The one thing we know for sure is that change is certain. It’s how we adapt to this change that determines our path in life. Luckily, for those things we struggle to manoeuvre by ourselves, we have self-help experts to turn to. These seven books offer expert guidance on navigating change, building resilience, and cultivating a mindset that serves you. From Dr. Julie Smith’s Open When to Dale Carnegie’s timeless How to Win Friends and Influence People, each book provides powerful insights to help you take control of your thoughts, emotions, and actions. Whether you’re seeking practical strategies or deep reflection, this list has something to inspire your personal growth. Read on and discover the wisdom that will help you explore the power of a rejuvenated mindset.
Dr Julie Smith
“It is not fair on you or any other person to hand them the compass for your life and leave it to chance that the direction they take will be right for you. Every little wrong turn they make along the way starts to make you feel victim to their choices. You must have your own compass and a clear sense of direction for the kind of person you want to be and why. Then it is so much easier to see what you need to say yes to and what you need to say no to.”
Dolly Alderton
“When you are in the middle of a story it isn’t a story at all, but only a confusion; a dark roaring, a blindness, a wreckage of shattered glass and splintered wood; like a house in a whirlwind, or else a boat crushed by the icebergs or swept over the rapids, and all aboard powerless to stop it. It’s only afterwards that it becomes anything like a story at all. When you are telling it, to yourself or to someone else.”
William H. McRaven
“It is easy to blame your lot in Life on some outside force, to stop trying because you believe fate is against you. It is easy to think that where you were raised, how your parents treated you, or what school you went to is all that determines your future. Nothing could be further from the truth.”
George S. Clason
“Proper preparation is the key to our success. Our acts can be no wiser than our thoughts. Our thinking can be no wiser than our understanding.”
by Jordan B Peterson
“You must determine where you are going, so that you can bargain for yourself, so that you don’t end up resentful, vengeful and cruel. You have to articulate your own principles, so that you can defend yourself against others’ taking inappropriate advantage of you, and so that you are secure and safe while you work and play. You must discipline yourself carefully. You must keep the promises you make to yourself, and reward yourself, so that you can trust and motivate yourself. You need to determine how to act toward yourself so that you are most likely to become and to stay a good person.”
How to Win Friends and Influence People
by Dale Carnegie
“Everybody in the world is seeking happiness—and there is one sure way to find it. That is by controlling your thoughts. Happiness doesn’t depend on outward conditions. It depends on inner conditions. It isn’t what you have or who you are or where you are or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about it.”
Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before?
by Dr Julie Smith
“Just as thoughts are not facts, feelings are not facts either. Emotions are information, but when that information is powerful, intense and loud, as emotions can be, then we are more vulnerable to believing in them as a true reflection of what is going on. I feel it therefore it must be a fact. Emotional reasoning is a thought bias that leads us to use what we feel as evidence for something to be true, even when there might be plenty of evidence to suggest otherwise.”
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