To help you keep your new year’s resolutions, maybe some expert input would be useful. But what to read that will actually make a difference in making progress toward our 2022 goals? We’ve curated a list of 16 of the best new advice, motivation and self-help books to help achieve 2022 goals and resolutions, including in personal finance, career, relationships, fitness and healthy eating. These are all new releases from 2021, so the advice is hot off the press. Now, let’s do this!
What are the best new advice and self-help books for our 2022 goals?
As we roll into 2022, most of us are still reeling from the events of 2021. How can we show up fresh and optimistic in the new year when we’re still processing the past twelve months?
January is the traditional month for setting goals and focusing on self-improvement. But by mid-February, most of us have set those lofty aims aside, and we’re on a slow slide back into whatever we were doing before.
Like, how many gym memberships have you purchased in January, only to view them as wasted investments by the spring?
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Can this year be any different? Maybe. Perhaps something on this list will spark something in you that will be an assist in this journey toward whatever it is you hope to become.
Best new advice, motivation and self-help books to help achieve 2022 goals and resolutions, including in personal finance, career, relationships, fitness and healthy eating.
We’re not saying that reading one book will transform every element of your life. But we do believe in the power of a good book. And in the wisdom that some experts bring to bear on seemingly intractable problems. We also know how comforting it is to know that we are not, in fact, the first human to ever face a particular challenge.
There’s strength in numbers! And besides, what do you have to lose?
16 of the best new self-help and advice books to read in 2022
If you’re willing to give it a try, here are some of the new advice and self-help books – all published in 2021 – that we think might be best to read for every type of 2022 goal or New Year’s resolution. Pour a hot beverage, grab a blanket, and turn the first page. Who knows what might happen next?
The best new advice, motivation and self-help books to help achieve 2022 goals and resolutions, including personal finance, career, relationships, fitness and healthy eating.
1. What Happened to You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing by Oprah Winfrey and Bruce D. Perry.
It just feels right to start this list of the best new self-help books to read in 2022 with Oprah. Along with brain and trauma expert Dr. Bruce Perry, in What Happened to You?, she offers a new framework for understanding ourselves and others. A move from asking “What’s wrong with you?” to “What happened to you?” It’s a scientifically-based way to assess the impact of childhood trauma and loss on our behavior as adults, and to help us empathize more effectively with others in our lives.
BUY NOW: $14.49.
2. Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience by Brené Brown.
Brené Brown has a passionate following among the business crowd, who soak up her advice about how to lead and manage people. But her new book, Atlas of the Heart, is not about that. It’s about more personal – even intimate – relationships. Brown outlines eighty-seven of the emotions and experiences that define what it means to be human. Then she maps the necessary skills we need to make meaningful connections with others.
BUY NOW: $18.34.
3. Women, Food and Hormones: A 4-Week Plan to Achieve Hormonal Balance Lose Weight and Feel Like Yourself Again by Dr. Sara Gottfried.
Women, Food and Hormones is written by a woman for other women. Many traditional diets have been conceived by, and in many cases tailored to the needs of, men. This book offers a new nutrition plan to help women balance their hormones. That fosters losing excess weight and improves mood and outlook. Based on hormonal detoxification and a ketogenic diet specifically designed for women, the four week plan is a radically different approach to getting in balance.
BUY NOW: $20.10.
4. Life Is What You Bake It: Recipes, Stories, and Inspiration to Bake Your Way to the Top by Vallery Lomas.
In Life is What You Bake It, we get a trifecta: an inspiring memoir, practical advice and delicious recipes. What could be better? Lawyer cum baker Lomas won a season of The Great American Baking Show. But she never gained the fame and name recognition it should have delivered, because the last few episodes of her winning season never aired. Here, she shares her story of overcoming disappointment and pushing through fear. And also 100 recipes, including the one for Grandma’s Million Dollar Cake.
BUY NOW: $21.59.
5. The Comfort Book by Matt Haig.
Haig is best known for his fiction – The Midnight Library, anyone? But he wrote The Comfort Book in 2021, and it was named by The Washington Post as one of the best feel-good books of the year. The collection of notes, lists, and stories written over several years originally served as reminders to Haig’s future self that things are not always as dark as they seem. Those same words offer warmth and reassurance to his readers that there are good reasons to hope.
BUY NOW: $16.76.
6. Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know by Adam Grant.
Think Again is one of the best new books of career (and life) advice of the year, and it happens to be written by one of our favorite authors. Grant is a Wharton professor and author of Originals and Give and Take. Here, he examines the critical art of rethinking. Of unlearning and relearning. It takes humility and courage to question your opinions and then help open other people’s minds. Mastering those skills, though, can position you for excellence at work. And in life.
BUY NOW: $16.75.
7. Feeding the Soul (Because It’s My Business): Finding Our Way to Joy, Love, and Freedom by Tabitha Brown.
Feeding the Soul is a deeply personal and uplifting memoir focused on how to make a life rooted in nonjudgmental kindness and love, both for ourselves and for others. Brown draws on her life, career, faith and family and in frank and funny catchphrases. Plus, she’s a vegan and she shares some of her favorite recipes. Food for the soul, indeed.
BUY NOW: $16.79.
8. Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters, and How to Harness It by Ethan Kross.
