No, I don't read self-help books. Do you want to learn more about yourself and improve yourself?

Yes, that's good. But which book should I read? Most likely, there are a million self-help, growth, and personal development books out there. There are a lot of books written by people who want to help you with everything from personal experiences to popular psychology, from improving your cognition and productivity to keeping your relationships healthy.

Hopefully, this will help you make an informed decision. We've decided to share with you the names of books that have made a positive difference in our lives. To say "our lives," we mean people who work with us.

Best Self-Growth Books: Editor’s Choice

Daniel Kahneman, Thinking Fast and Slow

You know him from your psychology textbooks. He won the Nobel Prize for his research on how people make decisions, and he and Amos Tversky created behavioral economics, which is a new field. He spent the rest of his life studying how our psychology and cognition affect our decision-making process.

His research is very well known in the scientific community because it led to a lot of other experiments and studies about how people think. It's what this man did to make cognitive science accessible to everyone that makes him unique. He tried to use language and stories that everyone could understand.

In Thinking Fast and Slow, Kahneman talks about how our minds are split into two parts: one that thinks quickly and one that thinks slowly. One of the reasons the quick one works is because we have hardwired instincts from our evolutionary past that still live on in us today. Without them, we wouldn't be able to get our hand off a hot stove, or run away when we saw something dangerous. It's like our subconscious, not-so-thoughtful, but still very good machine.

Another one is that we have been around for a long time. The path that is self-reflective, logical, and deliberate. We have a lot of control over the conscious path, but it also takes a lot of work and concentration. This is because we have a lot of control over the conscious path (which is why we tend to use it less often).

In his book, Kahneman explains in simple terms how these two systems work, why and how the slow system sometimes doesn't work for us, and why we often don't use the slow one the way we should.

With these explanations, he shows us how to make rational, logic-based decisions and get the most out of both systems.

Now is the time to get your own printed, Kindle, or audio book.

Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning

It's a book everyone should read at least once in their lives. For personal development and growth, we already talked about this book in our Finding Your Purpose in Life piece.

Viktor Frankl, a neurologist and psychiatrist, spent three years in Nazi concentration camps thinking that every day could be his last. He says that everyone is looking for meaning in their lives, and he talks about it in simple and even playful terms.

This book isn't just a memoir about how he survived the Holocaust. Because of his background, it's more than that. It's also a psychological study and the foundation for a new school of thought and therapy called logotherapy, which is based on this study.

As long as we can find meaning in our lives, even when we've had some of the worst things that can happen to us, we can still move forward. The book is inspirational, life-changing, and eye-opening.

You can get this book in print, on the Kindle, or as an audiobook.

Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens

Do you ever wonder how humans came to be the way they are today? People and other animals are very different from each other in many ways. Why do we rule the world today?

Yuval Noah Harari is the author of the best-selling book Sapiens. In it, he tells the history of our species, gives amazing insights, and gives an in-depth look at our behavior, habits, emotions, relationships, and more. He explains how we got to where we are now when it comes to animal abuse, and why we aren't as happy as our ancestors were.

In a way that is both vivid and easy to understand, Harari takes his readers on a journey through the history of humanity that will stay with them for a long time. It's a must-read.

Check out his website for more information and to buy his book.

Shawn Achor, The Happiness Advantage

Most people think that happiness comes from hard work and the professional and personal accomplishments that come with it, but this isn't always the case. Those are things that our culture and society tell us. If you get a good job, lose weight, or get a raise, you'll be happy.

Has anyone ever thought about whether the other way around makes more sense?

Recent research in positive psychology has shown that the backward formula is closer to the truth and that happiness is the real source of success, not the other way around.

Happy people have brains that are more receptive to ideas, motivation, and inspiration. We become more productive, more resilient to stress, and more excited.

 

Achor's book talks about this. It was after more than a decade of research and teaching about happiness at Harvard that he decided to share the formula for reprogramming your brain that will lead you to happiness and success.

Make sure to read The Happiness Advantage if you want to learn about proven success principles, find out about the Tetris Effect of changing our brains, or learn how to build a support network. After all, this book was the source of the idea for the Five Minute Journal.

Seth Godin, Linchpin

Our favorite author is Seth Godin, and he wrote one of the best self-help books you can buy.

It used to be that there were two groups of people at work: management and the people who worked there. They are called "linchpins." There is now a third team: linchpins. Artists, as Godin calls them, are people who are important, creative, innovative, and solve problems "outside the box." Linchpins are people like this. With no rules or clear directions, they go for it when there isn't one. They make up their own way through.

There, they have a job to do emotional work. They challenge the fixed mindset and inspire their colleagues and customers because they love what they do, which makes them happy. They make their jobs into art by putting all of their heart and soul into it.

These people are very important to any company that is going to be successful. It's good that they have a lot to give. They make their own rules and follow them.

If you like the idea of being a linchpin and want to learn more about how to be one, we strongly recommend that you read this book.

David Allen, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Creativity

Do you ever wish someone could just tell you how to get things done, no matter what?

Well, that's what David Allen has in his book. It is a new way to be more productive and manage your time that has been tried and tested over a long period of time.

In general, people aren't very good at being organized. There are a lot of things that go on beneath the surface that affect how well we manage our time. Throughout his book, David Allen tells you how to be more organized both at home and at work. He also tells you about some of the perks of being more organized.

This book is unique among self-help books because it gives you 100% accurate, many times successful, step-by-step tips and guides on how to get control of your life. This book is very rare. Getting Things Done is a serious way to manage your time, and you can even see for yourself by clicking on this link and going to David Allen's website.

Make sure you get your new copy of David Allen's book today.

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