You might not need a new year to present an opportunity to refocus your mindset but, often, January can feel like the ideal time for a fresh start.

Whether you’re wanting to shake off the past, are plumping for a promotion at work, or feel the need to take your personal life in an entirely new direction, these books offer a feast of expert guidance, empathetic inspiration and game-changing motivation.

Here, we review 12 thoroughly modern self-development books to set you on the best path for a more fulfilling 2023.

Clinical Psychologist Dr Julie Smith became a social media sensation by providing actionable, practical insights and tips for users to improve their mental health. In her book, Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before?, Dr Smith makes therapy techniques accessible for all – because they should be, right? – and claims that the tools provided in the book are “not therapy skills, [but] life skills”.

The book aims to educate readers on the ins and outs of how our minds work, in an understandable, digestible way, to empower us to take control, build resilience and nurture good mental health. If you’re looking for lightbulb moments and practical tips on what to do with them, ‘Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before?’ is a good place to start.

We’ve all seen that orange cover: queen of manifestation, Roxie Nafousi, has created something iconic in her debut book, Manifest. It inspires readers to take control and gives us the steps to do so – through what Nafousi describes as the “seven steps to living your best life”.

While candidly sharing intimate details of her own life experiences, Nafousi debunks manifesting myths and gives us all the tools to try it for ourselves and create the lives we really want to live. Science meets life experience in Manifest, and we’ve no doubt you’ll be dipping in and out of this book long after you first pick it up.

Roxie Nafousi’s second book, Manifest: Dive Deeper was released in January, but we recommend starting here first for the full experience.

Vex King’s modern take on the law of attraction is enough to challenge any sceptic. According to King, everything carries its own energy – and that includes us. Our bodies vibrate with this energy, and vibrations can be high or low based on the emotion behind them: negative emotions create low vibrations, and positive emotions create high vibrations.

In Good Vibes, Good Life, King reveals how raising your vibration can encourage further positivity towards us: joy breeds joy. But the approach is one of realism – it’s not just a case of deciding to be positive from… now. It’s about dealing with the things you need to deal with, prioritising self-care and overcoming all of the things which are holding you back.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, uninspired and stressed, you might need a f**k budget. Sarah Knight encourages readers to consider where they may be spending too much energy, whether that be through unwanted obligations, people pleasing or having a ‘bikini body’ (no thank you) – and to spend that energy elsewhere, where we actually want to. In The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F**k, we’re challenged to review where and how we spend our time and focus back in on how we want our lives to be. We could all do with spending a little less time on certain things, or with certain people, and Knight’s no-nonsense approach will help you work out what really matters.

Elizabeth Day takes the message of her cult podcast to this stirring book. Part memoir, part inspirational guide, it’s all about learning how to embrace failure in order to know how to succeed better.

Day reminds us all that failure is really part of success if we can use it as an opportunity to grow. How To Fail is based on the simple premise that understanding why we fail makes us stronger in the end and provides an important part of our process as human individuals: we all fail, and sometimes, going wrong can be a wonderful thing.

A light-hearted but thought-provoking exploration of what it means to be an adult, Laura Jane Williams encourages us to rediscover our inner child in Ice Cream for Breakfast.

Through anecdotes from Williams’ time as a nanny, the book encourages each of us to revive our inner silliness and find more time for play. Remember when you were a child and you became totally obsessed with dolphins, and you didn’t care what anyone thought? It didn’t cross your mind that people thought it was a unique interest, and you had no problems telling everyone about it, just because you wanted to? More of that, please.

The Course of Love

Alain de Botton

As one of the world’s greatest thinkers, we’re always intrigued about what Alain de Botton has to say. Debunking the myth of the ‘happily ever after’ we’re all sold, The Course of Love explores marriage in its most messy, beautiful, modern-day form.

The book provides a safe sense of familiarity through relatable, real-life anecdotes and learning opportunities on them, to help all of us nurture our relationships in ways which are real. It’s not romantic, it’s not always pretty – and that’s the best thing about it.

We all carry past emotions within us, and Bessel van der Kolk has dedicated his life to exploring the impact this has on us and how we can overcome it. Each of us has experienced things we’d rather leave in the past; but our brains and our bodies don’t forget. In The Body Keeps the Score, van der Kolk shares his life’s work in understanding the very real impact that serious stress can have on us long after it’s passed, sitting in our bodies and often wreaking havoc on our lives.

The Body Keeps the Score gives us practical tips and information on how we can release the past from the very fibres of our bodies, live more fulfilling lives, and truly leave our past experiences behind.

It’s human nature to favour things within our comfort zones – but is that really where we thrive? Former editor-in-chief of Elle UK, Farrah Storr, has penned this eloquent guide to moving towards the things that scare us and finding power in facing challenges head on. Her book teaches an adaptable method to allow you to – yes – feel the fear and do it anyway.

Storr shares that “brief moments of discomfort” are what help us to grow and get to where we need to be, and in exploring our discomfort zones, we can achieve great things.