Top 10 Reads For Personal Growth for Spring 2021
Last weekend, we wrapped up our February Read at my Book Club. I started this book club back in November because I realized that I needed to have a way of fostering my personal growth. I’ve spent a lot of time with books and reading books. Books are something that’s always safe for me. They don’t talk back to me and sound judgy. Books also gave me ways to imagine what life would be if I was the character in this book. Books had given me the opportunity to explore outside of my own story and not be caught up with my own.
I love books. However, I too, procrastinate when it comes to reading books.
“I don’t have time”
“I have too much going on in my life”
“There are so many of them I don’t know which one.”
“I only read a few selected authors”
My favorite genre had been focusing around “self-help” and “Personal Development” books but rarely on fiction and biography. It was refreshing to be surrounded by other women who love to read and more importantly who read a variety. This gave me different perspectives and helped me grow on a personal level.
“Good Things Come To Those Who Believe in it. You hold the key to decide “Today is going to be like no other day. And Today is a good day to begin.”
- Michelle Kuei
As a published author, I know that the best time to publish a self-help book is right around this time of the year between February through April. Which is no surprise that you might be seeing a bloom on the Personal Growth and Personal Development books that’s been released within the last 2 months and into spring 2021.
Today, I am going to share the top 10 releases from Amazon on Personal Growth that I would personally add to my booklist as well:
1. Believe IT: How to Go from Underestimated to Unstoppable by Jamie Kern Lima
“In Believe IT, Jamie Kern Lima, founder of IT Cosmetics, shares the wild but true story of how a once struggling waitress turned her against-the-grain idea into an international bestselling sensation, eventually selling the company for over a billion dollars and becoming the first female CEO of a brand in L’Oréal’s 100+ year history. Faced with self-doubt, body-doubt, God-doubt, down to her last few dollars and told “No one is going to buy makeup from someone who has your body,” Jamie reveals for the first time what really went down, how she almost didn’t make it, how she learned to trust herself, and the powerful lessons you, too, can use to go from underestimated to unstoppable.”
2. The Four Winds: A Novel by Kristin Hannah
“The Four Winds is a rich, sweeping novel that stunningly brings to life the Great Depression and the people who lived through it―the harsh realities that divided us as a nation and the enduring battle between the haves and the have-nots. A testament to hope, resilience, and the strength of the human spirit to survive adversity, The Four Winds is an indelible portrait of America and the American dream, as seen through the eyes of one indomitable woman whose courage and sacrifice will come to define a generation.”
3. Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know by Adam Grant
“Organizational psychologist Adam Grant is an expert on opening other people's minds--and our own. As Wharton's top-rated professor and the bestselling author of Originals and Give and Take, he makes it one of his guiding principles to argue like he's right but listen like he's wrong. Think Again reveals that we don't have to believe everything we think or internalize everything we feel. It's an invitation to let go of views that are no longer serving us well and prize mental flexibility over foolish consistency. If knowledge is power, knowing what we don't know is wisdom.”
4. Winning the War in Your Mind: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life by Craig Groeschel
“We've all tried to think our way out of bad habits and unhealthy thought patterns, only to find ourselves stuck with an out-of-control mind and off-track daily life. Pastor and New York Times bestselling author Craig Groeschel understand deeply this daily battle against self-doubt and negative thinking, and in this powerful new book, he reveals the strategies he's discovered to change your mind and your life for the long-term.”
5. The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather McGhee
“The Sum of Us is a brilliant analysis of how we arrived here: divided and self-destructing, materially rich but spiritually starved and vastly unequal. McGhee marshals economic and sociological research to paint an irrefutable story of racism’s costs, but at the heart of the book are the humble stories of people yearning to be part of a better America, including white supremacy’s collateral victims: white people themselves. With startling empathy, this heartfelt message from a Black woman to a multiracial America leaves us with a new vision for a future in which we finally realize that life can be more than a zero-sum game.”
6. How to Do the Work: Recognize Your Patterns, Heal from Your Past, and Create Your Self by Dr. Nicole LePera
“In How to Do the Work, Dr. LePera offers readers the support and tools that will allow them to break free from destructive behaviors to reclaim and recreate their lives. Nothing short of a paradigm shift, this is a celebration of empowerment that will forever change the way we approach mental wellness and self-care.”
7. Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson
“In a time when the human will increasingly impose itself over every sphere of life—from our social structures to our emotional states—Peterson warns that too much security is dangerous. What’s more, he offers strategies for overcoming the cultural, scientific, and psychological forces causing us to tend toward tyranny, and teaches us how to rely instead on our instinct to find meaning and purpose, even—and especially—when we find ourselves powerless.”
8. Your Brain Is Always Listening: Tame the Hidden Dragons That Control Your Happiness, Habits, and Hang-Ups by Dr. Daniel G. Amen
“Your brain is always listening and responding to these hidden influences and unless you recognize and deal with them, they can steal your happiness, spoil your relationships, and sabotage your health. In Your Brain Is Always Listening, Dr. Daniel Amen shows you how to recognize harmful dragons and gives you the weapons to vanquish them. With these practical tools, you can stop feeling sad, mad, nervous, or out of control and start being happier, calmer, and more in control of your own destiny.”
9. Hunt, Gather, Parent: What Ancient Cultures Can Teach Us About the Lost Art of Raising Happy, Helpful Little Humans by Michaeleen Doucleff
“In Hunt, Gather, Parent, Doucleff sets out with her three-year-old daughter in tow to learn and practice parenting strategies from families in three of the world’s most venerable communities: Maya families in Mexico, Inuit families above the Arctic Circle, and Hadzabe families in Tanzania. She sees that these cultures don’t have the same problems with children that Western parents do.”
10. Living the Confidence Code: Real Girls. Real Stories. Real Confidence by Katty Kay
“From Bali to Brazil, South Africa to Seattle, Australia to Afghanistan, these girls took risks, doubted themselves, and sometimes failed. But they also hung in there when things got hard. Along the way, they discovered what matters to them: everything from protesting contaminated water to championing inclusive books to the accessibility of girls’ basketball shoes, and so much more.
Different goals, different stories, different personalities, all illustrate the multitude of ways to be confident in the world. “
Which book will you be picking up next from this collection?
Love to hear your thoughts!
