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7 self help books you must read

December 27, 2015 09:20 IST

Before the year ends, pride yourself in the wisdom from these books.

Self help books

Photograph: Rachel Titiriga/Creative Commons

One of the best ways to succeed is to be your own teacher and guide.

Look within, embrace yourself, be honest to your follies, and recognise your skills.

It only empowers you, but arms you with confidence to take on bigger challenges.

Here is a list of self-help books for women that focus on how to love yourself, not over think, and how to get better at what you do.

Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office: Unconscious Mistakes Women Make That Sabotage Their Careers

Yes, this one is about workplace success. Author Dr Lois Frankel has done a deep dive here and identified 101 unique set of behaviours that women learnt in girlhood that sabotage their adult life.

She writes, "Whether I am working in Jakarta, Prague, Frankfurt, Wellington, or Detroit, I am amazed to watch women across cultures make the same mistakes at work.

"They may be more exaggerated in Hong Kong than in Houston, but they are variations on the same theme.

"And I know they are mistakes because once women address them and begin to act differently, their career paths take wonderful turns they never thought possible."

The Life Organizer: A Woman's Guide to a Mindful Year

"What if there was a way to organise and guide your life that more closely resembled lying back on an inner tube as the current carried you along (with you occasionally adjusting your course because you want to smell a wild flower onshore or because you hit a bumpy stretch) rather than a furious, exhausting upstream paddle?"

A very tempting opening by Jennifer Louden that makes you want to know really how to organise your life, especially with the New Year approaching. Use it to understand what it means to organise your life and how to do it well.

Women Who Think Too Much: How to Break Free of Overthinking and Reclaim Your Life 

Psychologist Dr Susan Nolen-Hoeksema, through her research, shows how women over think too much and how it is a source of sadness, anxiety, and depression.

Not only does she share what makes women over think, but it also provides tangible strategies to keep negative thoughts at bay and live more productively.

20-Something, 20-Everything: A Quarter-life Woman's Guide to Balance and Direction

This one is for the women who in their 20s and 30s are making important and life-changing decisions about family, career, marriage and are often questioning their choices.

The author Christine Hassler found herself in a similar situation.

In fact, she gave up her fast-moving career to start-up.

It is her experience and her interviews with hundreds of women through which she offers advice on career, parents, boyfriends, babies, etc.

Along with the advice, she hands out practical exercises, too, to empower the woman of today to enable her to navigate new paths in her life.

I Love Myself When: A Self-Esteem Companion Book For Women Who Forget 

This one by Michelle Kulp is about self-love and how it impacts the daily choices you make.

If you do not love yourself it reflects in everything you do -- your work, life, and relationships.

It tells you how to put yourself first and choose 'you'.

In the long run, this will help you make choices that encourage you to follow your dreams and make healthy choices that will be a source of happiness and a better life.

Warrior Goddess Training: Become the Woman You Are Meant to Be

Warrior Goddess Training is about discovering your true-self and understanding what you want and using that knowledge to build a life that mirrors you inside and out.

HeatherAsh Amara writes -- "If you don't love and honour yourself with every fibre of your being, if you struggle with owning your power and passion, if you could use more joyful play and simple presence in your life, then it is time for an inner revolution. It is time to claim your warrior goddess energy."

Play Like a Man, Win Like a Woman

This book by Gail Evans talks about why even though women match up to men in terms of numbers at work, they don't yield the same power.

According to the author, the causal factor is that most women were never taught how to play the game of business and are not aware of the business game.

In this book, she addresses women at all levels of the organisation and teaches them the secrets to the playbook of success and how to play the game of business to their advantage.

With suggestions from when to take risk to when to quit the job, to how to deal with the imposter syndrome, she shares all of this and much more while still telling women that they don't have to faithfully play by men's rules.

The idea is to ensure that women know the way the rulebook works so they can use it to their advantage.

Do let us know if you liked any of these books and if any other caught your attention and came in handy as a self-help guide.

Tanvi Dubey