List of 16 books for men on self-development, personal growth, motivation, etc.

There are situations in every person's life when a certain push is simply needed. If you've given up, can't achieve your goals, or want to get to know yourself better, then a good book on personal growth is what you need. Their authors know from their own experience how to achieve peaks in a career or love relationship, realize themselves in the right field, etc. Books on personal growth help you acquire new useful knowledge. Often they are full-fledged textbooks with diagrams and tables. These manuals come in a wide variety and will educate you in a variety of areas. We learned how to choose the most useful book:

1. Popularity . As a rule, bestsellers are truly worthwhile items that are worth paying attention to. They inspire people to new achievements, help them develop and overcome any difficulties.
2. Reviews . Before purchasing, you should always read reviews of a book. From them you can understand whether it is suitable for you and whether it meets the necessary requirements. Often the title and abstract do not quite correspond to the content.
3. Author . Naturally, only someone who has achieved certain heights can write the best book on personal growth. Pay attention to the author's biography.
4. Additions . The “highlights” of self-development books are the presence of practical tasks, tests, riddles, etc. They promote rapid assimilation of the material and increase motivation after reading.

We have included in the rating the best books for your development, based on the following criteria:

• rating of popular sites (labirint.ru, ozon.ru, etc.);
• the individuality of the author’s approach to personality development;
• user ratings;
• recommendations from specialists.

Count of Monte Cristo. Alexandr Duma

An adventure novel is good because it can be read by people of any age , so you can sit comfortably with your family and spend time reading. “The Count of Monte Cristo” is a book about the incredible spiritual strength of a person, which helps him not to break down and overcome all trials.

The novel was written in 1845, and the impetus for its writing was the author’s trip to the Mediterranean Sea, where he visited the island of Montecristo, shrouded in legends. The plot is quite romantic: a young sailor, following a false denunciation, ends up in the Chateau d'If prison and spends 14 years there...

Taking advantage of the opportunity, he escapes, taking with him the unimaginable wealth that his neighbor in prison bequeathed to him. The man takes the name Monte Cristo and begins to take revenge.

The Art of War, Sun Tzu

A man should study war.

Chinese strategist Sun Tzu wrote one of the most famous treatises on war.

You can use his work to become more courageous and develop.

You can use the Art of War to control people. Chinese leaders use his principles.

You can use his principles in any conflicts and fights.

“The Art of War” is the best book about how to fight.

There is war in the life of every man, which means you will need this book.

Tao De Ching, Lao Tzu

Eastern literature fosters masculinity and a calm attitude towards all difficulties.

The book of Lao Tzu is a classic of Chinese literature. The title of the book translates as “The Book of Path and Virtue.”

This is one of the best self-development books for men.

Tao De Ching talks about the concept of "Tao", which permeated almost all Chinese philosophy.

The Tao will make you more courageous.

Go deep into reading and read this book deeply.

You will be able to perceive life and its difficulties calmly, with the dignity befitting a man.

Nothing calms your soul more than the works of Eastern sages talking about the Tao.

Read this book and find peace of mind.

My travels. Fedor Konyukhov

“My Travels” will be a valuable gift for travel lovers, tourists , and in general everyone whose life is connected with “searches” in every sense of the word. Fyodor Konyukhov is a Russian traveler, artist and priest. He soloed 5 circumnavigations of the world and crossed the Atlantic 17 times. This is truly a great man!

In his book, Fyodor Konyukhov talks about his first travels, about a lonely trip to the North Pole, about climbing Everest and much more. This man defied the elements and put himself in danger more than once.

There were also cases when Konyukhov almost died during his travels, for example, when he flew into an abyss... And during the voyage he experienced severe storms. You will learn about all the adventures of the Russian traveler from the book “My Travels”.

Classic Encyclopedia of Bodybuilding, Arnold Schwarzenegger

The best bodybuilding book of all time. If you have ever lacked motivation or knowledge to exercise, your problem will disappear.

Arnold Schwarzenegger's book motivates you to exercise and gives detailed instructions along with a training program.

Reading this self-development book will make your eyes bloodshot, and the only thing you want to do is lift iron, as the great and terrible Arnold bequeathed.

Any man will love this book.

The Ruthless Truth, Mike Tyson

Mike Tyson, whom I mentioned above, is considered the most brutal boxer in the history of boxing.

