2020 was a tough year for a lot of us. So 2021 has got to be better, right? We're a little more than a month into the new year, and if you haven’t already reneged on the promises you made to yourself on December 31st, we're recommending some books to help you succeed in whatever you hope to achieve this year. 

Wake Up To the Joy of You: 52 Meditations and Practices for a Calmer, Happier Life by Agapi Stassinopoulos

With warmth and wisdom from a lifetime of spiritual seeking, inspirational force Agapi Stassinopoulos guides you through fifty-two weeks of letting go of what doesn t work for you and finding what does. You ll cultivate the building blocks of self-care (meditation, health, making time for yourself) and confront the common roadblocks we all face, like pouring your energy into other people or living in denial.

 

 

Better Than Before: What I Learned About Making and Breaking Habits—To Sleep More, Quit Sugar, Procrastinate Less, and Generally Build a Happier Life by Gretchen Rubin

Gretchen Rubin presents a practical, concrete framework to allow readers to understand their habit. Infused with Rubin’s compelling voice, rigorous research, and easy humor, and packed with vivid stories of lives transformed, Rubin explores the core principles of habit formation and how to go about change.

 

 

The 4-Hour Body:  An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman by Timothy Ferriss

The 4-Hour Body is the result of an obsessive quest, spanning more than a decade, to hack the human body. It contains the collective wisdom of hundreds of elite athletes, dozens of MDs, and thousands of hours of jaw-dropping personal experimentation.

 

 

 

Living With Intent: My Somewhat Messy Journey to Purpose, Peace, and Joy by Mallika Chopra

Living with Intent is a practical yet deeply personal look at her year-long journey to discover some workable answers.  Chopra presents useful exercises and practices to help one find balance and learn to live life more mindfully.

 

 

 

Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom, and Wonder by Arianna Huffington

As the chair, president, and editor-in-chief of Huffington Post Media Group, Arianna draws on the groundbreaking research and scientific findings in the fields of psychology, sports, sleep, and physiology. These findings are explained to show the profound and transformative effects of meditation, mindfulness, unplugging, and giving to shows the way to a revolution in our culture, our thinking, our workplace, and our lives.

 

 

Do Nothing : How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving by Celeste Headlee

Award-winning journalist Celeste Headlee illuminates a new path ahead, seeking to institute a global shift in our thinking so we can stop sabotaging our well-being, put work aside and start living instead of doing.

 

 

 

Deep Work : Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport

Author and professor Cal Newport flips the narrative on impact in a connected age by making the case that in almost any profession, cultivating a deep work ethic will produce massive benefits. At the same time, he presents a rigorous training regimen, presented as a series of four "rules," for transforming your mind and habits to support this skill.

 

 

 

 

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Staff picks are chosen by NYPL staff members and are not intended to be comprehensive lists. We'd love to hear your ideas too, so leave a comment and tell us what you’d recommend. And check out our Staff Picks browse tool for more recommendations!

Summaries provided via NYPL’s catalog, which draws from multiple sources. Click through to each book’s title for more.