Self-Improvement Resources
Here are the best self-improvement resources I’ve found: the books, articles, videos, and classes that have proven to be the most useful to me.
All of these resources convey critical ideas that will support you on your personal development journey. Some offer concrete tools that will make self-improvement easier. Others support the cultivation of healthy mindsets for personal growth.
I hope you find them as helpful as I have!
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Best Overall Self-Improvement Resources
Buy, read, annotate, and implement The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey.
Don’t be put off by the cheesy title. It’s far more profound than it sounds. This is the single most useful book I’ve ever read. The ideas offered here are not surface-level tricks or quick fixes. Covey shares simple yet powerful ideas that will help you become a better employee or boss, a better partner, a better parent, and a better person overall. I can’t recommend it highly enough.
This is the ultimate one-stop shop for all things self-improvement. There are hundreds of book summaries, over 1000 quick video lessons, and dozens of in-depth courses. This has been my go-to source of daily wisdom for years.
Another excellent choice for a daily dose of wisdom. Read this quick introduction to the core tenets of Stoicism, and if that resonates with you, buy the book and start reading a passage each morning.
The Feedback Loop That Controls Your Life … And How To Master It
In this post, I lay out the foundational theory behind much of my advice. Understanding this concept will improve your approach to everything from mental health to productivity.
This quick blog post is about letting go of shame and embracing strategic effort as the solution to your problems. The concept applies to just about everything in life.
This article is all about being proactive. It will teach you how to become an active agent in your life rather than a passive victim of circumstance. This is the #1 most important mindset for success, health, and happiness.
Behavioral Change and Habits
These articles will teach you how to simultaneously increase your willpower and rely on it less, as well as how to deal with willpower failures well.
James Clear’s blog is mostly about starting good habits and sticking with them. There are loads of good articles, but consider starting with Goals vs. Systems or Habit-Stacking. Plus, he wrote the fabulous and bestselling book, Atomic Habits.
Downloadable/Printable Effort-Tracking Spreadsheet
This is the philosophy of James Clear distilled into a physical tool that you can use to install new habits. Read this post on how to use it and why it works.
Kelly McGonigal’s fabulous 55-minute talk at Google about her excellent book, The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do to Get More of It.
Perfectionism is a set of beliefs that sabotage not only behavioral change, but also happiness, productivity, and creativity. This article explains why these beliefs are false and how to overcome them.
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Purpose
How to Use the Ikigai Diagram to Find Fulfillment
The ikigai model is probably the best tool around for deciding what to pursue in your life and how to spend your time well. This article is an in-depth look at how to apply the model.
The Most Important Question of Your Life
This article from blogger and author Mark Manson reframes the debate about what to do with your life from one of asking what you want to one of asking what sort of pain you’re willing to suffer in order to get what you want.
“Follow Your Passion” is Bad Advice
In this 99U talk, author and computer science professor Cal Newport explains why the ubiquitous advice to “follow your passion” isn’t helpful. The alternative he offers is more practical and realistic than following your passion, and it will almost certainly lead to a more fulfilling career. See also: So Good They Can’t Ignore You.
Warren Buffett’s “2 List” Strategy
A clever way to find focus when you have too many dreams and goals.
An amazing free resource to help you figure out how to have a high-impact career. If you want to make the world a better place, but you’re not sure how to use your time and talents, check this out.
Mental Health & Happiness
A series of articles I wrote about self-administered cognitive therapy, plus two options for finding affordable therapy online.
This video adaptation of a David Foster Wallace commencement address is just priceless. It is perhaps the best antidote to the frustrated, self-centered, impatient attitude that is, as he describes it, “our default setting.”
This is the TED Talk that made Brené Brown famous. It serves as a beautiful stand-alone talk or a worthy introduction to her work. Her follow-up talk, Listening to Shame, is also worth watching. She’s written many excellent books that you should also check out, such as Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead.
This TED Talk from time-lapse photographer and filmmaker Louie Schwartzberg is my all-time favorite. I’ve watched it dozens of times. The imagery is stunningly beautiful and the message is even more so. I dare you to watch this and not smile.
I learned this vital concept in the Harvard class mentioned above. Giving yourself permission to be human is a prerequisite for happiness and growth.
Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar
A heartwarming and often profound collection of advice from Cheryl Strayed.
An exploration of a practice that has been scientifically demonstrated to make you happier.
How to Make Stress Your Friend
This TED Talk from Stanford’s Kelly McGonigal will change the way you think about stress. Dig deeper by reading her book, The Upside of Stress: Why Stress Is Good for You, and How to Get Good at It.
Also, check out my full breakdown of Effective Stress-Management Techniques.
Health and Fitness
No Gym Workout Methods to Get in Peak Shape
A great run-down on the many, many ways you can exercise without going to the gym.
A guest post I wrote for nutrition coach Natalie Joffe about letting go of perfectionism with regard to fitness.
How I Set My Exercise on Autopilot
An example of how to create a sustainable exercise routine.
