13 personal development resources to help you level-up
Love it or hate it, at one time or another, most of us have delved into the world of personal development. Whether it be a book, a podcast, YouTube channel, there are plenty of personal development resources available to us. However, not all are created equal. Here, we round up our top personal development resource recommendations, so that you can be the best version of yourself that you can possibly be.
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This funny and practical book aims to help you find your inner confidence, and empower you to make your life better. Success coach Jen Sincero, supplies the reader with 27 bite-sized chapters full of inspiring stories, practical advice, and easy exercises. This book will help you to redirect your life by helping you to identify and change self-sabotaging beliefs and behaviours that stop you from getting what you want, create a life you totally love, and maybe even make some money too!
The 4-Hour Work Week: Escape the 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss
Loved by many and credited as a life-changing publication, Tim Ferriss’ best-selling The 4-Hour Work Week helps it’s readers to reconstruct their life through a more balanced approach to work. Tim encourages the reader to forget the standard that has been ingrained in us since birth of work, work, work, retire, dye. If you have a dream of escaping the daily rat race, earning a monthly five-figure income with zero management, or just living more and working less, then this book has the answers. The step by step guide is broken up into easily digestible sections and uses real-life examples to demonstrate the endless possibilities of a 4-hour work week
Written by superstar blogger Mark Manson, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, takes an unconventional approach to self-help, shunning constant positivity and encouraging a more realistic outlook. Manson’s advice works on the idea of not turning the negative into a positive, but learning to accept the negatives as they come, and move forward with courage, strength, perseverance and honesty. This book helps the reader to figure out what truly matters through real-talk, stories and a whole lot of humour. Read our masterclass with the hilarious author on self-care and finding hope here.
Unf*ck Yourself: Get out of your head and into your life – Unf*ck Yourself by Gary John Bishop
This little yellow book is full of realistic and achievable tips to help you help yourself in getting out of that dark and dingy rut you’ve been stuck in. The advice in this book teaches the reader how to combat self-doubt, deal with their inner critic and stop comparing themselves to others. You’ll learn how to do this by looking inside yourself, rather than to the outside world for answers and how to take responsibility for your path in life, the good turns and the bad.
The School of Life: An Emotional Education by The School of Life/Alain de Botton
Founded by Alain de Botton, The School of Life has been teaching us the important life lessons that we never learnt at school for over a decade. This definitive handbook focuses on emotional intelligence; how to develop it, what exactly it constitutes and why it is so vitally important in the twenty-first century. This informative guidebook is a crash course in understanding yourself, mastering the dilemmas of relationships, enduring failure, and holds a whole lot more practical advice to help you live a better life.
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“Gretchen Rubin is HAPPIER, and she wants you to be happier too” is the opening statement of this podcast’s bio. Through this hugely popular and successful podcast, the bestselling author shares her personal, practical and manageable advice on how to be happier and form good habits. There are now over 260 30-45 minute episodes available, so you can binge on Rubin’s voice ‘til your heart’s content.
Beyond the To-Do List – Erik Fisher
We’re all guilty of procrastinating by writing our to-do lists, rather than actually attacking the tasks that are on them straight on. Erik Fisher’s podcast encourages listeners to go beyond the to-do list and choose the right projects, tasks, and goals in work and life to help you grow and be your absolute best. Fisher talks to real people about how they successfully implement productivity strategies in order to get good work done. If you’re looking for a bit of inspiration and motivation, this show has plenty of both!
Where Should We Begin – Ester Perel
Ester Perel, a therapist, author, speaker and relationship and sexuality expert, believes that “The quality of our relationships determines the quality of our lives.” Each episode of this one-of-a-kind podcast is a recording of an anonymous couples’ therapy session which provides the ultimate audio voyeurism, but also real-life examples of how relationships can go array and how we can put them back together again and move forward, empowering the listener to reflect upon their own relationship. Episodes include “The Other Woman”, “I Want to Feel Wanted” and “The Addict”.
Over the years, the words of Tony Robbins have supplied over 50 million people from over 100 countries with insightful lessons which have helped them change their life for the better. The Tony Robbins podcast gives you direct access to his wise words through your headphones. Whether you want to improve your relationships, make a career change, earn more money, find a better balance between work and life, chances are, Robbins has a podcast for it. His proven strategies, interviews with some of the most successful people in the world and Robbins’ own personal tactics help listeners to accomplish their goals and learn from the experiences of others.
Optimal Living Daily – Justin Malik
For lazy personal development, head over to the Optimal Living Daily podcast where Justin Malik will read you the best hand-picked content on personal development, minimalism, finance, health, business, and more. Inspiring positive change, this is your one-stop-shop for becoming a better you, all while you make your way to work.
GO DIGITAL
Skillshare is an online learning platform with online creative classes taught by the world’s best practitioners. Find what fascinates you with lessons in animation, design, illustration, lifestyle, photo and film, business and writing from the best of the best including Roxane Gay, Jessica Hische and many more.
With over 3,300 talks to choose from by the likes of Brené Brown, Amy Cuddy and Dan Gilbert, talking on a vast range of topics, there truly is something for everyone when it comes to TedTalks. Everyone has their favourite, but we recommend browsing the library and clicking on something that you wouldn’t usually choose to watch but piques your interest. You never know what you might learn.
It’s not your most conventional personal development resource, but it’s a great one nonetheless! Russell Brands YouTube channel focuses on the idea that the “old ideas won’t help us” and looks at the new ways in which we can connect with ourselves and one another in order to “elevate our consciousness”. With regular videos on wellbeing and self-care, relationships, and spirituality, there’s plenty of content to choose from. You can also watch some of Brand’s Under The Skin podcast videos every Thursday for an extra dose.
