Self Help Books For Women – List Of 40 Best Books
Looking for self help books for women? Here’s our shortlist of the 40 best personal development books for women.
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Let’s chat about self help books for women.
If you are looking for the very best self help books for women (both classic and new books), then you have come to the right place!
As an overly-obsessed reader of personal development books, I know how hard it can be to find a great gem among the thousands of self-help books on offer.
But have no fear!
I think I’ve literally read over a thousand personal development books over the last few decades.
And after all that time there’s are only a couple of dozen (40 to be exact) that truly still stand out.
Rather than spending hours and hours trying to research the very best self-help books on the market yourself, I have done the hard work for you.
Here you will find a shortlist of the very best self help books for women that would make even the most sceptical reader happy.
Without further ado, here are the TOP 40 best self help books for women:
NEWBIE BEST SELF HELP BOOKS FOR WOMEN (POST-2000)
SELF HELP BOOKS FOR WOMEN
1 – Lucky Bitch – A Guide For Exceptional Women To Create Outrageous Success – DENISE DUFFIELD- THOMAS (2011)
You have to decide NOW that you are enough. You are smart enough, pretty enough, clever enough, ready enough. You can be richer starting today, if you’re brave enough to define exactly what you want. ―
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2 – Choosing Happiness – STEPHANIE DOWRICK (2005)
How we feel about our own self, how well or little we know our own self, whether we feel alive inside, largely determine the quality of the time we spend alone, as well as the quality of the relationships we have with other people. ―
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3 – Girl Wash Your Face – RACHEL HOLLIS (2018)
Know this one great truth: you are in control of your own life. You get one and only one chance to live, and life is passing you by. Stop beating yourself up, and dang it, stop letting others do it too. Stop accepting less than you deserve.
Stop buying things you can’t afford to impress people you don’t even really like. Stop eating your feelings instead of working through them. Stop buying your kids’ love with food, or toys, or friendship because it’s easier than parenting.
Stop abusing your body and your mind. Stop! Just get off the never-ending track. ―
CHECK IT OUT HERE
4 – Year Of Yes – How To Dance It Out, Stand In The Sun And Be Your Own Person – SHONDA RHIMES (2015)
There is no list of rules. There is one rule. The rule is: there are no rules. Happiness comes from living as you need to, as you want to. As your inner voice tells you to. Happiness comes from being who you actually are instead of who you think you are supposed to be.
Being traditional is not traditional anymore. It’s funny that we still think of it that way. Normalize your lives, people. You don’t want a baby? Don’t have one. I don’t want to get married? I won’t. You want to live alone? Enjoy it. You want to love someone?
Love someone. Don’t apologize. Don’t explain. Don’t ever feel less than. When you feel the need to apologize or explain who you are, it means the voice in your head is telling you the wrong story. Wipe the slate clean. And rewrite it. No fairy tales. Be your own narrator. And go for a happy ending. One foot in front of the other. You will make it. ―
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5 – The Life-Changing Magic Of Tidying Up – Marie Kondo (2017)
But when we really delve into the reasons for why we can’t let something go, there are only two: an attachment to the past or a fear for the future – Marie Kondo
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BEST SELF HELP BOOKS FOR WOMEN
6 – Outer Order, Inner Calm – GRETCHEN RUBIN (2019)
When deciding what to buy, remember that some things are easy to buy—but then we have to use them. If they’re not used, they don’t enhance our lives; they just contribute to guilt and clutter. ―
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7 – You Are A Badass – How To Stop Doubting Your Greatness And Start Living An Awesome Life – JEN SINCERO (2013)
If you’re serious about changing your life, you’ll find a way. If you’re not, you’ll find an excuse. ―
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8 – The Secret – RHONDA BYRNE (2006)
There is no such thing as a hopeless situation. Every single circumstances of your life can change! ―
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9 – Atomic Habits – JAMES CLEAR (2018)
Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. No single instance will transform your beliefs, but as the votes build up, so does the evidence of your new identity. ―
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10 – High Performance Habits – BRENDAN BURCHARD (2017)
Be more intentional about who you want to become. Have vision beyond your current circumstances. Imagine your best future self, and start acting like that person today. ―
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BEST SELF HELP BOOKS FOR WOMEN
11 – The Life-Changing Magic Of Not Giving A Fuck – SARAH KNIGHT (2015)
Fitting in. This—THIS RIGHT HERE—is why I wrote the book you are holding in your hands. Whether you are a beginner, intermediate, or expert no-f#ck-giver, The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F#ck is for people who are exhausted by presenting a façade of interest, enthusiasm, and conformity to the rest of the world. It is about empowering them (you) to feel free to be themselves (yourselves) and live their (your) best lives. ―
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12 – Get Your Shit Together – SARAH KNIGHT (2016)
There are two reasons you tend to give a f#ck about what other people think: one, because you don’t want to be a bad person, and two, because you don’t want to look like a bad person. ―
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13 – You Do You – SARAH KNIGHT (2017)
Riddle me this: Instead of feeling guilty, obligated, and anxious, wouldn’t you rather feel empowered, benevolent, and carefree? ―
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14 – The Happiness Project – GRETCHEN RUBIN (2009)
The belief that unhappiness is selfless and happiness is selfish is misguided. It’s more selfless to act happy. It takes energy, generosity, and discipline to be unfailingly lighthearted, yet everyone takes the happy person for granted.
