Amazing Self Help Books for Young Adults

If you are looking for self help books for young adults to read then you are in the right place. In this article, you will find a blend of ten great self help books. Now why do you need a blend of self help books? It’s because happiness and satisfaction in life depends on three major areas, i.e., relationships, health and career.

So if you aspire for a life of happiness and satisfaction then addressing any concerns in these areas becomes important. Before these concerns are addressed on an outer level, what’s more helpful is finding the right attitude, growth mindset, healthy mental and physical habits. If we keep this approach, we are better equipped. Do you agree? What do we mean by young adults? According to popular perceptions, young adults are between the age group of 18 to 25 years.

But, psychologists divide adulthood into

  • Early adulthood (18 to 40)
  • Middle adulthood (middle age 40 to 60)
  • Late adulthood (old age 60 onwards)

Considering either young or early adulthood, we agree there are many changes occurring in these years. It is a period of transition from adolescence to adulthood. Young adults are expected to adjust to domestic, financial, and social standards.

Why do young adults need self help books?

Early adulthood is the period when individuals may get into romantic relationships. People transform from a student into a working professional. Individuals have to make choices and decisions. All these involve some amount of emotional tensions and social isolation. Old friendships from childhood and adolescence drift away.

Due to this young adults often do not have access to a close-knit peer group and are unable to discuss their life with anybody. Reading relevant books help young adults in getting guidance and coping with life’s many challenges. Experiences, observations and research of other people help readers get insights while sitting in one spot. If you look closer, formal education in schools and colleges have no time to teach the topics covered in self help books, such as

  • How to find your passion and choose a career path?
  • Ways to keep a great attitude
  • Saving and managing money
  • Techniques to communicate on digital platforms
  • Healing past trauma and pain
  • Developing great habits
  • Spiritual techniques to find joy in life and reduce stress
  • Solving dilemmas and taking decisions
  • How to remove mental blocks?
  • Ways to improve focus and productivity

This is why reading self-improvement and motivational books are helpful in filling this learning gap. Sometimes, we may already know the philosophy and techniques given in self help books but we can do well with a reminder.

Best self help books for young adults

Self help books showcase the philosophy, theories, and techniques about the topics that the author specializes in. The process of writing a book takes many years and developing expertise takes decades of research by the author. Later other specialists like the publishers, proofreaders, designers and marketing professionals take over.

So there is much effort behind the creation of each book. There are several self help books for young adults and this list has ten good books. Self help books are a great resource and a unique component of our human culture. Don’t you think?

1. Ikigai

Published in 2017 by Random House UK. There is a high chance you might have heard of this book somewhere because this book is an international bestseller. Ikigai is a Japanese word for purpose or a reason to live.

Many young adults are often confused about what kind of career they will be happy pursuing all their life. Very often young adults have many interests that bring happiness but making a career out of it seems like a joke. Making a career choice and sustaining happily with the choice seems like a task with restrictions based on several factors. Have you ever felt like this? Read this book to help yourself solve your dilemma.

Ikigai is a book that will help young adults in this confusion. The author’s Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles write about finding a purpose that will give you a reason to live, along with habits and philosophy that will help you lead a long and healthy life.

2. Digital Body Language

Book published by St. Martin’s Press in 2021 and written by Erica Dhawan, an award-winning keynote speaker. She also conducts workshops, courses and advisory services. The book is about digital communication and how digital communication can lead to wrong messages and interpretations. She begins by explaining what she means by digital body language. Digital communication can lead to stress, anxiety, power play, reading between the lines, and feeling disrespected. Have you experienced this?

Read this book to know more. The book explains how to collaborate in this digital age to develop trust by communicating your message . The book is great for young adults as communication these days happens a lot over various digital platforms for official work and personal use as well. HR professionals can benefit from this book too.

Also read: Best HR Books for Beginners.

3. Healing Is the New High

Book published by Hay House in 2021 and written by Vex King, is a bestseller in the self help genre. This 304-page book is all about healing from within. You might think, to get over past trauma, requires conscious and deep effort but the result is clarity to bounce back with greater freedom. (The author has written another bestseller book Good Life Good Vibes.)

This book is based on the author’s own experience of healing from his past trauma and pain. So you will read a variety of tried and tested techniques for inner healing. Almost every person on this planet Earth has some pain and sometimes perceived or real trauma from the past. If you are holding on to some past pain, then read this book to help yourself begin the process of healing.

Yogic practices, working on energy from within and around us, relationships, positive affirmations, are some of the teachings in this book. Renowned author Robin Sharma has written the foreword for this book. Practical exercises for healing will raise the energy that radiates from you. Unlearning past conditioning and transforming your belief system are part of the techniques. So be kind to yourself and help yourself heal.

4. The Psychology of Money

The book published by Harriman House in 2020 has 252-pages and brought to readers in India by Jaico Publications. The author is Morgan Housel. The book is a fantastic read and value for money. As the name suggests, the book is about mindset and attitude about money. Young adults generally have variety of spending habits depending on several factors.

