We elevate others when we elevate ourselves

"Personal growth" used to be called "self-help," and in my world, a stigma surrounded the reading of self-help books. "He needs a self-help book?!? What is his problem?"

Over the past five years, I've discovered that, eh gads, I wish I tapped into personal-growth books when I was, like, a kid because they would have saved me a lot of heartache. My favorite Mark Twain quote remains: "It ain't what you know that gets you in trouble. It's what you think you know for sure that just ain't so."

A lot of self-help, or personal-growth, basics can be like a light switch. Stay out of your own way. Stop thinking so much. Stop talking so much. It's basic stuff. At least that's what I've found for myself.

Personal growth also is the best thing we can do for those around us. Perhaps we owe it to them. We need to use our positions of status, education, wealth or whatever we got to elevate ourselves, and by doing that, we elevate those around me.

So the 10 personal-growth books I recommend are:

1. Mindset by Carol Dweck (2006)
2. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson (2016)
3. Money (2014) by Tony Robbins
4. The Art of Asking (2015) by Amanda Palmer
5. You Are a Badass (2013) by Jen Sincero
6. Girl, Wash Your Face (2018) by Rachel Hollis
7. The Art of Non-Conformity (2010) by Chris Guilleabeau
8. The Omnivore's Dilemma (2007) by Michael Pollan
9. The God Delusion (2006) by Richard Dawkins
10. The Power of Now (1997) by Eckhart Tolle

These are all 21st century books with the exception of The Power of No, and that makes sense because our culture, our resources, our world has changed so much that it's good to know that our books are improving and evolving — and so are we.