A new year is around the corner, which always feels like a fresh start. We’ve compiled a list of our 10 best self-development books for 2022 to help you unlock your unlimited potential no matter what stage you are at in life. We are all capable of personal growth, and you can achieve it on your terms. These books address everything from simple, everyday changes in your habits to bigger mindset shifts to help you achieve all those fantastic dreams you’re worthy of achieving!
1. The High 5 Habit: Take Control of Your Life With One Small Habit by Mel Robbins
When was the last time you high-fived and cheered yourself? In Mel Robbins’s latest book, The High 5 Habit, she shares a simple but powerful tool to help you take control of your life by first building up your confidence through positive self-talk. She uses science-based wisdom, personal stories of her own, and stories of people all over the world who have adopted this profound method. It seems so simple, and may even seem a little silly to high-five yourself in the mirror, but it can help you change your mindset, attitude and habits. Give yourself a high five, and pick up this book! You deserve to be cheered on as much as you cheer on others.
2. The Power Of Writing It Down: A Simple Habit to Unlock Your Brain and Reimagine Your Life by Allison Fallon
Author, writing coach, and speaker Allison Fallon has transformed her life, the lives of everyday people and fellow authors through the process and power of a daily writing practice. In The Power of Writing It Down, she shows you how to get started, how to stay inspired and create new habits to help you live a more intentional and creative life, and how to discover who you are on a deeper level. Using your own words to inspire you is a powerful practice and tool that can help you break away from the mental “loops” that keep you stuck. It can provide you with the clarity and confidence to help you achieve your goals and find more balance in your life. Now who doesn’t want a little more of that in their lives?
3. Twelve and a Half: Leveraging the Emotional Ingredients Necessary for Business Success By Gary Vaynerchuk
For years, bestselling author, entrepreneur and investor Gary Vaynerchuk has provided leaders with incredible advice on building successful businesses. In Twelve and a Half, he offers even more insight on how to build stronger businesses and happier lives by sharing his experiences, successes, and weaknesses, and the12 traits that can strengthen your emotional intelligence. Traits that can help propel or accelerate your business. He shares what the “half” is in the book’s title, and how he makes the most effort to build this particular skill. Vaynerchuk defines each of the traits and explains how they are connected, provides examples of real-life scenarios, and offers exercises to put these “soft skills” into practice.
4. Set Boundaries, Find Peace: A Guide to Reclaiming Yourself by Nedra Glover Tawwab
Healthy boundaries are crucial to creating and achieving balance in your work and personal life, and to developing healthy relationships with coworkers, partners, family and friends. In Set Boundaries, Find Peace, licensed counselor and one of Instagram’s most influential therapists Nedra Glover Tawwab presents powerful techniques to establish healthy boundaries, give you the confidence to speak up for yourself, and express yourself without apology. Having these skills in your toolbox can help you be successful in all areas of your life.
5. Know Your Worth: How to Build Your Self-Esteem, Grow in Confidence and Worry Less About What People Think by Anna Mathur
One of the ways to succeed in life and in business is to have a strong sense of self, to be confident and worry less about what other people think of you. It’s about knowing your worth. Anna Mathur is a psychotherapist who leads readers in Know Your Worth on a journey towards gaining a greater sense of who you truly are and understanding your worth—and the cost of not believing you are worthy. Mathur provides techniques and tips on how to create daily habits to redirect your self-esteem in an upward direction in order to lead a fulfilling and happy life.
Ready To Level Up Your Life With A New Skill?
Winning with Words is a free eBook that teaches people about freelance proofreading and copy editing. These skills are important for personal development as they help individuals to improve their written communication and attention to detail. Written by Edit Republic’s founder, Phon Baillie, you’ll discover how you can create a lifestyle you desire through freelancing. Phon shares her 20+ years of knowledge and experience to give you an idea of what tools you need, how you can work part-time or full-time, and other aspects of working online.
6. Life Is In The Transitions: Mastering Change at Any Age by Bruce Feiler
New York Times bestselling author Bruce Feiler spent the last few years collecting life stories of people who have experienced major changes in their lives. He then spent a year identifying the patterns and takeaways from these stories to help people navigate life’s biggest transitions so they can survive and thrive while finding meaning and purpose. In Life Is In The Transitions, he shares these profound takeaways and reminds us that life is nonlinear, and possessing the skills to manage life’s many transitions, especially in this ever-changing world, can be transformational. It creates a shift in how we look at these transitions and helps us to see them as opportunities for growth and creativity.
7. The Everyday Hero Manifesto: Activate Your Positivity, Maximize Your Productivity, Serve The World by Robin Sharma

Leadership and personal-mastery legend and author of The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, Robin Sharma, has mentored some of the world’s most successful and creative people for over 25 years. In The Everyday Hero Manifesto he imparts the transformational system he has used for all these years, filled with advice and techniques on how to bring more positivity and productivity into your life, as well. He shares the hidden habits that will help you realize your dreams, techniques to turn fear into fuel to get you through challenging times, and a blueprint to avoid procrastination and distraction. Most inspiring is the wisdom he shares on creating successful and productive lives with simplicity, and finding peace and beauty in our lives by helping others as well.
8. Peak Mind: Find Your Focus, Own Your Attention, Invest 12 Minutes A Day by Amishi P. Jha, PhD
When we look at the world today, there’s no doubt that there is a crisis of attention. We’re bombarded by news, ads and entertainment, and we can easily spend hours scrolling through social media posts. Our attention is continually being lured away from the most important things in our life, and delaying us from achieving the goals we set for ourselves. In Peak Mind, Amishi P. Jha aims to help readers become more mindful, learn how to retain their attention for longer periods of time, and function at their peak. She shares and explains mindfulness practices to help train your brain and strengthen its ability to focus.
9. Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman
In Four Thousand Weeks, Oliver Burkeman invites us to think about time management in connection with our mortality. Four thousand weeks is how much time we’d have on this planet if we live until the age of eighty, which is “insultingly short” as Burkeman puts it. He believes time management is “all life is,” but doesn’t believe in obsessing over to-do lists, techniques to being more productive and the anxiety that comes with being more efficient. The time management challenge he most wants us to focus on is how best to use the four thousand weeks we may have. Burkeman delivers a humorous and profound guide of practical tools to encourage everyone to live a more meaningful life, and shares insights from philosophers, psychologists and spiritual teachers on time management.
10. Working Hard, Hardly Working: How to Achieve More, Stress Less and Feel Fulfilled by Grace Beverley
In the age of social media, there is pressure to be more productive and to grind out work around the clock while also remembering to take “me time.” It can be hard to balance it all. Entrepreneur and self-proclaimed “lazy workaholic” Grace Beverley doesn’t believe we have to choose between the two. In Working Hard, Hardly Working, she explores how it is possible to create balance by reflecting on what you most want from life and work, and creating an individualized method of achieving productivity and designing a routine that works for you. When you learn how to get into that work-life flow, and understand that stepping back can help you move forward, you’ll be able to create a fulfilling life that works for you, doing more of what you love.
Grow Your Self-Development Reading List
Want more books to add to your self-development reading list? We have more recommendations for you to check out in this blog post.
3 thoughts on “10 Best Self-Development Books For 2022”
These are excellent choices! I purchased Twelve and a Half and Peak Mind. I think both will improve my abilities and processes in working with clients and in managing my time effectively. Thanks Phon!
Just an update….Peak Mind is very eye opening. I love this lady!!
I’m happy to hear that, Lori!