The best self-help books to guide you through the year
From writing on time management to practicing du’a, our book columnist recommends her favourite wellness reads
At the beginning of each year, I often experience an unexpected surge of energy. Having reflected on the previous 12 months during the winter break, I set my new year resolutions, which usually look something like this: read 52 books, brave the weights section at the gym, host more dinner parties, visit a new country, and so on.
I am driven by the earnest belief that fine-tuning my habits or setting new challenges may just unlock the best version of myself. A large part of me knows that this kind of thinking is sold to us by industries adept at repackaging structural problems as personal shortcomings. And yet, despite my healthy amount of skepticism, I can’t stop buying into it.
Perhaps this is because another part of me believes that we actually do have some agency in shaping the direction of our lives. Or, at least, making the year ahead more enjoyable.
This is where the self-help books — of which I’ve read a lot — come in. Whether you want to know how to grow more confident, rekindle your relationship with faith or bring more joy into your life, here are some of the best titles to start the year with.
Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman
It might be hard to compute, but an 80-year lifespan is made up of just over 4,000 weeks. For some, their time on earth is sadly far shorter. Confronted with this reality, Oliver Burkeman, Sunday Times bestselling author and Guardian columnist on psychology, urges readers to embrace this limitation and make the most of the time they have. Instead of drowning in endless to-do lists and overfilled inboxes, the author gives us 10 tools to construct a life that allows us to ditch the “get everything done” mentality and ultimately choose to do more of what we want.
What I loved most about this book was being confronted with the fact that time is a limited resource, and that no amount of self-optimisation will allow you to do all that’s thrown at you. At some point, difficult choices have to be made. As the author writes so lucidly: “Any finite life — even the best one you could possibly imagine — is therefore a matter of ceaselessly waving goodbye to possibility.”
Feel Good Productivity by Ali Abdaal
When Ali Abdaal was put in charge of running a hospital ward by himself as a newly qualified junior doctor one Christmas, it was chaos. Demands kept piling up on him and he began to panic when he realised that his strategy to simply work harder wasn’t going to save him. While discipline had been useful in medical school, it failed to translate into practice.
Shaped by his experience of burnout, Feel Good Productivity outlines Abdaal’s newfound philosophy that success comes from making work feel more enjoyable. The book is filled with evidence from studies and practical experiments designed to make dreaded tasks more engaging, whether by reframing them as something playful or approaching failure with a scientist’s mindset, where each attempt brings further insight.
Some of the advice may seem obvious on the surface, but I found this book refreshing because it didn’t just tell me to work harder. It’s a fundamentally much kinder approach to productivity.
The Power of Du’a by Aliyah Umm Raiyaan
In The Power of Du’a, Aliyah Umm Raiyaan offers a grounding reminder of the role supplication plays in our lives and in our relationship with Allah. Rather than seeing du’a as a last resort, the author frames it as an ongoing conversation with Al Mujeeb — The One Who Responds. With tools from the Qur’an and sunnah, we are taught how to prepare our hearts, ask of Allah from a place of sincerity and certainty, and then navigate His response.
When this book was published in 2024, I felt further away from religion and so I appreciated the author’s inclusion of real-life examples of people practising du’a and experiencing what they would refer to as miracles. These stories reminded me of moments in my own life when turning to Allah brought unexpected clarity and comfort. This book is perfect for anyone who is looking to strengthen their faith.
Welcome Home: A Guide to Building a Home for Your Soul by Najwa Zebian
“The biggest mistake we make is building our homes in other people,” writes Najwa Zebian after recalling a minor romantic rejection that, at the time, felt devastating. In Welcome Home, the Lebanese-Canadian activist and poet traces how that moment prompted a deep awakening where she needed to learn to build safety and belonging within herself.
Blending poetry and memoir, Zebian shows readers how to construct their own inner “homes”, with rooms such as The Dream Garden, Self-Love, and Forgiveness to build stronger self-esteem and emotional resilience. Each chapter is accompanied by practical tools, prompts and reflections.
While I found the text repetitive at times, the idea of learning not to surrender my worth to others resonated with me. This is a perfect read for those lacking in confidence or struggling with difficult relationships. The chapters also stand on their own if you want to dip in and out.
Not Without a Fight: 10 Steps to Becoming Your Own Champion by Ramla Ali
Ramla Ali is an Olympic boxer, activist, model and the first Somali woman to compete professionally in her sport. In her memoir Not Without a Fight, Ramla reflects on the 10 defining battles of her life, both in and outside the ring.
Beginning with her family’s difficult escape from war-torn Somalia and their eventual resettlement in London, the reader follows Ali’s path and career. Her story is undeniably inspiring, marked by self-knowledge. I loved reading her honesty about her fears and doubts, showing that true confidence isn’t built overnight.
