Books are a man’s best friend. We all have read at least one fiction and one non-fiction book in our entire life even if we are not a regular reader. Nowadays it’s rare for people to take time out and read a minimum of 12 books in 12 months. People prefer watching a movie or listening to an audiobook or podcast rather than reading a book. But sometimes a good read leaves a mark and lets us learn and grow from within. It can be a fictional story of a person with whom we can resemble our traits or a non-fiction factual piece of information that deals with reality. In a way, It helps in our self-development.
Importance of Self-development in one’s life
Self-development or personal development is a process of becoming a holistically better person. It is the need to compete with one’s competencies and skills to make them even better. It covers the interpersonal and intrapersonal development of an individual that helps them deal effectively with their environment.
Self-development starts with knowing oneself or the identification of self. The identification includes exploration of self and society, having clarity in one’s thought process and comprehension of thoughts. Identification is one of the first and most important aspects of understanding one’s self. After identification, there comes the next step which is acceptance.
Read More: The Psychology Behind Self-help Books
By accepting yourself you become better at controlling and dealing with your emotions. The people who gain acceptance of themselves don’t blame anyone or themselves for their misfortune, instead, they ask themselves: why did it happen? to learn from their mistakes. Self-development takes place naturally throughout life, but sometimes we learn from other individuals and reflect on their learnings in our life context. As It can happen through stories and experiences of others, books are a great way to share experiences and stories from the writer’s ink to the reader’s mind.
Reading Self-Developement Books
“That’s the thing about books. They let you travel without moving your feet.” – Jhumpa Lahiri, The Namesake
It is a proven fact that getting indulged in reading books is good for our health. The engagement and attachment towards a good book while reading it is called narrative absorption, which is pleasurable and beneficial for our mind. Books act as an effective escape from reality to the imaginary world of our own. Researchers even found that some symptoms related to depression and anxiety are reduced by reading books. Bibliotherapy is used by practitioners in treating several psychological disorders including depression, anxiety, grief, and amnesia. Some practitioners even combine cognitive behavioural therapy with Bibliotherapy to enhance its effectiveness.
- Foster creativity and imagination
- This leads to an insightful ponder
- Enhances cognitive functioning
- Enhances memory retention
- Builds or increases empathy
- Better problem solving
- Reduces the risk of dementia
Read More: Psychology Behind Growth Mindset
10 Book Recommendations for Self-Development
1. Man’s search for meaning by Victor Frankl
As the name suggests, it’s about overcoming tragedy and finding meaning from it. Holocaust survivor, psychiatrist Viktor Frankl shares his personal experiences of Nazi concentration camps and the idea of logotherapy to show you that one can find meaning from unbelievable tragedy. The core idea he shared in this very book was that while it is true that we do not have control over the things that happen to us, we can control the way we respond to them.
2. Atomic Habits by James Clear
The book is about creating small changes to improve your overall life. It has practical and proven strategies to help an individual live a more fulfilling life. The book describes a 4 step easy method of habit formation with practical examples. It is about incorporating simple and small changes which in turn can provide greater results.
Read More: Top 10 Books on Productivity and Time Management
3. The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin Sharma
The book primarily teaches us the true essence of happiness and how to live a life that will ensure long-standing happiness. It provides us insight into a character’s life who was introduced to a crisis that was a result of his unbalanced lifestyle. The book shares the life-changing methods one can incorporate in their life, to live a life of enlightenment, unparalleled wisdom and peace.
4. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Through the narrative of a shepherd boy, Paulo Coelho talks about Identity, Passion and Enthusiasm. The book provides an outlook on life’s amazing lessons, which teaches us it is important to pursue your passion and live for the moment.
5. As a Man Thinketh by James Allen
It is one of the foundational texts from the self-development genre of books. This book’s key ideas related to life is that the man is the sum of his thoughts. The important lesson that we learn from the book is, that our thoughts influence our actions; you can shape the World as much as you are influenced by it; and your thoughts can make you feel young or make you age faster.
6. The Secret by Rhonda Byrne
The key ideas of this book are primarily focused on the “law of attraction; The law of attraction means you need to have positive energy to attract positive things in your life and how you can use it to have a fulfilling life. The book shares life secrets to steps of attraction, starting from asking, believing and receiving.
7. Thinking, fast and slow by Daniel Kahneman
In this book, Kahneman explains how the two systems of our brain, conscious and automatic, constantly try to take autonomy of our behaviour and actions. This right between the two sometimes creates errors in decision-making. The book deals with only research-backed and scientific ideas yet it is written in a way that is easy to understand for the common people.
Read More: How Emotions Play an Important Role in Decision-Making
8. Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins
This book teaches us how to start taking control of our lives. It is a groundbreaking book by Tony Robbins who talks about the way we can take control of ourselves. This book has a genius idea of associating pain with negative habits, and pleasure with the positive ones (a method of conditioning). He suggests that changing the words that we use to describe things plays a significant role in feeling and dealing with that problem. The importance given to making your own rules and expressing them for a great positive effect on an individual are some of the key learnings of the book.
Read More: 7 Positive Psychology Habits for Everyday
9. Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
This is a collection of twelve books written by Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, to remember his learning from stoic philosophy. From his learnings, we get great teachings of logic, faith and discipline. These writings define that true logic doesn’t always have to have sense but it all happens for a reason. He believed that life is too short to complain, you will always have the pain that you create yourself.
10. How to stop worrying and start living by Dale Carnegie
In this book, Dale Carnegie has explained the amazing techniques to solve the main cause of so many problems in our lives, “worry”. In this book, you will be able to be on an insightful journey of discovering ways to create boundaries between you and your worries. In his book, he has described a three-step approach to stop worrying.
Honestly, no book can help you get rid of your negative thoughts if you are not willing to do so. It’s an inevitable fact which is universal to all of us. Books are a way to reach beyond the horizon and sail through the stormy ocean and it is proven that books are a man’s best friend.
References +
- https://fourminutebooks.com/best-self-help-books/
- https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/the-art-effect/202203/the-mental-health-
benefits-reading - https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsv114
- https://calvinrosser.com/best-books/self-help/