If you want to become a strong man, you must look up to strong men, like Mike Tyson.

In his book you will see how a little downtrodden boy from a disadvantaged area became the best boxer in the world.

His path to success and fame was difficult and very thorny, but he is one of those people who achieve their goal at any cost.

In this book, the greatest boxer in history will show you what self-development should be like for men.

Even the title of this book suggests that it is a masterpiece.

You will learn how Mike Tyson was able to become as strong and fearless as he was in the ring.

From this book you will understand how to improve yourself as a man.

Directions of self-development

Before you start mastering different methods of self-development, you need to know that psychologists identify four main vectors of this process:

• creating conditions for a comfortable own life,
• achieving success in interpersonal relationships,
• realization of creative potential,
• formation of a motivation system and self-improvement in various important areas.

There are several areas of life in which you should develop consciously. The following areas of development can be identified:

• physical self-development (improving the functioning of the body for health and beauty),
• spiritual self-development (improvement of the inner world and ethical values),
• personal self-development (self-knowledge and self-improvement of character, intelligence, creative abilities, cultural ideas, etc.),
• social self-development (development of relationships with people),
• professional self-development (career building),
• financial self-development (development of money handling skills),
• leisure self-development (entertainment, recreation, hobbies).

A person must improve in all these areas, so your personal self-development list should not ignore any of them.

YOU NEED TIME TO CHANGE YOURSELF FOR THE BETTER.

All these gurus like to say that “you can change yourself in three days if you really want to.”

I'll tell you the truth: no, you can't. No matter how bad you want it.

You won't change yourself in three days. You won't change yourself in thirty-three days.

You will need at least three hundred thirty-three days.

I would even say seven hundred and thirty-three days.

But not three.

Gradual and systematic actions on the way to your goal change you.

So what are they trying to give you in training?

And what can you do to truly achieve these results?

Fight like a Champion. Explosive Punching and Active Self-Defense, Jack Dempsey

Did you think that self-development meant time management, yoga and watching motivational TV series?

You were wrong, my friend.

It's time to learn how to fight.

This book by one of the greatest boxers, Jack Dempsey, teaches you how to punch and defend yourself.

After this book, you will love boxing - one of the noblest sports.

Open this book and learn how to do punches correctly: jabs, hooks, uppercuts.

A man must know how to fight. This book will motivate you to go to a boxing class and develop your fighting spirit.

You will also discover a couple of new techniques, and maybe even change your understanding of the correct striking technique.

Remember: Mike Tyson looked up to this man - and that says something.

Read this cool book and soak up the spirit of boxing!

The Way of the Leading Fist (Tao of Jeet Kune Do), Bruce Lee

The greatest martial artist, Bruce Lee, wrote this book to help any man involved in martial arts, as well as those who want to know themselves.

Much of this book is devoted to fighting techniques and will be of interest to boxers and kickboxers, but the beginning and end are pure masculine philosophy.

Bruce Lee keeps things simple. With his book, your understanding of the world will also become simpler, and you will be able to find inner peace.

Bruce Lee will answer your questions on how to stop being afraid of a fight, how to be more confident in yourself.

Physical Development (Your Body)

I will take one quote from the site of this men's training:

“Physical activity is a sure-fire way to influence your personality. You will see your hidden resources and understand that you have everything to move towards your goal.”

Listen carefully.

You can only get this result through hard training.

Every grueling workout is your man's training.

Day after day, a diligent process of working on my body and my diet.

Gradually you start to look better.

Your veins and muscles begin to appear.

What do they offer you at men's training?

Shock therapy.

A person who has almost never done push-ups must pound push-ups until exhaustion.

He is not prepared for this. Neither physically nor psychologically.

From such shock therapy, he may suffer from ligament injury or an internal aversion to sports.

He won’t even understand what an hour or two hour workout is, which only lifts your mood.

Where you can rest between sets to regain all your strength.

Where you can drink water when you need it.

Where you can enjoy your workout.

Nooooo.

Not at men's training.

Here they will make it clear to you: sport = long, painful, scary.

Look, I love sports.

But if you force an untrained person to do push-ups until he craps himself, he will be afraid of the next workout.

You don't need shock therapy to get in shape.

You need a HABIT.

