5 Reasons To Read Self-Help Books (Even If You Think You Don't Need To)

I find it healing and inspiring to read at least part of one personal development book a day. Just a chapter or 20 pages in the morning can make all the difference in how you see yourself and the world around you.

Here are five benefits of a daily habit:

A lot of personal development books come with exercises and prompts that get you thinking about the choices you make and why you make them. An honest evaluation of your life as it is frees you to make the changes you need to make while still feeling good about yourself. Danielle LaPorte's The Desire Map is an excellent book with lots of illuminating prompts and exercises.

When you're aware of the thinking behind your actions, you can erase your negative thought tapes and replace them with words of love, possibility, power, and magic. This makes you super aware of what you choose to fill your day with, so you can do more of what's working, and less of what's not.

Reading an inspiring book a day isn't to improve your life — it's to enhance your life. The whole point of personal development is to expand more of what you've got, not improve what you think is lacking. When you approach each book as a treasure map to discover hidden knowledge, you adopt a playful, curious attitude that lets you explore each book from a grounded, expansive place.

You start to believe you can be more, do more and experience more. A daily diet of inspiring words spurs you to explore what you're capable of, and where your limitations lie so you can smash through them. This is how you get stronger and better — you dare yourself to go where you haven't gone before, so you can experience what you haven't had before. When we believe we can be more, we're pulled to do and feel more.

All the positive thinking, decision making, and better choices make you hungry for growth and excellence. You find yourself mapping out a vision for your life and crafting an action plan that gets you where you want to go. While these projects may not necessarily tie into your job or career, they address the part of you that yearns to feel vibrantly alive and fulfilled in every moment.

Even if you struggle at first, it's worth it to read an inspiring book every morning or at whatever time works best for you. You can amplify your creativity, productivity, positive self-image, and capabilities. Starting is simple, and only takes the commitment to begin.