Selecting the Right
Self-Development Books
There are now over 100,000 self-development books available, but no independent guide on how to select the right ones for you. This page is a hub for finding books with solutions.
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Becoming Your Own Book Guru
We believe there are three reasons why many people do not find solutions in the self-development books they read:
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People reading books that don't match their core basic beliefs
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People aren't reading books properly
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Many books are designed to keep you as a customer
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Our team has read a large collection of books, defined the differentiating elements among book topics and written them down in simple terms, accompanied by various examples of books.
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This is not science. Even the way we categorized books into topics is arbitrary. All we care about is practical usefulness. ​​
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An Example
Suppose you want to lose weight and improve your fitness level. You will find that there are a bizarre number of diets to choose from.
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Some will provide arguments that you have to cut out meat. Others will argue that vegetables are toxic (oxalates, lectins, phytates) because this is the plant's defense mechanism to avoid being eaten.
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Some will promote the idea of cutting out all carbs. Others will argue that you should only eat fruit, which is often high in carbs.
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Some will have quick results. Others take longer, but claim to have longer lasting results. Some are mentally challenging because of the withdrawal effects, while others are challenging to stay motivated for longer periods of time.
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The promotion of ideas has become so refined that every time you read the arguments for one of the diets, you think 'that makes sense'. But, they can't all make sense at the same time.
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Different diets may work at different stages and for different body or personality types. But most diets are marketed as being suitable for (almost) everyone. This makes it very confusing and time-consuming to find something that works for you.
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The Bottom Line: The dynamic is the same with any other self-development topic. Unless there is an objective resource, you'll have to study the topic extensively. Bukuru, because of its independence, is such an objective resource.
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The No-Book Approach
Zooming out from researching 10+ categories, we conclude that the easiest way to achieve perhaps 80-100% of all the results people desire when they read self-development books (80/20 rule) would be to simply increase your:
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1. Self-knowledge & open mindedness
Sit down and write down your beliefs about happiness and your desires, preferences and purpose, and then act on them. Finally, reflect on the results and update your mental model as needed. (read more details here)
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2. Discomfort tolerance
Obtain some reference experiences that change your perception of discomfort; create circumstances where you can stay with discomfort until you can just observe it (read more details here)
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3. Mindset basics
Spend a few weeks on learning to focus on positives as much as negatives, being aware of your purpose and framing everything you do as part of that purpose, reframing perceived criticism as gifts and mistakes as progress indicators (read more details here)
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Our advice is to focus on these areas for at least 10 days before you start spending money on books or programs. ​
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