6 great and inspiring books that help you improve yourself

We are all aware that we are not born perfect or with incredible energy, and that we must always strive to improve ourselves throughout our lives. We recognize the necessity of taking care of our bodies by eating well, exercising regularly, and getting enough sleep, etc... However, we rarely discuss the importance of maintaining our mental, psychological, and emotional health.

The more you know about yourself, the more you will be able to grow and enhance your strengths, as well as your capacity to deal with life. That is why it is critical that we strive to enhance our thinking on a daily basis. The best way to do this is to read books.

If you want to look for books that can help you improve yourself, you will find hundreds, if not thousands, of published books on libraries shelves. However, not every one of these books is worthwhile of your time and effort. There are some really valuable books, which will help you either start to improve yourself or give you a boost to continue towards your goals, and there are other books that will not benefit you or give you the knowledge you want to improve and move forward.

So, we have prepared for you a list of 6 inspirational books that will help you improve yourself.

1. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Because it is regarded as one of the most popular self-improvement books, you may have heard of it before. The book "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People," written by an American author "Stephen Covey," was published in 1989 and has acquired huge popularity because of its importance and it is containing effective techniques and exercises for the reader.

Indeed, the content of the book is more profound and wiser than the title indicates. Because the book emphasizes the significance of making a radical transformation in our lives and awareness of ourselves and the world around us, and that change is often painful or difficult. But we should have the strength to sacrifice what we want today for a desired future.

This book also discusses several distinguishing aspects in life, such as initiative, creativity, balance, adopting ideals, discovering ourselves and our mental abilities, and utilizing them to achieve maximum benefit. It also includes some tasks to help us apply these principles for our self-improvement.

Quotes from the book:

• “We see the world, not as it is, but as we are-or, as we are conditioned to see it.”
• “It's not what happens to us, but our response to what happens to us that hurts us.”
• “Habit is the intersection of knowledge (what to do), skill (how to do), and desire (want to do).”

2. The Power of Now

Whereas most self-improvement books focus on the future, "The Power of Now" book emphasizes the significance of awareness of the current moment because you will find yourself in the present. Spending too much time living in the past or the future, according to Eckhart Tolle, leads to regret, anxiety, and other negative emotions. And the best way to reduce these, enhance your emotional intelligence and develop stronger empathy for those around you, is to feel and live in the present.

The book also confirms that the present moment is all we have, and that we are emotionally attached to the past because it gives us identity, and that we are attached to the future because it promises us salvation and the end of suffering, but that time is nothing but an illusion, and the present is the priceless treasure, which is found outside of this illusion. So the more you focus on the past and the future, the more you lose the present, which is the most precious thing in existence.

Quotes from the book:

• “The psychological condition of fear is divorced from any concrete and true immediate danger. It comes in many forms: unease, worry, anxiety, nervousness, tension, dread, phobia, and so on. This kind of psychological fear is always of something that might happen, not of something that is happening now.”
• “The mind is a superb instrument if used rightly. Used wrongly, however, it becomes very destructive. To put it more accurately, it is not so much that you use your mind wrongly - you usually don’t use it at all. It uses you.”
• “Life is now. There was never a time when your life was not now, nor will there ever be.”

How to Win Friends & Influence People

It is hard to find any list of self-improvement books that does not contain this book, which is one of the oldest self-improvement books. It was written by Dale Carnegie, an American writer and lecturer, and published in 1936. Despite this, the book retains its value and continues to attract millions of readers.

"How to Win Friends and Influence People" book helps you develop yourself by enhancing your social skills and learning useful strategies for becoming a popular person. However, It is not, however, about hypocrisy, constructing a false persona, or anything similar. It emphasizes techniques such as listening and having empathy with people, recognizing their wants and needs, increasing their sense of appreciation, and so on. Which makes the book very useful on both a social and professional level.

