The Best Personal Development Books for Students of 2024

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Far too many personal development books focus only on adults and completely ignore the needs of teenagers. But when it comes to who really need personal development, teens are right there at the top of the list. After all, this is a time when you’re trying to find yourself and to become who you are meant to be.

We’re going to take a look at some of the best personal development books for students that are meant for children and teenagers and that are going to help you better understand yourself and what you want out of life. That way, you can start preparing yourself for the future that’s going to be here before you know it.

Our Top Favorite
How to Win Friends & Influence People (Dale Carnegie Books)
Our Top Runner Up
Mindfulness for Teens in 10 Minutes a Day: Exercises to Feel Calm, Stay Focused & Be Your Best Self
Our Top Value Pick
What Should Danny Do? on Vacation! (The Power to Choose)
Book Title
How to Win Friends and Influence People
Mindfulness for Teens in 10 Minutes a Day
What Should Danny Do
Prime Eligible?
Amazon Prime
Amazon Prime
Amazon Prime
Our Top Favorite
How to Win Friends & Influence People (Dale Carnegie Books)
Book Title
How to Win Friends and Influence People
Prime Eligible?
Amazon Prime
Our Top Runner Up
Mindfulness for Teens in 10 Minutes a Day: Exercises to Feel Calm, Stay Focused & Be Your Best Self
Book Title
Mindfulness for Teens in 10 Minutes a Day
Prime Eligible?
Amazon Prime
Our Top Value Pick
What Should Danny Do? on Vacation! (The Power to Choose)
Book Title
What Should Danny Do
Prime Eligible?
Amazon Prime

Last update: 2024-10-03

Our Favorites for Best Personal Development Books for Students

In the first section, we’re going to talk about our absolute favorite self-improvement books for college students in this category. These are personal development books that are really going to give you the best of the best. They’re going to help you learn new skills and get to know yourself a whole lot more. And they’re definitely geared toward the right age group.

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

It’s likely that you’ve heard of How to Win Friends & Influence People, but there’s a reason that it’s been considered one of the best self-development books of all time. Carnegie wrote How to Win Friends and Influence People back in 1998, and it’s still highly relevant today. The critical point is to help people of all ages to learn more about the skills, techniques, and habits that will make them more appealing to the people in their lives.

How to Win Friends and Influence People is a guide for those who are expecting to engage with others for their entire life. And that means just about all of us. You’ll learn more about how to go after the things that you want and how to make your entire life better and closer to the end result that you’re looking for for yourself.

What Makes it Unique:

  • Learn how to become more appealing to others which aides in making friends
  • This book shows children and adults how to interact with others in healthy ways.

Why Choose this Personal Development Book:

  • Helps you learn how to make people like you and win people over
  • How to Win Friends and Influence People provides specific tips and tricks that can be implemented immediately
On Sale
How to Win Friends & Influence People (Dale Carnegie Books)
  • You can go after the job you want—and get it!
  • You can take the job you have—and improve it!
  • You can take any situation—and make it work for you!

Last update: 2024-10-03


What to Do When You Worry Too Much: A Kid's Guide to Overcoming Anxiety by Dawn Huebner

What to Do When You Worry Too Much is actually an interactive book for children, rather than just something they read and try to retain. Huebner has created a book that helps not only the child but their parent as well to go through some of the techniques that are commonly used to treat anxiety in a real therapy setting. That can give you a head start on helping your child.

What to Do When You Worry Too Much also helps children learn how to motivate themselves and gives them easy to follow instructions and guidance along the way. Not to mention it provides the encouragement that they need in order to want to make those changes in their lives. The idea is to have an all-in-one resource that will help them get from where they are now to living their best lives without anxiety.

What Makes it Unique:

  • Written for children and their parents to work together to improve anxiety
  • This book provides guided instructions to make it easier to overcome anxiety

Why Choose this Personal Development Book:

  • What to Do When You Worry Too Much presents proven cognitive-behavioral techniques for treatment at home
  • Includes how-to steps and interactive elements for children to overcome their anxiety
What to Do When You Worry Too Much: A Kid's Guide to Overcoming Anxiety (What-to-Do Guides for Kids Series)
  • Dawn Huebner (Author)
  • English (Publication Language)
  • 80 Pages - 09/15/2005 (Publication Date) - Magination Press (Publisher)

Last update: 2024-10-03


Runner Ups for Best Personal Development Books for Students

This category is our runner up books. These are inspirational books for students that are going to be of good quality and give some useful information but not quite as much as our favorites. You’ll still be able to get plenty out of these books, however, and you’re definitely going to feel better prepared to become who you want to be and who you are meant to be as a result.

