It was my 22nd birthday, and my best friend had just handed me a present: it was my first self improvement book. This was a neon yellow book, loudly titled “You Are a Badass.” My first thought when I saw it was, “Oh man. I hope my mom doesn’t see me reading a book with a bad word in the name.” And my second thought was in response to the title: “Um… definitely not.” Though I assumed it would just be a sarcastic hype book full of fluff and swearing, I started reading.
And while I was spot-on about the swearing and hyping me up, I was super wrong about the fluff. From cover to cover, the book was chock full of actionable steps for me to take that helped me transform my mindset and take control of my life. And that’s how I came to discover the rest of the best self improvement books to read in your 20s.
It became a turning point in the way I thought about myself. Sure, life lessons and me doing the actual Dang Work helped me grow more than reading words on a page, but this book gave me a foothold to start believing in myself.
You Are a Badass also acted as a catalyst that jump-started my passion for reading, a passion I had lost somewhere in high school and hadn’t picked up since. While You Are a Badass remains one of my favorite self development books to read in your 20s, I’ve since discovered some other equally life-changing reading materials.
So if you’re looking for some tough love and practical books to help you become who you know you’re meant to be, you’re in the right place. By the end of this blog post, you’ll know my 5 go-to books for life-changing self development books to read for young adults, especially if you’re in your 20s.
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5 Best Self Improvement Books to Read in Your 20s
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Book 1: You Are a Bad*ss
Of course, we’re starting with my OG self growth book. This is the hilarious, relatable kick-in-the-booty you need to stop lying around and start taking control of your power. The world is your oyster, and Jen Sincero is here to remind you of that.
My favorite thing about this book, besides her writing style and humor, is that each chapter concludes with a list of steps to take. You can use those steps to apply what you learned in the chapter to your real life.
Book 2: How Are You, Really?
You know those coffee dates when you and your girl friend sit down to talk about life and your passions, all while sipping on a perfectly foamed latte? Yeah. That’s what reading this book feels like.
Jenna Kutcher’s writing style is so honest, you can’t help but lean into what she’s saying and be honest with yourself in return.
Jenna guides you to ask deep, introspective questions of yourself to find out what really makes you happy. What makes you mad? What makes you laugh until you snort your drink out of your nose?
“How Are You, Really?” is the opposite of settling. It’s about figuring out what you want for yourself and your life, and helping prepare you to go get it.
With digital guides and resources to accompany her book, “How Are You, Really?” is just the beginning.
Book 3: The Daily Stoic
Look, if you spent most of your life thinking “stoic” just meant “serious,” then you and I have something in common.
While the term stoic can mean serious, Stoicism is also an ancient Greek school of philosophy.
To sum it up, Stoicism teaches us to control only what we can control (our thoughts, actions and emotions) and to release the things we cannot control (everything else.)
Basically, this book gives you 366 days of bite-sized Stoic wisdom that can help you dramatically change your life. Put these tidbits into practice and you’ll create more peace, self-awareness and resilience in your life.
One aspect I like about this book is that it’s divided into 3 main parts. I feel like this helps you hyper-focus on one topic at a time. The 3 main parts are on discipline of perception, discipline of action, and discipline of will.
Each month has its own theme, which helps you get your mind into the right gear on a daily basis. January’s focus is clarity, February’s focus is on passions and emotions, and so on.
Read this book if you’re ready to challenge yourself for the sake of living a more balanced and peaceful life. It’s one of the best self improvement books you can read in your 20s, but no matter what your current age, you can read this and let it transform who you are.
(And for the record, I will be re-reading it every year. Forever.)
Book 4: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F
This one is for my fellow worried-about-and-caring-about-everything folks. I highly recommend this book to anyone who exhausts themselves caring about far too much and struggles to find happiness.
Mark Manson teaches you how to carefully choose what you care about, and use those priorities to overcome the difficulties life inevitably throws your way. And he does it while being hilarious and quite, ahem, colorful in his language.
Here’s a quote from this fabulous book to give you the main idea (please, be ready to read a lotttt of F-bombs):
“Because when we give too many fucks, when we choose to give a fuck about everything, then we feel as though we are perpetually entitled to feel comfortable and happy at all times, that’s when life fucks us… Developing the ability to control and manage the fucks you give is the essence of strength and integrity. We must craft and hone our lack of fuckery over the course of years and decades. Like a fine wine, our fucks must age into a fine vintage, only uncorked and given on the most special fucking occasions.”
Honestly, this book is something I think we all need to hear more of. The truth is that it’s far too easy to overly invest our emotions in everything. And that makes it incredibly difficult to be happy when you’re worried about everything all the time.
So do yourself a favor. Read this book. And learn when and when not to give an F.
Book 5: Atomic Habits
We all have things about ourselves we’d like to change. And often times, we know exactly what we want to change.
Our eating habits, our drinking habits, the way we stay up til 2 a.m. and sleep til 11 every day, the way we always forget to pay our bills on time or spend our way through each paycheck until we have 38 cents left in our account by the next payday.
So why do we drag our feet so much to change these habits?
Well, there are probably a lot of reasons we don’t change. It’s hard to do things differently, it’s easier to stay the same, we get some sort of reward out of our current lifestyle, and of course, it’s really overwhelming to feel the need to change big things about ourselves all at once.
But that’s the point of this book.
James Clear helps take away the overwhelm of wanting to change – be it one little habit or your entire life. He teaches you how to change your systems and aim to get just 1% better every day so you’ll see major results with time.
Don’t let the big picture stp you – this book will give you the tools and strategies you need to get started.
Conclusion to the 5 best self improvement books to read in your 20s
Okay, friend, that’s the end of my list of life-changing books that I’ll be re-reading for the rest of ever.
To give you a quick recap, here they are:
- You Are a Bad*ss
- How Are You, Really?
- The Daily Stoic
- The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F***
- Atomic Habits
Remember, you’re not going to have things figured out in your 20s. And realistically, whatever you think you DO have figured out, you’ll probably have to re-figure out a few years from now. And then again a few years from then.
Because you’ll keep changing and evolving, and life will keep doing life things. So take it slow. Enjoy the journey, celebrate the wins, learn from the screw-ups.
It’s not that serious. And you’re doing better than you think you are.
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Love and good vibes,