Quotes from the book:

• "The only way I can get you to do anything is by giving you what you want."
• "Every successful person loves the game. The chance to prove his worth, to excel, to win."
• "Pay less attention to what men say. Just watch what they do."
• "Ask yourself: What is the worst that can happen? Then prepare to accept it. Then proceed to improve on the worst."

3. Think and Grow Rich

American writer Napoleon Hill has published "Think and Grow Rich" book in 1937. The book was promoted as a self-improvement book, and has sold more than 15 million copies.

This book is based on Napoleon Hill's first book "The Law of Success", which he claims is the outcome of more than two decades of research into the lives of many wealthy people.   From the title of the book it may seem that the content is all about financial gain, and while this is true, the book covers much more areas. The author emphasizes that his philosophy, which he refers to as "the philosophy of achievement" assists people in numerous fields of work and pushes them to achieve everything they imagine.

The book also focuses on key pillars, such as planning, perseverance, decision-making, and techniques that help us improve. The book's ability to stand off time is the best proof of its remarkable worth.

Quotes from the book:

• “When defeat comes, accept it as a signal that your plans are not sound, rebuild those plans, and set sail once more toward your coveted goal.”
• “A quitter never wins-and-a winner never quits.”
• “An educated man is not, necessarily, one who has an abundance of general or specialized knowledge. An educated man is one who has so developed the faculties of his mind that he may acquire anything he wants, or its equivalent, without violating the rights of others.”

4. Rich Dad Poor Dad

Rich Dad Poor Dad is considered one of the best self-improvement books available if you are hoping to improve your financial situation. The writer "Robert Kiyosaki" explains the financial principles that one should follow by comparing two personalities: the rich father and the poor father. In essence, this book teaches you how to get rid of unimportant financial obligations and have a unique mindset that helps you manage things effectively.

This book is still the best financial book in the world for the past 20 years. By following the rich dad's strategies and avoiding the poor dad's ones, you can learn best practices to improve your financial situation. Don't worry about the simple language of the book. After all, the author's net worth is estimated to be over $80 million, which adds more reliability to it.

Quotes from the book:

• “In school we learn that mistakes are bad, and we are punished for making them. Yet, if you look at the way humans are designed to learn, we learn by making mistakes. We learn to walk by falling down. If we never fell down, we would never walk.”
• “The single most powerful asset we all have is our mind. If it is trained well, it can create enormous wealth in what seems to be an instant.”
• “I am concerned that too many people are focused too much on money and not on their greatest wealth, which is their education. If people are prepared to be flexible, keep an open mind and learn, they will grow richer and richer through the changes. If they think money will solve the problems, I am afraid those people will have a rough ride. Intelligence solves problems and produces money. Money without financial intelligence is money soon gone.”

5. Man's Search for Meaning

During World War II, Viktor Frankl spent three years as a prisoner in four different Nazi concentration camps. After surviving the Holocaust, Frankl wrote about what he learned from these experiences in man's search for meaning.

Indeed, this book does not depict the horrors of life in Nazi concentration camps. Frank, on the other hand, used his position as a psychiatrist to demonstrate the need of finding meaning and purpose in one's life. He describes those who have found meaning, how it has helped them survive, and those who have given up.Suffering, as he tells us, is inevitable, but the difference lies in how we deal with it. If we can find meaning, even in the worst acts committed by our species against fellow human beings, we will be able to move forward with a renewed purpose. The author also discusses the significance of resilience by presenting stories of how fellow prisoners faced adversity during their most tough years.

Quotes from the book:

• “No man should judge unless he asks himself in absolute honesty whether in a similar situation, he might not have done the same.”
• “Don't aim at success. The more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side effect of one's personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one's surrender to a person other than oneself. Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen by not caring about it.”
• “A man who becomes conscious of the responsibility he bears toward a human being who affectionately waits for him, or to an unfinished work, will never be able to throw away his life. He knows the "why" for his existence, and will be able to bear almost any "how".”