3 Books to read to improve your life

Inside: A review of 3 books to read to help you improve your life | Press samples.

I love self-improvement books. I love being able to dive in and come out with tools to help me grow as a person and improve the way I live my life.

I have read so many over the last few years, at some point I will write a list of them all so you can add them to your list too.

In this post though, I want to share the latest three that I have read. Each different but all with a common goal – to help you live your life and look after yourself better.

What is a self improvement book?

When I tell people I read self improvement books they tend to look at me funny. I think they get confused with self-help books, which tend to get a bad name. Why, I am not sure because helping yourself through reading can only be a positive thing, right?

Well, certainly there are some bad books out there. Many ‘self-help’ books give out simplistic advice and don’t come from any personal experience of factual evidence. And therein lies the problem and why people turn their back on them.

However, self improvement books are not the same. They don’t claim to change your life in 10 ways, they simply offer advice and examples from personal experience that we can draw upon to implement in our own lives should we want to.

All of the books I have read have been inspiring and insightful. There haven’t been steps to take, just knowledge to absorb should I want to. And over the past few years I have indeed absorbed the knowledge and grown as a person.

Books to read to improve your life today

The last three books I read all covered different areas. One for sleep, one for sorting out mental and physical clutter and one for helping you create a home that runs smoothly.

The Easy Life by Lynsey Crombie

You may know Lynsey as the Queen of Clean as she regularly shares her cleaning tips on ITV’s This Morning.

I initially thought the book might be all about cleaning but is much more than that. Lynsey shares everything she knows about household organisation. And as we all know, an organised home = an organised mind.

The book is broken down into 6 sections, the first one being the introduction. This is where Lynsey shares her cleaning caddy checklist and other handy tips for getting started. I love when things are laid out for me – nobody wants to have to read between the lines, do they?

The next 4 chapters are based around the seasons and I love that. It means you don’t have to read the whole book to get started straight away.

As you’d expect, she shares the obvious things like a spring cleaning checklist but she also includes summer heat hacks, a picnic checklist, a back to school checklist, morning routines, Halloween party ideas as well as a Christmas to-do list.

The book is interspersed with seasonal tips and ways to keep on top of the household tasks so they never become overwhelming.

As a busy mum myself, I need ideas that I can implement immediately and the first thing I did after reading the spring section was to go and sweep my front path and make the front look more looked after. It only took half an hour but it made a big difference.

With the summer holidays upon us, I have already read the summer section and I feel prepared for the months ahead. I’ve also had a little re-read of the autumn section too and I am excited for another deep clean of the house.

The final chapter is filled with extra tips and tricks such as ways to reduce plastic & how to make your own cleaning products, as well as an A-Z of cleaning tips.

If you feel like your housework is taking over your life then I definitely recommend The Easy Life (aff link) to help you get on track and feeling in control again.

Clean Sleeping by Lisa Helmanis

Ahh sleep, I love it but never seem to get enough of it. I’m sure you can relate!

The book starts off by explaining why we need sleep, how it works and how much is enough. Most people have a sleep deficit though and so we start to feel the effects.

Signs of sleep deprivation are:

• Dry itchy eyes
• bad skin
• chapped lips
• drop in body temperature
• increased appetite
• impaired vision
• increased pain/ sensitivity

And of course, the feeling of being tired is a big indicator. Do you have any of those signs?

There are lots of different reasons for sleep deprivation, either from a lack of hours actually in bed or from various sleep disorders that can affect the quality of sleep you actually get.

The book goes through different areas, from the food we put into our bodies, our environments and our mental health to try and pinpoint the cause and gives lots of tips for helping improve each area of our lives.

I have taken on board lots of tips, such as having dimmed lighting before bed, keeping my bedroom tidy and listening to a meditation track to help me drift off.

There are lots of great resources to help you improve your sleep patterns – Clean Sleeping (aff link) is definitely worth a read if you or someone in your family are struggling.

Sort Your Sh*t Out by Caroline Jones

I really love this book. It is very hands-on, with pages to fill out to help you on your decluttering journey.

It has 3 sections, soring your sh*t out on the inside, the outside and how to stay clear in the future. It is really well laid out and actually helps you compared to some books which seem to just tell you to tidy but don’t help you to deal with the mental clutter at the root of it all.

I liked that there was space to write down how you visualise your home looking at the end of the process. It is so important to have a clear goal in mind, something you are working towards to help keep you on track.

I also really loved the mention of Feng Shui, something I had forgotten all about. I used to love the Chinese practice of organising a room to allow energy to flow but as years have gone by I’ve just neglected it. I definitely want to go through each room in my house and make changes to allow more energy to flow and help us all feel calmer as a family.

The book lays out a step-by-step process for decluttering that is simple and clear. With so many people living in cluttered homes with no clear way to get started, Sort Your Sh*t Out (aff link) is a great book to help you find the motivation and show you the process.

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I’d love to know if you read any of the books and what you think of them. I’d also love to know if you have any books you’d recommend that have helped you improve your life.

GIVEAWAY: I have a bundle of books to give away to one lucky winner. All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning all 3 books is to complete to the widget below:

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I was sent these books to review but all words and thoughts are my own as always.