Schools of Self Help - most self help books are bad but you should read them anyway

[ZouTiger]

---

title: 'Schools of Self Help'
date: '2024-01-11'
author: rupi
slug: schools-of-self-help
category: Essay
tags: [self-help]
image:
description: most self help books are bad but you should read them anyway

Most self help books rehash the same few ideas - but that doesn't mean you should not read them. The very best authors will take an idea and intertwine it with their own life story in a way that is interesting and memorable. By telling memorable stories, the author made sure you will think of the stories from the book when you face a similar situation.

Going with this logic, picking self help books becomes easy. Start reading and if it doesn't pull you in, you can stop reading—that book is either not good enough or not applicable to your life situation at the moment. You can always come back to it at a future point in life.

Here the are schools of self help that are most commonly seen in the self help world. There are thousands of books that are obviously missing on this list. These are the ones that come to mind when I think of the overarching idea.

Idea: Power of Habits

These books deal with habits - how to form them, how to break them and how to use them.

• Atomic Habits by James Clear
• Power of Habit and
• Smarter, Faster, Better by Charles Duhigg

Idea: Tough Love

Mostly by ex-military guys (yes, mostly guys).

• Extreme Ownership and
• Discipline Equals Freedom by Jocko Willink
• Can't Hurt Me by David Goggins

Idea: Focus

Power of focus and not getting distracted.

• Deep Work and
• Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport
• The One Thing by Gary Keller
• Essentialism by Greg McKeown

Idea: Systems

Building systems to be more effective.

• Getting Things Done by David Allen
• Building a Second Brain by Tiago Forte

Idea: Change

Dealing with change and changing yourself

• Daring Greatly by Brené Brown
• The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondō
• The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson

Idea: Mindfulness

Staying present

• The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
• Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl

Mindset

Your mindset controls you

• Grit by Angela Duckworth
• Mindset by Carol Dweck

#Idea: Money
Investing, managing your money and money mindsets. I am not including the 'actual' investing books in here, only 'self-help' ones

• Money by Tony Robbins
• Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki

Idea: An anthology of ideas

This is where Tim Ferriss' books (except 4 Hour Workweek) deserve a special mention. These don't have any one idea as a focus but touch on a lot of different ideas and individual stories

• 4 Hour Body
• Tools of Titans and
• Tribe of Mentors by Tim Ferriss