Mindfulness for Teens in 10 Minutes a Day by Jennie Marie Battistin

For teens, it can become even more critical but also even more challenging to build their self-confidence and build their own best self. That’s why Mindfulness for Teens is such an excellent choice. You’ll learn how to focus on being present and really enjoying the moment, rather than being distracted by outside influences.

Mindfulness for Teens doesn’t take up a lot of time, getting everything done in 10 minutes and giving the teen the ability to work it in whenever it’s convenient. Battistin focuses on 60 different guided exercises as well as breathing techniques that make each of the practices that much easier. Plus, by not taking up too much time, it becomes easier for busy teens to make time for themselves and the skills they’ll learn.

What Makes it Unique:

  • Provides teens with the tools they need to become more mindful on their own
  • Mindfulness for Teens includes guided exercises to make practicing mindfulness easier to do

Why Choose this Personal Development Book:

  • Focuses on finding peace and contentment from a teens point of view
  • Takes only 10 minutes to start seeing benefits from the practice
On Sale
Mindfulness for Teens in 10 Minutes a Day: Exercises to Feel Calm, Stay Focused & Be Your Best Self
  • Battistin MA LMFT, Jennie Marie (Author)
  • English (Publication Language)
  • 136 Pages - 09/24/2019 (Publication Date) - Callisto Teens (Publisher)

Last update: 2024-10-03


Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life … And Maybe the World by Admiral William H. McRaven

Make Your Bed actually started out as a graduation speech that Admiral McRaven made to the 2014 graduating class of the University of Texas at Austin. Now, Make Your Bed is a critically acclaimed book that focuses on the little things that anyone can do every day to build up to something much bigger. Admiral McRaven addresses the concept of starting small and not taking anything for granted in a way that works for older and younger audiences.

Make Your Bed is definitely an efficient and robust book to help teens and young adults with their personal development without being another self-help book. The idea is to approach change and improvement in a completely different way and from the point of view of someone who has been in the trenches rather than someone who has studied the field of psychology and teens or even adults.

What Makes it Unique:

  • Written by a Navy Seal about his experiences to make it more interesting to students
  • Focuses on the little things people can do every day to improve their lives to start out right

Why Choose This Personal Development Book:

  • Make Your Bed approaches the topic from a new perspective to keep younger students interested in the content and applying it
  • Offers insight into the specific steps to take to build a better self to start right away
On Sale
Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life...And Maybe the World
  • "Should be read by every leader in America...a book to inspire your children and grandchildren to become everything that they can." --Wall Street Journal
  • "Powerful." --USA Today "Full of captivating personal anecdotes from inside the national security vault." --Washington Post
  • "Superb, smart, and succinct." --Forbes BASED ON THE INCREDIBLE GRADUATION SPEECH WITH OVER 10 MILLION VIEWS ON YOUTUBE

Last update: 2024-10-03


Value Picks for Best Personal Development Books for Students

With this section, you’ll get books that are not quite as good or not quite as detailed, but they’re still going to give you some useful information. You’ll learn from these books, and you’ll like the fact that they’re a little less expensive at the same time. That makes it easier for you to pick up more than one if you want to.

What Should Danny Do by Adir Levy & Ganit Levy

When it comes to reading, choose your own ending books are some of the most popular with children. That’s what What Should Danny Do is all about. Your child will be able to take a look at nine different stories and choose their own way of dealing with different situations that Danny finds himself in. What’s even better is that What Should Danny Do is all about a young boy that’s very much like them, and his choices make his day what it is.

The interactive aspect of What Should Danny Do makes it fun, and it’s also educational. That means it’s going to be an excellent option for parents and teachers to recommend for children who struggle with their own choices or how to make the right ones. The most important thing is teaching children about making positive choices, and that’s where Levy excels.

What Makes This Personal Development Book Unique:

  • What Should Danny Do focused on young children from the point of view of a peer to make it easier to understand
  • Gives the reader the chance to choose the outcome of the story as they go so they can better understand the cause and effect of their choices

Why Choose This Personal Development Book:

  • What Should Danny Do teaches social skills and positive choices for small children to help them throughout their day
  • Several stories included in one book for more learning opportunities and more interesting dialogue between student and parent
On Sale
What Should Danny Do? on Vacation! (The Power to Choose)
  • Hardcover Book
  • Levy, Ganit (Author)
  • English (Publication Language)

Last update: 2024-10-03


Big Thoughts for Little Thinkers by Joey Allen

When it comes to getting smaller children interested in self-development and personal care, you may need to dig a little deeper and look in different places. That’s where Big Thoughts for Little Thinkers comes in. You’ll get a set of books that are designed around fundamental Christian teachings, which are going to help your little one better understand themselves and their place in the world.