How to find more opportunities to move throughout the day.
This Great Collection of Articles and Videos about Nutrition, Body Positivity, and Mindfulness
Courtesy of intuitive eating coach Natalie Joffe.
Mindfulness & Meditation
My articles on mindfulness and meditation
All my articles on this topic in one place.
Mindfulness for Wellbeing and Peak Performance
This free, online course from Future Learn is a great introduction to mindfulness practices. It includes several excellent guided meditations.
This book from Dan Harris presents meditation as a simple, secular way to train your brain. It’s a great introduction to the practice, especially if you’re a skeptic.
Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment
If you’re looking for a deep dive into the secular, practical aspects of Buddhist philosophy, check out this easy-to-read book by Robert Wright.
Probably the most popular meditation app out there.
Productivity
How to Beat Procrastination by Making Your Own Motivation
My full breakdown of the most powerful technique for overcoming procrastination.
Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport
If your work or your side-projects require difficult thinking, focused effort, and creative problem solving, you need to implement the ideas laid out in this modern classic. Deep work has never been more valuable, but our culture is making it harder and harder to do. For an introduction to the topic, read my article: How to Get Better at Deep Work.
How to Write Better To-Do Lists
A guide to more advanced to-do lists. See also:
Social Skills
How to Actually Remember Names
A simple technique anyone can use to remember names.
An 8-minute animated summary of Olivia Fox Cabane’s book, The Charisma Myth, which explains how charisma is not a gift but rather a constellation of three learnable skills: presence, power, and warmth.
This YouTube channel offers a variety of helpful ideas on how to increase your charisma. I don’t love everything they produce, but plenty of it is worthwhile. I recommend starting with this video on mindsets for good social interaction. In my opinion, it’s their best work.
How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie
If you haven’t read this book yet, do it. The title makes it sound like a cheesy, shallow manual for how to manipulate people. It’s not that at all. Carnegie’s book is a goldmine of practical ideas that will improve your social skills.
Influence: Science and Practice by Robert Cialdini
This classic book explains how to defend yourself against manipulative salespeople and other peddlers of influence. And it will teach you how to use their tricks for good. (You’re a good person, right?)
This is the uncomfortable question we all need to be asking. It might make you a better person, and it will certainly make you less judgmental.
Creativity
There are loads of great books about the science and practice of creativity. What they all have in common is that they highlight the fact that creativity is a skill you can learn and a process you can practice, not an innate trait. My three favorites are:
Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation
A fun exploration of the circumstances and habits of innovators.
Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention
An in-depth exploration of how serious creativity happens, based on interviews from world-class creators from a range of domains.
Do the Work: Overcome Resistance and Get Out of Your Own Way
A very brief, kick-your-butt-into-gear book about actually finishing your creative projects.
Effective Learning
Relentless learning is one of the cornerstones of self-improvement (click here to find out why) so here are some excellent resources to help you become better at learning.
Start with your mindset. This super-short video is also super-inspiring.
This short, free online course will teach you how to be a masterful learner. Understanding and remembering new information will forever be easier if you apply the lessons of this course. It will also teach you how to be more creative and how to overcome procrastination. Dr. Oakley’s book, A Mind for Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science (Even If You Flunked Algebra), is also excellent.
Northwest Educational Services
This is my other blog. Aimed at parents and students, it covers the neuroscience of learning and the mindsets of successful students, and it offers a variety of helpful ideas for staying positively engaged with academics at school and at home.
Looking for one-on-one support? Cambridge-trained memory psychologist William Wadsworth will teach you how to work smarter, not harder, via the science of learning and effective studying.
This is my tutoring business. If you’re looking for content tutoring, executive function coaching, or standardized test prep, look no further.
Stoke Your Curiosity & Get Some Brain Exercise!
These incredible and hyperactive online courses stoke the fires of curiosity in both kids and parents.
This is the best place to search for free online university courses (MOOCs). Courses are categorized and rated to save you time, and Class Central draws from all the major providers of free online courses, such as Coursera and edX.
This collection of highly entertaining educational videos has courses on a wide range of useful and interesting topics.
I’ve included this just in case you’ve been living under a rock for the past 15 years, or in case you needed a reminder. TED Talks are quick and informative, and they range from funny to beautiful to extremely serious.
These are like long-form TED Talks. Typically, the speakers are authors of popular nonfiction books condensing their message into a 50-minute presentation.
An intriguing podcast about neuroscience.
In each episode of this podcast, renowned actor and storyteller Levar Burton gives a brilliant reading of a hand-picked short story. I hope you’ll love it as much as I do.
Choose from nearly 30 languages and start learning for free today! It’s no substitute for a real class or serious grammar study, but it’s a great way to start exploring a foreign language or enrich your preexisting knowledge.
Most people use Khan Academy for math, but it also has science, grammar, finance, programming, and more! Make a free account and start watching videos, doing practice problems, and tracking your progress.
Thanks for reading and sharing,
Chris Loper