Top 10 Self Help Books

"Unlimited Power" is a tantalising, compelling idea - and a worthy way to begin this countdown of the best self help books in print today. Unlimited Power is the signature work that propelled the young Anthony Robbins from late night infomercial king to his current status as a world-famous personal development coach. So does this book still weave its magic 22 years after its explosive launch? What does the man who has counselled Andre Agassi, Bill Clinton and Greg Norman have to offer within its pages?

The book a mixed bag of tools and strategies. Many of Tony Robbins' ideas rely on Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) concepts - which were great back in the Eighties but have become commonplace today. Still, the central sections on the art and science of goal-setting are timeless classics.

Unlimited Power can be summarised in one message - that "the quality of your life is the quality of your communication". This means communication with others, but just as importantly, with yourself. As an exploration of the then radical and cutting-edge theories of NLP, it is first class.

The rich are different from you and me. Hemingway's famous riposte - "Yes, they have more money!" is only half the story. In this classic self help book, Eker explains the true mental blueprint that marks out successful people like a hidden ultraviolet stamp.

Eker distils his ideas into a simple set of "wealth principles". Some border on the obvious, but others are profound and even subversive: "Money will only make you more of what you already are". Some are just great quotes: "Rich people collect land. Poor people collect bills". He encourages us to mix and associate with the wealthy, and to build up a peer group of successful people. Recent scientific research shows that positive and negative emotions are socially contagious, so this could be a remarkably effective strategy.

Here are my three favourite Eker soundbites -

1.If you are willing to do only what's easy, life will be hard. But if you are willing to do what is hard, life will be easy.

2.No thought lives in our heads rent-free (Robert Allen)

3.The Law of Income: You will be paid in direct proportion to the value you deliver in the marketplace.

These aren't magic bullets, but are signposts for the journey. "Secrets of the Millionaire Mind" is a first class map for the wealth creation road. So look beyond this self help book's cheesy title, suspend your disbelief and turn on to the yellow brick road.

What if working hard, setting goals and being talented actually didn't work? Dr Richard Wiseman, an English academic, has a shocking, subversive theory - success is not determined by any of the things we all believe it is. In fact, success is quite often down to simple, dumb luck.

Wiseman is a respected English academic and his aim is to find Lady Luck and wrestle her to the ground. Here are his top tips:

1. Maximise chance opportunities in your life. My favourite example here is of a man who keeps a jar especially for coins he finds on the street - and fills the jar to the brim regularly. Wiseman's astonishing conclusion is that the more likely you are to choose a new dish at a restaurant, the more likely you are to succeed.

2. That old chestnut, intuition. I am reminded of a recent character in the U.K. version of "The Apprentice" whose intuition frequently led her miserably astray, so will not offer any further comment!

3. Expect good fortune. We have all heard of the "self-fulfilling prophecy". How many times have you heard a friend say: "She's in a relationship with X - he's no good, but she doesn't believe she deserves anyone better". Without high self-esteem, luck will probably be elusive.

4. Transform bad luck into good. Everyone has obstacles and challenges, but it's how we respond to them that really matters.

David Schwartz opens this self help classic with the charming story of his young son who blurts out that when he grows up, he wants to be a Professor of Happiness. This optimism sets the tone for a very warm and uplifting book.

It's worth mentioning up front that the book is very dated, even anachronistic. To me, that is part of its charm, evoking a picture-perfect post-war Americana of chrome, consumerism and optimistic salesmen (think of ABC's "Mad Men"). There are tales of World War II veterans, men in $100 silk suits and grand industrial corporations.

Still the message is timeless. Here are three of his simple but highly effective insights.

(1) Deliberately circulate in new groups and keep growing your circle of friends. This is one recipe for a happier life.

(2) Never complain about the weather, since it only spreads negative thoughts and after all it you can't change it!

(3) Give genuine compliments to people. The law of reciprocity will reward you...eventually.

Yes, "The Magic of Thinking Big" is a gem of self-help book, and has easily earned its place in the Top Ten.

This classic self help book is potential dynamite, so handle with care.

Fear is natural. In some cases, fear is a logical response. Without the fear reflex, we would have short life expectancies indeed. The kind of fear that keeps us from walking in front of fast moving cars is clearly a good thing. In other cases, such as fear of public speaking or being more assertive in our social relationships, fear is a purely social construct, a learned response, an excuse. It is this latter category of fear that Jeffers helps demolishJeffers argues that the way to beat fear is to develop an inner self-belief in your capacity to handle whatever life throws at you.

Susan Jeffers' fundamental message is that in the long run living in a constricted, crushed comfort zone is a worse outcome that intelligently embracing the right kind of risk. In her words, "Pushing through fear is less frightening than living with the underlying fear that comes from a feeling of helplessness".

Here are five of the best messages in "Feel the Fear":

1. '"I hope" is a victim's phrase. Using "I know" has more power'.

2. Take 100% responsibility for your own life

3. Avoid casting blame on external factors - the recession, the weather, the government, your partner, boss, friends, family, dog, upbringing, childhood, luck etc etc.

4. The idea of diagrammatically mapping your choice points in life with - crucially - two "no lose" outcomes, both of which you can live with, is a good one.

5. "The knowledge that you can handle anything that comes your way is the key to allowing yourself to take healthy, life-affirming risks".

In summary, this is a heartfelt, groundbreaking and fascinating book. Used correctly, it could transform your life. Still I am not entirely convinced, since my preferences are for caution, risk assessment and a logical approach to decisions. This book is potential dynamite, so handle with care.