Also read: Best NLP Books for Success

Having some knowledge about handling money is essential but more important is managing emotions. We are emotional beings and whether we save money, spend money or invest money, in all cases it is our emotions that dictate our behaviour. Managing ego related to lifestyle and spending patterns is the other side of managing money. In the 20 chapters, the author’s narrative has several stories and examples to explain his point. If you think you need to know more, then do read this book.

5. Atomic Habits

This 288-page book was published by Random House Business Books in 2018. This book is a bestseller as the author explains something as powerful yet simple as habits. Readers have found this book useful because habits can be unconscious and go unnoticed. Yet habits are like bricks that can build your tower of success.

The author James Clear is an international habit expert and has spent several years researching habits. He talks about the technology of leveraging the power of habits. So you will read about habit stacking, the two-minute rule and the Goldilocks Zone among other theories. His thoughts are backed by references and explanations of cutting edge psychology and neuroscience. Habits are like atoms, the basis of something larger. So read this book and get ready to transform your life.

6. Think Like a Monk

This self-help book published by Thronsons in 2020, became an international bestseller in the US, UK and India. Author Jay Shetty is a former monk turned motivational speaker and author. Jay Shetty spent about 3 years as a monk and presents the wisdom he gained in this time. His inspirational theories are available on a variety of platforms and is consumed by a very large number of young adults. He believes in making “Wisdom go Viral”.

This book has ancient Vedic wisdom in a modern context to clear blocks and motivate readers to reach their full potential. You will read about positive thinking, identifying hidden abilities, meditation, improving self-discipline and focus. These help in improving relationships too. There are exercises to calm the mind and strengthen your power.

This book helps young adults move from self doubt to self esteem. Bring inner tranquility and finding a purpose to live everyday. The language is easy to read and narrative is engaging for young adults. Read this book slowly over days or weeks and even months while reflecting on its teachings. A must-read.

7. Inner Engineering

Published in 2016 by Penguin Random House India and written by Sadguru, it’s a 300-page book that you can read over weeks while contemplating and reflecting on Sadguru’s teachings. If you are fascinated by Sadguru’s teachings then this book will be a great read for you. Sadguru’s perception combined with his wisdom is what makes his followers hooked to his teachings. Karma: a yogi’s guide to crafting your own destiny” book of Sadguru that is already a best seller.

The book “Inner Engineering” has a blend of yoga, spirituality and the life-changing techniques of inner engineering. These techniques developed by Sadguru over time, focus on aligning the energy of our mind and body with the energies around us. This creates possibility for infinite synchronicities and blessings. Reading this book will enlighten young adults on how to bring a shift in perception along with healthy yogic practices to take their consciousness to a higher level.

8. Deep Work

The author is Cal Newport and book published by Little Brown Book Group continues to be a bestseller. This 304-page book is an international bestseller. The subtitle “Rules for focused success in a distracted world” is relatable to anybody in this digital era. Multi-tasking is fashionable and often indispensable. Handling multiple projects, attending multiple emails, WhatsApp, to-do lists, etc. can leave anybody feeling the pressure to work .

This results in an inability to concentrate on any single task and do deep work. So what one needs is actionable steps to strengthen the focus on one task and diminish distractions. This book offers techniques for building concentration. The author supports his theories with references to psychology and neuroscience studies. There are several examples of people doing deep work in isolation free from distractions. Authors and scientists are well known to work in isolation.

9. The Right Choice

Published by Penguin Books in 2021 and the author is Shiv Shivkumar. This 240-page book tackles ten career dilemmas faced by people. Foreword by Indra Nooyi, the former Pepsico CEO. The author Shiv Shivkumar is the CEO of a top corporate group in India. His book addresses ten questions related to career from a trainee to higher management level and the author advises based on his experience and wisdom. 

Any career is a path of opportunities, choices and decisions. Career (and every aspect of our life) takes shape because of our choices and decision making. There are times when career growth is evident and other times when saturation and stagnation sets in. Among all the amazing self help books for young adults in the list, this book has helpful career insights. If you aspire to navigate a great career graph to the top then this book is for you.

10. Attitude Is Everything

This book is an international bestseller written by Jeff Keller, a motivational speaker and author. Published by HarperCollins in 2015. The book talks about reaching goals by leveraging thoughts and attitude. Attitude is that lens through which we look at the world and perceive everything in our environment. A bit of dust on this lens can impact how we look at the world.

The author gives examples and explanations of his theories in simple and easy language. Several skills and techniques discussed in the book will help anyone in their life. Positive events and synchronicities will happen when you start applying the simple technology of attitude explained by Jeff Keller in this book. Young adults will get amazing insights about attitude and self-talk that will equip them to live an awesome life.

Concluding thoughts:

Working on the techniques given in these books takes some conscious effort but they become a habit and intrinsic nature. These were ten great self help books for young adults that are engaging and helpful, written by experienced authors. It is great when we get access to such positive advice from authors as they are knowledgeable in their field of research and work. Without having to go through the same process the authors have gone through, we get insights from them that can help us. When we know the tools for self development, we can help ourselves.

Also read: Bestselling English Novels by New Age Indian Authors.

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