in before: not knowing where to start, and feeling guilty on top of it because of the distractions we've been having.

Until the end.

We should Eat That Frog to stop procrastination before it paralyzes us, Tracy says. To do this, we should set our priorities straight, break big tasks down into smaller ones, and figure out when to start with the big frog or something else.

It's true that Tracy is a motivational speaker and one of the best people who write about improving your life. He could have gone more into the psychological reasons why people procrastinate, but this book is still a must-have for anyone who wants to break the spell and get things done.

Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

It was written by Hill in 1937, and it's a great book. Avoid the edited editions because they all leave out important and controversial information about history and the goal of the book: to think and become rich.

The word "rich" might make it seem like this book is all about money, but it isn't. It talks about a lot more than that.

This may be the first time that positive thinking is talked about in a direct way. It's important to care about not just the money in your wallet, but also the thoughts in your head.

This book for self-improvement has been able to stand the test of time. There are a lot of different techniques, from planning, making decisions, and being persistent, to auto-suggestion, transmutation, and what we can learn from the fear we feel.

You won't get rich from this book, but it will help you figure out what is important.

Riches can't always be measured in money, as it says right at the start.

The Attention Revolution by Alan Wallace

The best way to be powerful in a world where technology is always trying to get your attention is to bring that attention back where you want it. This book has just that.

In The Attention Revolution, Wallace talks about how to get into Shamatha, a state of mind that isn't distracted by anything. It's a long and hard way that we probably won't be able to get to in this life. As long as you get to stage two or three, you'll find that everything in life will be easier.

The Attention Revolution is a great introduction to meditation. It will make you want to take on the challenge and see what training your mind can do.

The Four Immeasurables and Dudjom Lingpa's commentary, both by Alan B. Wallace, can help you use this level of focus to open your heart and get more out of the practice with it.

A guide to help you figure out how to put your life in order:

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