9 Great Books About Building Habits
If you’re looking to reflect and work on yourself ahead of the new year, a good place to start is looking at the habits you currently have. From your daily routines, to habits that lead to you feeling a certain way, to ones that invigorate you and those that are more harmful than good.
Why? Because humans are creatures of habits. We tend to do the same things over and over again, so if you want to make any lasting change in a particular area of your life, take a look at your habits.
A good place to turn to for help is books. Books about habits are pretty mainstream in the self help genre, from Atomic Habits to Year of Yes, The Power of Habit, and 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
I’ve compiled a list of more recent books about habits to help you. These books focus on building habits, from explaining the science behind them to focusing on specific habits and how those affects your relationship, health, finances, and more. I hope at least one of these books helps you with building habits that are beneficial to you.
Badass Habits by Jen Sincero
Jen Sincero is back with a new book, this time all about how to cultivate daily routines that help you stick to those habits in the long run. From identifying patterns that don’t serve you to how to get yourself used to new enhancing habits, with a 21-day plan to help you along the way, Jen tackles habits and the science behind them with her witty and humorous style in this book.
Habits: A 12‑Week Journal by Dr. Hayden Finch
One way of ensuring you stick to new habits is by tracking your progress, as this gives you an extra sense of accountability, and you can see what worked and what didn’t. This journal was created to help you with just that. It explores the science behind forming habits, and gives you prompts and cues to help you keep track of your progress over a period of 12 weeks. If you love journaling, you’d love this one.
The High 5 Habit by Mel Robbins
This book focuses on helping you cultivate the habit of cheering yourself on. As humans, we are often our own worst critics; meanwhile, we readily cheer on and support our friends and families. We end up being too hard on ourselves and this can lead to self doubt, procrastination, anxiety and more. This book attempts to tackle this by helping you make believing in yourself a habit.
Hello, Habits by Fumio Sasaki
This book shares the steps that can be taken to develop habits that are beneficial to you, and how to stop those that aren’t good for you, from a simple, minimalist approach.
Set Boundaries, Find Peace by Nedra Glover Tawwab
Knowing how to set healthy boundaries and maintain them is very important for your mental health, but getting into the habit of doing this can be hard for some people. This book attempts to help you get better at setting and enforcing healthy boundaries in relationships, workplaces and all aspects of life.
Clever Girl Finance by Bola Sokunbi
If you’ve ever wondered if you’re handling your finances well, or what habits you have that might be drilling a hole in your savings, you’d find this book interesting. From budgeting to monitoring your expenses and changing your money mindset, Clever Girl Finance breaks things down, to give you the steps and habits you need to build to achieve financial freedom and build wealth.
The 8-Minute Writing Habit by Monica Leonelle
If you struggle to write due to being busy or lacking that creative motivation, this book is all about how you can build a consistent writing habit. Exploring different techniques to help you fit writing into your daily life as well as drawing from the experiences of Monica and other authors, with resources and an eight-day challenge, this book helps cheer you on to finally finish that book or article and write consistently.
1000+ Little Habits of Happy, Successful Relationships by Marc & Angel Chernoff
Having healthy and joyful relationships is important, especially in this day and age. This book explores the habits that help to build great relationships in your life, from relationships with friends, family, romantic relationships, and the relationship you have with yourself.
The Joy of Movement by Kelly McGonigal, PhD
Exercise and moving your body is great for your health, but making it a habit to exercise can be tasking. People often associate exercising with stress and it ends up being something you have to force yourself to do. But it doesn’t have to be so, and this book works to show you how you can make exercising fun and discover the joy of movement, so it’s easier to build it as a habit.
If you’re looking for more books on habits and self development, check out these posts:
