The 14 best books to help you take control of your life

There is something about September looming, with all its back-to-reality energy, that makes you feel as though it’s time to get your life together. Which is easier said than done – unless you turn to the experts for some help. Whether it’s your money, home, career, time or simply your ability to get through a week without feeling permanently behind, these books offer practical ways to make each day feel more manageable… Atomic Habits by James Clear; How to Keep House While Drowning by KC Davis; Feel-Good Productivity by Ali Abdaal Personal development Atomic Habits by James Clear Big changes, Clear argues in this perma-bestseller, are built from tiny, repeated behaviours. Drawing on psychology and neuroscience, he explains how to make good habits easier to form and bad ones harder to maintain, with genuinely simple techniques. Cornerstone, £18.99 Home How to Keep House While Drowning by KC Davis When laundry is mounting and even doing the dishes feels impossible, this compassionate guide takes shame out of housework. Davis offers plenty of manageable ways to clean and organise when time, energy or motivation are in short supply. Penguin, £9.99 Time management Feel-Good Productivity by Ali Abdaal What if the key to productivity is simply feeling good? In this eye-opening guide, Abdaal explores why we procrastinate, how to get things done without sacrificing wellbeing, and the importance of exploring what truly energises us. Penguin, £11.99 The Squiggly Career by Helen Tupper and Sarah Ellis; The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying by Marie Kondo; Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport Work The Squiggly Career by Helen Tupper and Sarah Ellis Forget the traditional career ladder. Tupper and Ellis show how to navigate a working life of pivots and sideways moves by identifying your strengths and values, building supportive networks and exploring where you might go next. Portfolio Penguin, £16.99 Home The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying by Marie Kondo The book that turned decluttering into a global phenomenon sets out Kondo’s KonMari method: tackle possessions in a particular order, discard what you don’t want and keep what you truly value, with the aim of creating a home that stays chaos-free. Vermillion, £14.99 Personal development Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport If compulsive scrolling is swallowing your attention, Newport proposes a reset. His life-changing philosophy of “digital minimalism” involves stripping back on optional tech, reconsidering which genuinely add value to your life, and becoming far more deliberate about how you use your devices. Penguin, £12.99 80,000 Hours by Benjamin Todd; Fair Play by Eve Rodsky; What They Don’t Teach You About Money by Claer Barrett Work 80,000 Hours by Benjamin Todd When you learn that a typical career takes up around 80,000 of your hours, it might make you reconsider how exactly you want to spend them. Drawing on 15 years of research, this insightful career guide explores how to find fulfilling, future-proof work that also makes a difference. Cornerstone Press, £18.99 Home Fair Play by Eve Rodsky From remembering the children’s dentist appointments to noticing the washing powder will need replacing – running a household is full of invisible work. Rodsky’s terrific guide is designed to help couples divide responsibility more fairly, and as such reduce that draining mental load. Quercus, £12.99 Money What They Don’t Teach You About Money by Claer Barrett For anyone bewildered by pensions, budgeting or investing, Barrett cuts through financial jargon to explain how our money habits form – and how to improve them. Alongside managing debt and saving, she tackles tax, property, earning more and planning for the future. Ebury, £12.99 How to Work Without Losing Your Mind by Cate Sevilla; Clear Thinking by Shane Parrish; Timeboxing by Marc Zao-Sanders Work How to Work Without Losing Your Mind by Cate Sevilla Sevilla tackles the messy realities of working life, from maddening bosses and toxic workplaces to burnout, redundancy and simply wondering what you want from your career. Drawing on both her own experiences and interviews with others, she shows how to make work more manageable. Penguin, £11.99 Personal development Clear Thinking by Shane Parrish We make thousands of decisions each day, but are they always the right ones? Using stories and psychological insights, Parrish examines the automatic reactions and biases that cloud our judgement – and how to think more clearly in everyday moments. Penguin, £10.99 Time management Timeboxing by Marc Zao-Sanders Instead of writing endless to-do lists that you never get through, and instead of flitting between tasks feeling constantly overwhelmed, Zao-Sanders advocates timeboxing: a simple practice which helps you focus on one thing at a time – and actually get things done. Michael Joseph, £16.99 Home Create Space by Dilly Carter The professional organiser best known for BBC’s Sort Your Life Out takes a room-by-room approach to restoring order at home. Her easy methods are designed to not only help you decide what you do and don’t need, but create practical organising systems that can be maintained once the initial declutter is done. DK, £12.99 Time management The Art of Life Admin by Elizabeth Emens Appointments, paperwork, bills, emails, chores: the admin required to keep a life running can consume hours. In this thoughtful read, Emens investigates why life admin becomes so burdensome and offers ways to reduce, prevent and redistribute it. Penguin, £10.99