For Aristotle, the sole purpose of life was to be happy.
Human beings have a natural instinct to want to be happy and successful. While there are many paths to happiness, there’s consensus that without self development, there is no happiness.
Self development, for some, may be a smooth ride, while for others it may be a bumpy ride.
To help you in your quest for happiness through self development, we have listed a few books that we think would help you. Written by experts, these books will facilitate you to become the person you want to be.
As famous novelist George Eliot once said- “It is never too late to be who you might have been.”
Having said that, let’s know a little about these books:
1. Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals
Written by an award winning feature writer for The Guardian, Oliver Burkeman, Four Thousand Weeks is a book that revolves around the idea of time management.
Four thousand weeks is a rough total of the number of weeks a person gets to experience if he lives to be 80 years old. In this book, Burkeman talks about how “terrifying and insultingly short” this span of time is and regardless of how long we live, our relationship with time remains complicated.
This book talks about how stressing about daily life tasks is a trap. While reading Four Thousand Weeks, you will realize that life is finite and that smashing deadlines and zero inbox strategy is not going to get you any trophy.
Oliver Burkeman tries to remind us to live our time on earth and also takes a dig at the myths that we are fed by wanna be time gurus.
2. Declutter Your Mind
Declutter Your Mind is a masterpiece written by S. J. Scott and Barrie Davenport. The book is about the problems of a muddled mind.
In this book, Scott and Davenport talk about how anxieties and worries are nothing but offspring of a troubled mind. They not only drain your energy but also consume a lot of your time. To free people from this continuous loop of stress, writers have written some excellent decluttering techniques that will help their readers live a more happy, healthy and balanced life.
Along with this, while reading this book you will also get an insight on how to build self-discipline, how to overcome the resistance that comes with new hobbies, etc.
3. Get Out of Your Own Way
Get Out of Your Own Way is one of the best personal development books till date. Written by Dr. Mark Goulston and Philip Goldberg, the title of the book says it all. It is a piece of art which tells us how we self-sabotage our lives.
Through the pages of the book, both the authors help the readers overcome different self-defeating behaviors and transform them into self-enhancing behaviors. With real-life incidents and insights drawn from his psychiatric experience, Dr Goulston, in this book has shared various ideas that have helped patients overcome confusion, fear and pain.
By making you reflect on your behavior, Get Out of Your Own Way tells you to be your best friend instead of your enemy.
4. Set Boundaries, Find Peace: A Guide to Reclaiming Yourself
Written by Nedra Glover Tawwab, Set Boundaries, Find Peace: A Guide to Reclaiming Yourself is a beginner’s guide to setting boundaries. While setting boundaries has become the new buzz word, only a few know what it truly means.
Tawwab is a therapist and in this book she has poured her knowledge to benefit the readers. She is of the opinion that having porous boundaries hugely impacts your whole life.
You may not want to say “yes” to events that stress you out but end up doing so or you may not like certain people but end up letting them in – this is all because of poor boundaries.
This book is for you if you feel like you are being pushed around your entire life.
5. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
No matter how many self-development books we jot down, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is a timeless classic that will always make it to the list.
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is a book written by Stephen R. Covey which gives us an insight on how to manage and solve professional as well as personal problems.
Covey has laid down 7 habits which, if employed, can help people become successful in their life. These habits are: be proactive, begin with the end in mind, prioritizing first things first, embracing a win-win mindset, endeavoring to understand others first than to be understood, synergizing, and sharpening the saw.
This book is a step-by-step road map to living a dignified life. To buy The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People online, you can visit OLX Pakistan’s website.
These are the 5 best personal development books that we think would help you succeed in life. Do let us know which one you ended up reading.
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