The Best Self-Help Books - A Top Ten List

This hub reviews the top ten self help books of all time.

The motivational and self-help industry releases hundreds of new books every year, but which ones stand the test of time and become self help classics?

After several years of study, I have compiled a top ten listing. This is an eclectic and individual mix showcasing the books that have made a difference in my life. It is necessarily arbitrary, because different books meet different needs - for more confidence, more success, more empowering thoughts or more effective action. Many dismiss the entire motivational industry as a sham but having applied many techniques in my home and workplace over the past decade, I have discovered that behind the hype there can be valuable insights.This list just scratches the surface of the ideas, concepts and practical tools these books offer.

Do you agree with my choices? You are cordially invited to share your opinions, thoughts and comments.

In the meantime, sit back and enjoy this journey into the world of Self Help Classics. Let the countdown begin!

Timothy Ferriss is a visionary and an iconoclast. He offers an alternative lifestyle for the millions of cubicle dwellers and wage slaves who dream not just of financial independence but of grasping a better and more fulfilling life.

The 4-Hour Work Week is a deliberately provocative title, doubtless intended to stimulate curiosity, disbelief or outrage. After all, is not the work ethic a central part of Western culture, almost a moral duty? Read closer and you discover his book is not about laziness - far from it - but about working in a smart and focused manner to leverage your talents.

People tend to fall into a comfortable pattern of deferring dreams to the far horizon. Retirement is a distant goal over the rainbow. Tim Ferriss turns this logic on its head by advocating the idea of "mini-retirements" - breaks that should pepper our lives at all times and are best enjoyed through travel and self-actualisation. He also argues that "lifestyle design" is the true goal, not simply accumulating wealth that is of little use on one's deathbed. Even better, there is considerable scope for designing a better life without having to give up the day job.

Ferriss offers an impressive toolkit of ideas - an armoury of the very best self help thinking. He has the goal setting fervour of an Anthony Robbins - "What is something you really want to achieve before you die?" and loves the Pareto principle with an intensity worthy of Richard Koch. His "double lock" to force maximum productivity is especially useful:

- Limit tasks to the truly important to shorten work time. This is based on the 80/20 or "Pareto" Rule, which states that 80% of successful outputs come from just 20% of the inputs.

- Schedule these tasks with very short and clear deadlines. This stops the pernicious impact of Parkinson's Law, where work naturally expands to fill the time available

Ferriss explains an entire system called DEAL (Definition, Elimination, Automation and Liberation) as a platform for setting up self-managing businesses and income streams. Those of us who work online know that passive online income is a somewhat elusive dream - everything requires work! But the spirit and the intent of the 4-Hour Work Week is both radical and valuable.

Ferriss is an entertaining and witty writer, although some of the wacky pastimes and anecdotes can seem excessive at times. Nevertheless, it is great to read a self help book that does not seek to lecture or convince but sets out the road to time liberation as a glorious and enjoyable endeavour.

Tim Ferriss is a time revolutionary, because he overturns so many of our society's assumptions about the role of work, effort and leisure. Read the 4-Hour Work Week and decide if you too want to storm the barricades of convention and design a different life.

This work from hip-hop mogul 50 Cent and philosopher of power Robert Greene is a revelation.

"It's all down to luck. Plain, dumb luck".

How may times have we heard that kind of cynical carping any time someone achieves financial success? Surely this is the symptom of an ungenerous and jealous spirit?

Actually, it may be true. People love stories and morality plays, and the cultural belief that there is a strong correlation between effort and reward is a persistent one. In fact luck has played a pivotal role in the careers of nearly everyone who has achieved financial or personal success. The good news, Dr Robert Wiseman argues, is that luck can be pursued and developed like any other skill.

Why have just a few celebrities, entrepreneurs and stars achieved success from a population of millions, many of whom may have more objective talent? Luck has made kings and toppled them. It is the ambrosia of the gods – sweet, bitter and wilfully capricious all in one.

The Luck Factor is a bold attempt to grab Lady Luck and wrestle her to the ground. It’s less a book than an interactive experience – full of useful exercises and opportunities to participate. Richard Wiseman knows his subject. As a university professor in psychology, he has access to the latest research and offers innovative ideas on achieving personal success.

Luck, you see, matters. Professor Wiseman cites the story of U.S. President Harry Truman, a bankrupt shopkeeper whose luck turned for the better in his late thirties. He ascended to the White House when the incumbent Roosevelt suddenly died, and became the victor-hero of World War Two. Truman then beat Dewey in 1948 in a result so unexpected that the newspapers had already printed the headlines “Dewey Defeats Truman”. Luck aided and abetted Harry Truman at every step of his political career.

Dr. Wiseman has a ruthlessly bipolar view of the world. You either have luck or your haven't. His rigorous scientific training shines through, as he strips away all the mysticism and superstition about luck to distil it to a set of core principles that anyone can learn:

1. Maximise chance opportunities in your life. My favourite example here is of a man who keeps a jar especially for coins he finds on the street – and fills the jar to the brim regularly.

2. Intuition. In a similar vein to Malcolm Gladwell's masterly work "Blink", the importance of split-second decisions is stressed. The human brain can subconsciously synthesise information and inputs correctly at extremely fast speed.

3. Expect good fortune. Beliefs create results. Daily affirmations can work. We have all heard of the “self-fulfilling prophecy”. How many times have you heard a friend say: “She’s in a relationship with X – he’s no good, but she doesn’t believe she deserves anyone better”. Without high self-esteem, luck is unlikely to materialise.

4. Transform bad luck into good. Persistence matters.

"The Luck Factor" teaches many useful lessons. First of all, beliefs really matter. He cites the Chinese-American death rate from cardiac arrest spikes on the fourth of the month, which many consider unlucky. There is no equivalent spike among other American ethnic groups. Wiseman cites an old German proverb: "No-one is luckier than him who believes his own luck”. The key is breaking the downward spiral.

The Luck Factor is a revelation. You will learn incredible insights, such as the fact that the propensity to choose different meals on a restaurant menu every time you eat out is linked to your success level in life. Read the Luck Factor, and you may never see the world in the same way again.

The list of top 10 self-help books continues here.

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