This is all done in small bricks, you know?

Each workout is one brick in the construction of a large building (your body).

One-day shock push-ups will do absolutely nothing.

YOU MUST LOVE WORKING ON YOUR BODY AND WORK ON IT FOR YEARS.

This is how you get a good result.

Every time you love training more and more.

They become part of your life.

In the process of training, you have insights that you can apply anywhere in your life.

For example, when you think your body is already tired, there is actually a lot more you can do.

You push yourself beyond your tiredness. Doing more than you thought possible.

And you understand: I HAVE MORE POWER THAN I ORIGINALLY THOUGHT.

But the price of this philosophy is EFFORT OVER TIME.

One training session is not enough to develop anything in you.

As far as I know, for the price of this training you can buy an annual gym membership.

Buy yourself a membership and fuck off at the gym for a whole year.

This year will be a real investment in your life.

TIME.

You need time.

Where to start self-improvement?

From childhood, every person is ingrained in the consciousness of the idea that only a person who studies and strives for self-development can be considered a full-fledged and mature personality. There is truth in this, but you shouldn’t place high hopes solely on books. In fact, self-development for men after reading books should be working on oneself, setting goals and implementing them.

The self-development of every person should begin with 3 basics, namely:

1. Physical exercise . It is not for nothing that they say that in a healthy body there is a healthy mind; every person should be physically strong and fit.
2. Healthy eating . Health, including mental abilities and the assimilation of new information by a person, depends on a balanced diet.
3. Mental self-regulation . This could be reading useful books, self-development training, attending seminars, meditation, etc.

Do you read literature for self-development?
Not really

Today, the technique of reading books with deep meaning to reassess life is especially popular. Also, regular books are often replaced with audiobooks, which simplifies the reading process. This method of developing personality and new skills is considered the most comfortable, convenient and inexpensive. And if you combine it with the first points indicated, you can achieve maximum results.

Expert opinion

Victor Brenz

Psychologist and self-development expert

The main guarantee of successful personality development is the desire and aspirations of a man. If it is not there, no book will be deposited in the memory and subconscious.

Books on financial literacy for men

No. 13. “Be the best version of yourself. How Ordinary People Become Extraordinary - Dan Waldschmidt

(Personal growth)

About the Author: Dan Waldschmidt, a business strategist and popular speaker, examined the classic concept of how to achieve success and found that it didn't work.

About the book:

“Set big goals”, “Be confident and persistent”, “Work hard”: you've heard these platitudes about success so many times that you can easily repeat them even if you wake up in the dead of night. However, reciting these “mantras” is unlikely to produce any results.

The author of the book researched more than 1,000 real stories of failure and success and came up with a formula that really helps to achieve “everything from nothing.” An ideal read for those who need to be inspired by other people's success stories, the author's artistic techniques make the book clear and easy to read.

Quote:

“Only you know your true potential. But I’ll tell you this: it’s much bigger than you can imagine.”

Buy at Litres for 449 rubles

No. 14. "The magic of the morning. How the first hour of the day determines your success - Hal Elrod

(Personal growth)

About the author: Hal Elrod is a popular American poet and journalist.

About the book:

The point is that the reader understands the following: the 1st hour after sleep is extremely important, because it has a direct impact on your activities in the future.

If you listen to the advice from the book, you will definitely learn how to properly distribute your free time, quickly relieve stress and direct all your energy only in a positive direction.

Quote:

“And I, of course, had no way of knowing that that night my wonderful world would end.”

Buy at Litres for 449 rubles

No. 15. “Habits last a lifetime. The Science of Building Lasting Habits - Sean Young

(Personal growth)

About the author: Many people know about Sean Young. This methodologist managed to leave a noticeable mark not only in medicine, but also in literature

About the book:

This work is devoted purely to self-development and personal growth. It is based exclusively on reliable information (regarding the influence of various habits on human activity).

In addition, here you can get answers to the following questions:

• Which part of the body is “responsible” for a particular habit? (from a physiological point of view);
• How is it formed? (based on psychology);
• Does our brain offer any resistance to habit formation?

The work of the American will help answer all the above questions.

Quote:

“Changing character is easy only in words.”

Buy at Litres for 449 rubles

No. 16. Emotional Intelligence 2.0 - Gene Greaves, Travis Bradberry