No one is careful of his feelings or tries to keep his spirits high. He seems self-sufficient; he becomes a cushion for others. And because happiness seems unforced, that person usually gets no credit. ―
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15 – The Universe Has Your Back – GABRIELLE BERNSTEIN (2016)
Trust that your wounds are exactly as the Universe planned. They were divinely placed in your life in the perfect order so that you could show up for them with love and remember the light within. ―
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BEST SELF HELP BOOKS FOR WOMEN
16 – Spirit Junkie – A Radical Road to Discovering Self-Love And Miracles – GABRIELLE BERNSTEIN (2011)
I’ve learned that fear is simply an illusion based on past experiences that we project into the present and onto the future. ―
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17 – The 4-Hour Work Week – TIM FERRISS (2007)
For all of the most important things, the timing always sucks. Waiting for a good time to quit your job? The stars will never align and the traffic lights of life will never all be green at the same time.
The universe doesn’t conspire against you, but it doesn’t go out of its way to line up the pins either. Conditions are never perfect. “Someday” is a disease that will take your dreams to the grave with you.
Pro and con lists are just as bad. If it’s important to you and you want to do it “eventually,” just do it and correct course along the way. –
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18 – The ONE Thing – The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results – GARY KELLER (2013)
Success demands singleness of purpose. You need to be doing fewer things for more effect instead of doing more things with side effects. It is those who concentrate on but one thing at a time who advance in this world. Passion for something leads to disproportionate time practicing or working at it.
That time spent eventually translates to skill, and when skill improves, results improve. Better results generally lead to more enjoyment, and more passion and more time is invested. It can be a virtuous cycle all the way to extraordinary results. The ONE Thing shows up time and again in the lives of the successful because it’s a fundamental truth.
More than anything else, expertise tracks with hours invested. The pursuit of mastery bears gifts. When people look back on their lives, it is the things they have not done that generate the greatest regret…People’s actions may be troublesome initially; it is their inactions that plague them most with long-term feelings of regret.
Make sure every day you do what matters most. When you know what matters most, everything makes sense. When you don’t know what matters most, anything makes sense.”
―
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19 – The Miracle Morning – The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed To Transform your Life Before 8am – HAL ELROD (2012)
“Why is it that when a baby is born we often refer to him or her as ‘the miracle of life’ but then we go on to accept mediocrity for our own lives. When did we lose sight of the Miracle that WE are living?” – Hal Elrod
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20 – Girl Stop Apologizing – RACHEL HOLLIS (2019)
Embracing the idea that you can want things for yourself even if nobody else understands the whys behind them is the most freeing and powerful feeling in the world – Rachel Hollis
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THE CLASSIC BEST SELF HELP BOOKS FOR WOMEN (PRE-2000)
BEST SELF HELP BOOKS FOR WOMEN
21 – The Road Less Traveled – M. SCOTT PECK (1978)
Until you value yourself, you won’t value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it.
―
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22 – The Alchemist – PAULO COEHLO (1988)
And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it. ―
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23 – The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People – STEPHEN COVEY (1989)
But until a person can say deeply and honestly, “I am what I am today because of the choices I made yesterday,” that person cannot say, “I choose otherwise.” ―
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24 – As A Man Thinketh – JAMES ALLEN (1903)
A man’s mind may be likened to a garden, which may be intelligently cultivated or allowed to run wild; but whether cultivated or neglected, it must, and will, bring forth. If no useful seeds are put into it, then an abundance of useless weed seeds will fall therein, and will continue to produce their kind. ―
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25 – I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was – BARBARA SHER (1994)
Every time you have to make a choice about anything, think “Does this go toward or away from what I want?” Always choose what goes toward what you want. ―
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BEST SELF HELP BOOKS FOR WOMEN
26 – Man’s Search For Meaning – VICTOR FRANKL (1946)
The pessimist resembles a man who observes with fear and sadness that his wall calendar, from which he daily tears a sheet, grows thinner with each passing day.
On the other hand, the person who attacks the problems of life actively is like a man who removes each successive leaf from his calendar and files it neatly and carefully away with its predecessors, after first having jotted down a few diary notes on the back.
He can reflect with pride and joy on all the richness set down in these notes, on all the life he has already lived to the fullest. What will it matter to him if he notices that he is growing old? Has he any reason to envy the young people whom he sees, or wax nostalgic over his own lost youth?
