Reading has many benefits. It can increase your vocabulary and comprehension. It’s even a proven way to reduce your blood pressure and fight depression. If you think you’re too busy to read, it’s important to know that reading can also improve your life in measurable ways when you pick up a self-help book. Reading the self-help genre doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you, it means you want to improve on the great person you already are. Here are three ways you can leverage self-help books can improve your life.
Expand Your Skill Set
Entrepreneur Michael Canzian notes that reading a self-help book “always makes me want to be the best version of myself.” Self-help books help you reach that goal by giving you new tools to approach life. That might be reading the classic, “How to Win Friends and Influence People” to improve your interpersonal business skills. You might be looking for ways to overcome internal fears with Jeffers’ “Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway.” In your personal life or your business life, there is a book that can help you expand your skillset.
Feel More In Control
Beyond learning new skills, self-help books have been shown to work well in treating anxiety and depression. Books on anxiety and depression can help those affected by these disorders understand what is happening to their bodies and minds. They also provide strategies for overcoming the symptoms that crop up, leaving readers feeling more in control of their own lives. Even if you don’t experience either disorder, there are plenty of books that can help you find more self-worth without relying on others to provide positive reinforcement.
Rekindle Your Passion for Living
Finally, reading self-help books can help you rekindle your passion for living, for work, and for your family. Self-help guru Zig Ziglar famously said, “your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude.” Self-help books can help you adjust your attitude, feeling excited about the future because you have new ways to approach that future. Even more than traditional reading, you may want to find your self-help books on audio to get the extra lift that hearing a truly motivational speaker can have on your psyche.
Take a moment to consider what aspects of your life you’d like to improve. A simple Google search of those terms along with “self-help” will reveal a gold mine of information that is the first step to becoming more of the person you want to be.
Leave a Reply