In Chatter, an award-winning psychologist discusses the power of our inner voice. And shows how to harness it to combat anxiety, improve physical and mental health, and deepen our relationships with others. We all have a voice in our head. When we talk to ourselves, we often hope to tap into our inner encouraging and sympathetic coach – but instead we hear our harshly judgmental inner critic. The good news is that we’re equipped with the tools we need to make our inner voice work in our favor.
BUY NOW: $15.30.
9. Sit Down to Rise Up: How Radical Self-Care Can Change the World by Shelly Tygielski.
In Sit Down to Rise Up, the founder of the global grassroots mutual aid organization Pandemic of Love makes the case that self-care can also be a powerful tool for spurring transformative collective action. For those who may be dealing with anxiety and feelings of helplessness, her response is that if people come together, they can affect positive change – here and now, just as they are.
BUY NOW: $21.57.
10. How to Change: The Science of Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be by Katy Milkman.
The Wharton Professor and Choiceology podcast host has a fresh way of thinking about How to Change. It’s a sensible approach to tackling life’s challenges. In a nutshell, her advice is turning uphill battles into downhill ones – taking dreaded tasks or intimidating changes and making them more pleasurable. Or even fun!
BUY NOW: $19.99.
11. The New Normal: A Roadmap to Resilience in the Pandemic Era by Dr. Jennifer Ashton.
We had the fun of meeting Dr. Ashton – the Chief Medical Correspondent at ABC News – several years ago at a women’s event, and we’ve been avidly following her career ever since. Her practical, empathetic and easily-understood advice about how to deal with medical issues is refreshing. And so is this latest book, The New Normal, which is filled with much-needed counsel on how to prepare mentally and physically for whatever this COVID 3.0 era may bring.
BUY NOW: $13.89.
12. Get Good with Money: Ten Simple Steps to Becoming Financially Whole by Tiffany “the Budgetnista” Aliche.
Get Good With Money presents a ten-step formula for attaining financial security and peace of mind, written by a woman who dutifully built her nest egg, lost it, and then rebuilt it. Using her own experiences, Aliche advocates building wealth through a holistic plan, rather than get-rich-quick or overly-complicated money management systems. The reminder that short-term actions lead to achieving long-term goals couldn’t be more timely as a new year gets underway.
BUY NOW: $14.71.
13. Hooked: How Crafting Saved My Life by Sutton Foster.
From everything we’ve ever seen and read about Sutton Foster, she’s the most charming and sparkling person in pretty much every room she’s in. So we were surprised and then deeply moved to learn in Hooked that in fact that sunny personality was formed in a crucible of criticism and self-doubt. For anyone who turned to knitting, crochet, scrapbooking or puzzles during the pandemic as a way to relieve stress, this book is all the validation you need. And for those who didn’t? This might get you to become a bit craftier in the new year.
BUY NOW: $13.99.
14. You Got Anything Stronger?: Stories by Gabrielle Union.
The follow-up to her bestselling memoir We’re Going to Need More Wine, in You Got Anything Stronger?, Union delves deeper into her personal story. From a girl’s night at Chateau Marmont in LA to painful revelations about her quest to have a child, her voice is honest, tender and hysterically funny. If you need a pep talk from someone who feels like your best girlfriend, this is it.
BUY NOW: $19.58.
15. Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess: 5 Simple, Scientifically Proven Steps to Reduce Anxiety, Stress, and Toxic Thinking by Dr. Caroline Leaf.
Similar to a bout of spring cleaning around the house, in Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess, the author shares a five-step plan to find and eliminate the root of anxiety, depression, and intrusive thoughts.
BUY NOW: $16.56.
16. How to Do the Work: Recognize Your Patterns, Heal from Your Past, and Create Your Self by Dr. Nicole LePera.
In How to Do the Work, the author – a clinical psychologist – shares her philosophy that a combination of mental, physical and spiritual wellness is what is necessary to enable people to heal themselves. It’s a holistic approach that calls on many different areas of knowledge. She stresses that painful experiences and trauma in childhood can live on, leading to stress responses that keep people stuck in dysfunctional patterns as adults. She offers a path out of this dark corner with a message of empowerment and hope.
BUY NOW: $16.46.
best new self-help and advice books to read in 2022
Those are our top 16 picks of the new advice and self-help books best to read for every 2022 goal or New Year’s resolution, including personal finance, career, better relationships, fitness and eating. What’s at the top of your to-do list heading into the new year? Whatever it is, we hope this helps you get a little bit closer, dear reader.
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For access to insider ideas and information on the world of luxury, sign up for our Dandelion Chandelier Newsletter here. And see luxury in a new light.
This article contains affiliate links to products independently selected by our editors. As an Amazon Associate, Dandelion Chandelier receives a commission for qualifying purchases made through these links.
Pamela Thomas-Graham is the Founder & CEO of Dandelion Chandelier. A Detroit native, she has 3 Harvard degrees and has written 3 mystery novels published by Simon & Schuster. After serving as a senior corporate executive, CEO of CNBC and partner at McKinsey, she now serves on the boards of several tech companies. She loves fashion, Paris, New York, books, contemporary art, running, skiing, coffee, Corgis and cats of all kinds.
