Eight books to help you seize the day in 2024
Whether you’re the kind of person who lives and dies by your annual resolutions or you’re a skeptic of aligning major life changes with arbitrary timelines, the new year naturally opens up the door to some level of introspection and self-betterment, especially in January. You may be looking to change your overall outlook on day-to-day life, or hoping to address specific issues. Either way, here are eight books to help you transform your new year. 1. ‘Atomic Habits,’ James Clear
Most of our good and bad tendencies come down to a matter of habit making and breaking. Do you want to add vegetables to every meal or start reading before bed every night? Most goals can be accomplished, according to James Clear, by simple behavior-changing tactics that promote your ambitions. This longtime bestseller teaches you how to make time for new habits by fostering the best possible willpower and environment to do so. It also guides you through actionable ways to stay on course if you fail, an inevitable possibility for any act of self-transformation.
2. ‘How to Break Up with Your Phone,’ Catherine Price
If you’re hoping that 2024 is the year you finally reduce your screen time, “How to Break Up with Your Phone” might help you get there. While cellphones have become akin to an appendage for many, Catherine Price offers some simple solutions to finally breaking up with your phone. The book covers everything from what our smart-phone obsession is doing to our brains to practical solutions to creating a healthier relationship with personal technology.
3. ‘The Book of Boundaries,’ Melissa Urban
Although she might be best known for creating the Whole30 diet years after overcoming a drug addiction, Melissa Urban’s expertise extends into overall lifestyle changes as well. In “The Book of Boundaries,” Urban underscores the importance of setting clear limits in your life that can help you with a variety of relationships. From romantic partners to co-workers to family members, the book provides over 100 scripts to help you easily communicate your boundaries with the people in your life.
4. ‘Mindful Drinking,’ Rosamund Dean
If you’re partaking in Dry January, hoping to cut back on your alcohol intake, or looking to quit drinking for good, Rosamund Dean’s “Mindful Drinking” is a great place to start. Even for those who don’t feel that their drinking habits need to change, the book is a great examination of our relationship to alcohol and what a life that decenters booze might look like. The book breaks down the issue into easily identifiable stages, including identifying the problem, what can be gained by cutting back, and a plan to move forward.
5. ‘Year of Yes,’ by Shonda Rhimes
“Year of Yes” wound up becoming a mantra for many after its 2015 release, even those unaware of its connection with the book. Written by television mastermind Shonda Rhimes (“Grey’s Anatomy,” “Scandal”), “Year of Yes” details Rhimes’s life when she decided to spend a year saying “yes” to anything that scared her. The book is more memoir than straight-up self-help (it also delves into what Rhimes’s life looked like before “yes”), but it can serve as a blueprint for anyone looking to broaden their horizons and try new things. 6. ‘Attached,’ Amir Levine and Rachel S.F. Heller
If one of your goals for 2024 has to do with romantic relationships, “Attached” might be for you. Written by a psychiatrist and a psychologist, the book takes an easy-to-read scientific approach to the three attachment styles: anxious, avoidant, and secure. Although the field of attachment was initially developed in 1950, it has gained some ground in popular culture over the past few years, and this book is a primer for the uninitiated. In addition to understanding your own attachment style and how it affects your ability to connect to others, “Attached” can also help you better understand your partner or potential partner.
7. ‘The Subtle Art of Not Giving a [Expletive],’ Mark Manson
Although the title of this book might seem a little intense, the message is one worth hearing, and speaks to author Mark Manson’s sense of humor. He takes a subtly academic but conversational approach to just learning to accept some things, including our fears and limits, and finding a way to live with them. The book bucks many traditional positive-thinking advice trends and instead promotes accepting some of life’s uncertainties — and finding happiness anyway.
8. ‘The Pivot Year,’ Brianna Weist
Maybe 2024 is all about setting you up for true success in 2025 — and that’s OK. In “The Pivot Year,” Brianna Weist offers 365 days worth of mindful meditations to help you reorient your life, from the power of not knowing to finding happiness beyond the material. Each meditation is succinct and can be read in the time it takes to brew a cup of coffee in the morning. This is a great choice for someone who isn’t looking for a quick how-to and instead seeks a guide that you can sit with for the year.