A new year is the perfect time to turn over a new leaf with the help of a book! Here are our top self-help books for you in 2026.
Where the Light Gets In by Ben Crowe
Ben Crowe is one of the world’s most in-demand mindset coaches. In this book, he reveals nine simple-yet-profound perspective shifts that will change the way you see the world and yourself.
Showing how these nine perspective shifts are relevant to every human being, Ben demonstrates how self-compassion, imagination and appreciation can turn adversity into possibility, remove pressure and help us find that elusive balance between confidence and happiness, achievement and fulfillment.
Move from fearful to playful, from human doing to human being, and from fitting in to truly belonging. Even small perspective shifts can lead to massive breakthroughs, creating the freedom to redefine what it means to live a life true to yourself. Because that’s where the light gets in.
Mattering by Jennifer Breheny Wallace
From award-winning writer Jennifer Breheny Wallace, a deeply consequential look at restoring closeness in our relationships and how feeling connected – mattering – can bring purpose and happiness to our lives.
In a world where loneliness, burnout, and disconnection have reached crisis levels, Jennifer Breheny Wallace offers a transformative solution: mattering. Through vivid storytelling and groundbreaking research, Mattering: The Secret to Building a Life of Deep Purpose and Connection reveals how feeling seen, needed, and valued isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s essential for our wellbeing and society’s future.
Filled with stories of individuals who have discovered the power of mattering, from the story of a fire chief who re-energized his emotionally exhausted team by helping them see their long-term impact, to a woman who transformed her grief into a movement helping thousands rebuild their lives, Wallace shows how mattering can be cultivated in every sphere of life. She demonstrates that when people feel they truly matter—that their presence and contributions are noticed, needed, and missed when they aren’t there—everything changes. Productivity soars, relationships deepen, and communities strengthen.
Drawing on compelling research and intimate portraits of people who’ve discovered the power of mattering, Wallace provides a practical blueprint for creating lives of deeper meaning and connection. She reveals:
- How small acts of recognition can transform workplace culture and prevent burnout
- Why helping others often energizes us rather than depletes us
- How to build “mattering spaces” that foster genuine connection in our communities
- Practical strategies for navigating life transitions while maintaining our sense of purpose
Perfect for readers of Brené Brown and Adam Grant, this timely book offers both hope and concrete solutions for our modern crisis of disconnection. Mattering isn’t just another self-help guide—it’s a revolutionary framework for rebuilding the connections that make life meaningful and creating positive change that ripples outward from ourselves to our relationships, workplaces, and communities. With clarity and compassion, Wallace shows us that the antidote to our cultural crisis of isolation isn’t to turn inward, but to recognize how much we matter to each other. This book will forever change how you think about your role in the lives of others and offer a path to a more connected, purposeful life.
First, We Make The Beast Beautiful by Sarah Wilson
The Chinese believe that before you can conquer a beast, you must first make it beautiful.
Sarah Wilson first came across this Chinese proverb in psychiatrist Kay Redfield Jamison’s memoir An Unquiet Mind, and it became the key to understanding her own lifelong struggle with anxiety. Wilson, bestselling author, journalist, and entrepreneur has helped over 1.5 million people worldwide to live better, healthier lives through her I Quit Sugar books and program. And all along, she has been managing chronic anxiety.
In First, We Make the Beast Beautiful, Wilson directs her intense focus and fierce investigating skills onto her lifetime companion, looking at the triggers and treatments, the fashions and fads. She reads widely and interviews fellow sufferers, mental health experts, philosophers, and even the Dalai Lama, processing all she learns through the prism of her own experiences.
Wilson offers readers comfort, humor, companionship, and practical tips for living with the Beast:
- Cultivate a “gratitude ritual.” You can’t be grateful and anxious at the same time.
- Eat to curb anxiety. Real food is your best friend.
- Just breathe. Embrace the healing power of meditation.
- Make your bed. Every day. Simple outer order creates inner calm.
- Study fellow fretters to know thyself. Emily Dickinson, Charles Darwin, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. all struggled with anxiety.
- Actively practice missing out. Forget FOMO, curl up on the couch, and order takeout.
Practical and poetic, wise and funny, First, We Make the Beast Beautiful is a small book with a big heart. It will encourage the myriad souls who dance with this condition to embrace it as a part of who they are, and to explore the possibilities it offers for a richer, fuller life.
Champions Do Extra by Brad Thorn
Brad Thorn’s career rewrote the rules of what an athlete can achieve.
From his country upbringing on the frosty fields of Otago in New Zealand to the baked turf of Queensland in Australia, Brad Thorn reveals the powerful lessons he learned in his relentless pursuit of excellence, inspiring readers to unlock their own potential.
In a remarkable 30-year career, spanning 477 games of professional footy across two codes, the dual international played for some of the highest performing teams on the planet: the All Blacks, Kangaroos, Queensland Maroons, Brisbane Broncos and Canterbury Crusaders. He was still playing professionally at the age of 41.
Brad Thorn’s trophy cabinet includes a Rugby World Cup, four Rugby League NRL premiership titles, two State of Origins series, one Super Rugby title, five Bledisloe Cups, three Tri Nations titles, two NPC titles, the Ranfurly Shield, and a European Rugby Champions Cup.
Thorn credits his achievements and longevity to the lessons in this book, and, above all, the credo his father taught him ‘champions do extra’.
Champions Do Extra is an inspirational story about what family, faith and footy can teach us about how to succeed.
Countdown To Riches by Rhonda Byrne
From Rhonda Byrne, author of the global phenomenon The Secret and the New York Times Bestseller The Greatest Secret, comes Countdown to Riches – the book that can lead anyone to financial freedom.
Financial struggle is caused by one thing – our thoughts. To have a rich life, you have to use your mind, the very thing that has previously kept money from you. You must free yourself once and for all of a scarcity mindset, which unfortunately plagues the majority of people. When your mind becomes wealthy, YOU become wealthy.
Countdown to Riches reveals simple, proven wealth-attracting practices that are easily incorporated into daily life, and that will rapidly change the financial circumstances of anyone who applies them.
In these pages, you will:
Learn profound wisdom about our world and how life really works.
Find 21 days of life-changing practices leading to financial freedom.
Unlock the power of the mind to create a rich life in every sense.
Adopt new habits that will create and maintain wealth.