Felix Dennis is a poet, bon vivant and flamboyant member of the seriously rich club. He is different from many self help gurus, since he is a real entrepreneur who made his dough the old fashioned way. "This book is written for amusement... I did not become rich by writing manuals telling other people how to become rich".

Nor is "How to Get Rich" the dour corporate monotone of some grey-suited businessman. Rather, it's the story of someone who has practised what he preaches with flair, honesty and humour. There's plenty of good advice, but a warning too.

The astonishing message is that wealth is no panacea. In fact, it may even destroy the quality of your life. We learn how close Dennis came to personal tragedy through addictions and rampant spending in the Eighties decade of excess. Possibly the most genuinely touching and heartfelt section begins in Chapter 17, when he speaks of the terrible sacrifice of giving away your youth and health in pursuit of the almighty dollar, and the paranoia, jealousies and broken friendships that wealth can apparently lead to. He believes time is the most valuable commodity of all, because it can never be replaced. Mortality catches up with us all.

Dennis has an eye for visual images - he compares chasing wealth to hunting a gazelle with diamonds in its belly. His closing chapter ("A Recap for Idlers") is extremely well written, placing the quest for wealth amid his own musings on mortality and the meaning of life. Amazingly, it's neither pretentious nor preachy, but a very human and very absorbing read. The same could be said for the whole of this gripping book.

Have you ever struggled with a "to do" list and a million urgent tasks? Have you ever worked hard all day stumbling to bed exhausted, and still only accomplished a quarter of what you wanted? This kind of experience - allied to the intriguing, quirky title, which is a natural draw - led me to purchase the self help classic "Eat That Frog", by Brian Tracy.

This book is brutal in its simplicity, challenging in its message and sparse in its content. Brian Tracy offers a definitive technique to get things done, compressing his message into just 113 pages. He openly states he lives by the Pareto rule where 80% of the value is contained in just 20% of the content. In "Eat That Frog - Get More of the Important Things Done Today" he has stripped out all the inessentials to focus on what really matters - getting things done

Why the Frog? The title is a great selling point because it grabs your attention. The Frog represents your biggest, ugliest and most important job for the day. It's the awkward, demanding task you really don't want to do - the kind of thing you would put off and procrastinate about for as long as possible. We all know what our daily frog is, Tracy argues. Instead of writing endless and unachievable "to-do" lists, Tracy advises us to focus on just one thing - eating the frog. After that, everything is easy riding. Yes folks, it's that simple. There is no rocket science in this book, just simple, unassailable logic. Use it.

Self-help books don't come any more celebrated than this one. It's an acknowledged classic and easily deserves its place among the final three of our Top Ten Self Help Books.

Anthony Robbins is a motivational speaker who is larger than life and packed with sunny Californian optimism. Across the world, few can have missed his infomercials, seminars and firewalks.

This book is his definitive work and a must-buy for anyone who enjoys the sometimes cheese-laden self-help genre. It offers a tantalising glimpse that total life transformation is possible - epitomised in the opening story of multimillionaire Robbins, who is flying in his private helicopter to lead a sell-out seminar at a football stadium. As he swoops over Glendale in California, he spots a vaguely familiar building from the air. It's where he used to work, on the breadline, as a humble janitor.

I enjoyed this book for its optimistic spirit and its simple but eye-opening insights, such as "It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped". The opening chapters are exciting, fast-paced and compulsive reading - Robbins really grips your attention by promising dramatic personal change. He demonstrates the vital power of focus, decisions and empowering beliefs, all the time using his trademark conversational style.

Here are three of the insights and soundbites from "Awaken the Giant Within" that have really helped me over the years:

1. Make a decision to never settle for less than you can be

2. Concentration is power - a concentrated effort is like a laser beam

3. Raise your standards and change your limiting beliefs

Inspiring stuff. This book is a must-buy. Find out lots more about this great leader at http://www.squidoo.com/Tony-Robbins-Books

Most people have heard of the 80/20 Principle, or Pareto's Law - the idea that 20% of the effort delivers 80% of the results. But what if we actually applied it? How could we transform our lives and turbocharge our productivity through using this simple, revolutionary concept?

In this self help gem, Koch shows us how. Basically, resources that have powerful effects should be used as much as possible. In Koch's words, "the few things that work fantastically well should be identified, cultivated, nurtured and multiplied".

Richard Koch is a highly successful businessman who made a fortune with Filofax in the Eighties and has gone on to build up chains of hotels, restaurants and online enterprises. This track record lends huge credibility to this book which cannot be dismissed as "just another" self-help book. In one amusing anecdote, Koch explains how he achieved a first class degree from Oxford purely by focusing on the essentials and developing profound knowledge about just a few key areas. He went on to make several fortunes with Filofax and in the restaurant business.

Koch's motto could well be "intelligent laziness". He calls us just to do the things that add the highest value, and keep on doing them. This in short, requires a time revolution. There are echoes here of that old Tony Robbins message - if we keep on doing what we've been doing, we'll keep on getting the results we've been getting.

The 80/20 way cuts like a knife through the irrelevant garbage that clogs up so many of our daily lives. Clarity is power, and Koch tells us to ruthlessly prune "80%" activities and just focus on the "vital few". These insights have transformed industry through lean production - now you can apply them to your life too.

It's gripping, unique and intensely practical.
It's written by a man who has achieved more than most people would in ten lifetimes.
The blog below reveals all...