What reasons has he to envy a young person? For the possibilities that a young person has, the future which is in store for him?
No, thank you,’ he will think. ‘Instead of possibilities, I have realities in my past, not only the reality of work done and of love loved, but of sufferings bravely suffered.
These sufferings are even the things of which I am most proud, although these are things which cannot inspire envy. ―
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27 – Think And Grow Rich – NAPOLEON HILL (1937)
You are the master of your destiny. You can influence, direct and control your own environment. You can make your life what you want it to be. ―
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28 – Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway – SUSAN JEFFERS (1987)
Taking responsibility means never blaming anyone else for anything you are being, doing, having, or feeling. –
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29 – The Celestine Prophecy – JAMES REDFIELD (1993)
We must assume every event has significance and contains a message that pertains to our questions…this especially applies to what we used to call bad things…the challenge is to find the silver lining in every event, no matter how negative. ―
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30 – The Seven Spiritual Laws Of Success – DEEPAK CHOPRA (1994)
You accept things as they are, not as you wish they were in this moment. This is important to understand.
You can wish for things in the future to be different, but in this moment you have to accept things as they are. When you feel frustrated or upset by a person or a situation, remember that you are not reacting to the person or the situation, but to your feelings about the person or the situation.
These are your feelings, and your feelings are not someone else’s fault. When you recognize and understand this completely, you are ready to take responsibility for how you feel and to change it.
And if you can accept things as they are, you are ready to take responsibility for your situation and for all the events you see as problems. ―
CHECK IT OUT HERE
BEST SELF HELP BOOKS FOR WOMEN
31 – The Art Of Happiness – DALAI LAMA (1998)
Although you may not always be able to avoid difficult situations,you can modify the extent to which you can suffer by how you choose to respond to the situation. ―
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32 – The 5 Love Languages – The Secret To Love That Lasts – GARY CHAPMAN (1992)
Love doesn’t keep a score of wrongs. Love doesn’t bring up past failures.
None of us is perfect. In marriage we do not always do the right thing. We have sometimes done and said hurtful things to our spouses.
We cannot erase the past. We can only confess it and agree that it was wrong. We can ask for forgiveness and try to act differently in the future.
Having confessed my failure and asked forgiveness, I can do nothing more to mitigate the hurt it may have caused my spouse.
When I have been wronged by my spouse and she has painfully confessed it and requested forgiveness, I have the option of justice or forgiveness.
If I choose justice and seek to pay her back or make her pay for her wrongdoing, I am making myself the judge and her the felon.
Intimacy becomes impossible. If, however, I choose to forgive, intimacy can be restored. Forgiveness is the way of love. ―
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33 – How To Win Friends And Influence People – DALE CARNEGIE (1936)
It isn’t what you have or who you are or where you are or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about it. ―
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34 – The Power Of Positive Thinking – NORMAN VINCENT PEALE (1952)
The way to happiness: Keep your heart free from hate, your mind from worry. Live simply, expect little, give much. Scatter sunshine, forget self, think of others. Try this for a week and you will be surprised. ―
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35 – The 48 Laws Of Power – ROBERT GREENE (1998)
When you show yourself to the world and display your talents, you naturally stir all kinds of resentment, envy, and other manifestations of insecurity… you cannot spend your life worrying about the petty feelings of others”
―
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BEST SELF HELP BOOKS FOR WOMEN
36 – Awaken The Giant Within – TONY ROBBINS (1991)
Live life fully while you’re here. Experience everything. Take care of yourself and your friends. Have fun, be crazy, be weird. Go out and screw up! You’re going to anyway, so you might as well enjoy the process. Take the opportunity to learn from your mistakes: find the cause of your problem and eliminate it. Don’t try to be perfect; just be an excellent example of being human. ―
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37 – How To Stop Worrying And Start Living – DALE CARNEGIE (1948)
When we hate our enemies, we are giving them power over us: power over our sleep, our appetites, our blood pressure, our health, and our happiness. ―
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38 – You Can Heal Your Life – LOUISE HAY (1984)
Well, I believe you created those experiences over and over because they mirrored something you believed about yourself. It doesn’t really matter how long we have had a problem, or how big it is, or how life-threatening it is. The Point of Power Is Always in the Present Moment –
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39 – The Magic Of Thinking Big – DAVID SCHWARTZ (1959)
Believe it can be done. When you believe something can be done, really believe, your mind will find the ways to do it. Believing a solution paves the way to solution. ―
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40 – Wishcraft – How To Get What You Really Want – BARBARA SHER (1979)
You must go after your wish. As soon as you start to pursue a dream, your life wakes up and everything has meaning. –
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With a degree in psychology, Frances Vidakovic is a certified life coach, course creator and host of the Inspiring Life Podcast. Her superpower is transforming dreamers into doers, with simple, kick-up-the-butt strategies.