You’re going to have a set of four books that are great for elementary and preschool-age children, helping them get a good start on their own development early on. Now, if you’re interested in this type of education for your children, this is a great place to start, but you’re still going to need to build on this foundation to get your children where they need to be.

What Makes it Unique:

  • Christian fundamentalist approach to personal development and being a better person
  • Written toward a young audience as low as preschool to help them grow into their own personality quickly

Why Choose This Personal Development Book:

  • This book is easy for small children to read or listen to and start making changes in their life
  • Big Thoughts for Little Thinkers has four unique books to discuss different aspects of the faith and how they apply to developing as an individual
Big Thoughts for Little Thinkers Set
  • Hardcover Book
  • Joey Allen (Author)
  • English (Publication Language)

Last update: 2024-10-03


How to Choose the Best Personal Development Books for Students for You? 

When it comes to choosing the best personal development books for students, you need to make sure that you’re looking at the outcome you want to achieve. Are you looking to improve overall, or are you looking to improve in a specific area? Some books will be good at only certain aspects of personal development, while others are meant to be a full guide. So, take a look at the information here.

Which Personal Development Book is Best for College Students?

If you’re looking for the best personal development book for college students, How to Win Friends and Influence People is a great place to start. It teaches specific tips and strategies to get what you want out of any situation.

On the other hand, Make Your Bed is a great book to help teens and young adults start small and start reaping the benefits of their experiences a whole lot faster. It’s all about how little things can build up to much bigger things and start changing the world.

What are Some Good Self Help Books Do We Recommend for Beginners?

If you’re a beginner in the self-help space, there are plenty of good books to try out. The ones we’ve discussed above are great options, but so are books like The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Rich Dad Poor Dad, and Think and Grow Rich.

Each of these books focuses on different skills that will help you become the type of person that you want to be and learn how to work with others along the way. You’ll learn about habits that can make people like you better and ones that are designed to make you more confident and productive as well.

Wrapping Things Up: The Best Personal Development Books for Students

Wrapping everything up, here are the personal development books for students we went over today:

Our Top Favorite
How to Win Friends & Influence People (Dale Carnegie Books)
Our Top Runner Up
Mindfulness for Teens in 10 Minutes a Day: Exercises to Feel Calm, Stay Focused & Be Your Best Self
Our Top Value Pick
What Should Danny Do? on Vacation! (The Power to Choose)
Book Title
How to Win Friends and Influence People
Mindfulness for Teens in 10 Minutes a Day
What Should Danny Do
Prime Eligible?
Amazon Prime
Amazon Prime
Amazon Prime
Our Top Favorite
How to Win Friends & Influence People (Dale Carnegie Books)
Book Title
How to Win Friends and Influence People
Prime Eligible?
Amazon Prime
Our Top Runner Up
Mindfulness for Teens in 10 Minutes a Day: Exercises to Feel Calm, Stay Focused & Be Your Best Self
Book Title
Mindfulness for Teens in 10 Minutes a Day
Prime Eligible?
Amazon Prime
Our Top Value Pick
What Should Danny Do? on Vacation! (The Power to Choose)
Book Title
What Should Danny Do
Prime Eligible?
Amazon Prime

Last update: 2024-10-03

When you’re ready to start working on your personal development, the most important thing is to start out right. That’s why our favorite of the favorite options is How to Win Friends and Influence People because it gives you a foundation of how to become the type of person you want to be to live the life you want.

In our runner-up category, make sure you check out Make Your Bed, which will tell you all about the little things that you can (and should) do every day to change your life. And in our value books section, check out What Should Danny Do, which will help your younger children understand the importance of making positive choices.

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Professor Conquer

Professor Conquer started Conquer Your Exam in 2018 to help students feel more confident and better prepared for their tough tests. Prof excelled in high school, graduating top of his class and receiving admissions into several Ivy League and top 15 schools. He has helped many students through the years tutoring and mentoring K-12, consulting seniors through the college admissions process, and writing extensive how-to guides for school.

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