14 Best Books on Overcoming Self-Doubt and Building Confidence

Many books are out there to guide you and inspire you to develop a confident and positive outlook. These are some of the best books for confidence and self-love. They can help you understand how to break the habit of self-doubt and build real confidence. They prepare you to face challenges, pursue your passions, and live your life to the fullest.

In this article, I’ve compiled some of the best books on building self-confidence. These books to overcome self-doubt cover a range of topics, from positive thinking to self-empowerment and growth. These self-doubt books can help you stop self-doubt and be more confident.

The Gifts of Imperfection, by Brene Brown

The Gifts of Imperfection is counted among the best confidence books. It offers a powerful and transformative message, encouraging readers to embrace their imperfections and accept themselves as they are. Brene provides insights on how to overcome self-doubt and insecurity through her personal experiences and research. It’s considered among the best books on self-doubt control. It will help you know how to overcome self-doubt and unlock your full potential. You'll live a more fulfilling and authentic life.

Top 4 Lessons from the book:

• We cultivate love when we allow our most vulnerable and powerful selves to be deeply seen and known, and when we honor the spiritual connection that grows from that offering with trust, respect, kindness and affection.
• Authenticity is a collection of choices that we have to make every day. It's about the choice to show up and be real. The choice to be honest. The choice to let our true selves be seen.
• We cannot selectively numb emotions, when we numb the painful emotions, we also numb the positive emotions.
• The dark does not destroy the light; it defines it. It's our fear of the dark that casts our joy into the shadows.

Buy The Gifts of Imperfection

The Happiness Project, by Gretchen Rubin

The Happiness Project is a practical guide to finding happiness and fulfilment in everyday life. It’s one of the best books for building self-confidence if you're searching for a roadmap to a more fulfilling life. It has a wealth of tips, insights and practical strategies for living a happier and more meaningful life. The author shares her personal journey of trying to improve her happiness and well-being. The self-belief book also aims to help readers develop a stronger sense of self-esteem and positivity.

Top 5 Lessons from the book:

• The belief that unhappiness is selfless and happiness is selfish is misguided. It's more selfless to act happy.
• The days are long, but the years are short.
• Never start a sentence with the words “No offense.”
• Laughter is more than just a pleasurable activity. When people laugh together, they tend to talk and touch more and to make eye contact more frequently.
• One of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make other people happy. One of the best ways to make other people happy is to be happy yourself.

Buy The Happiness Project

Also Read: 7 Best Books for Mental Health

Stop Checking Your Likes, by Susie Moore

Stop Checking Your Likes is an inspiring and empowering guide to building confidence and self-worth in the digital age. This confidence book has practical advice on how to overcome the anxieties and insecurities that come with our digital lives. And it helps readers focus on what truly matters. Through a combination of personal stories, practical tips, and actionable advice, this book will help readers develop a more positive and confident outlook. You'll live a more fulfilling life with less stress and worry as you go through this self-doubt book.

Buy Stop Checking Your Likes

Also Read: 7 Best Books for Anxiety to Find Calm and Confidence

Unstoppable Self Confidence, by Andrew Leedham

Unstoppable Self Confidence is a self-help book that helps build self-confidence and self-esteem. It provides tips and techniques for overcoming limiting beliefs, negative self-talk and shyness. It’s one of the practical books for self-doubt, with practical exercises, real-life stories, and step-by-step guidance to help you in overcoming self-doubt and boosting your confidence. It’s the best self-confidence book that will help you know how to clear self-doubt and fix it.

Top 5 Lessons from the book:

• Perfectionism is not the same thing as striving to be your best. Perfectionism is the belief that if we live perfect, look perfect and act perfect, we can minimize or avoid the pain of blame, judgement and shame.
• When you compare you are assuming that you are on the same journey as someone else. But you’re not - you’re on your journey.
• Imagine if what others did only served as inspiration for you, to show you what was possible for you instead of making you feel like you have in some way fallen short?
• Fear of success comes from feeling undeserving of success.
• Do you ever wonder why some people who are incredibly talented, gifted, kind, honest, caring and decent don’t get what they desire in life whilst others who are far less talented, far less gifted, just seem to have things fall into place for them? The difference is what they expect and what they know they deserve.

Buy Unstoppable Self Confidence

Love Yourself, by Randy Young

Love Yourself is another of the best books on overcoming self-doubt self-help book that focuses on self-love and acceptance. It teaches readers how to overcome low self-esteem, negative self-talk and anxiety. It’s among the best books on mindset and confidence, that has practical tools and techniques to develop a positive mindset and build a strong foundation of self-love. And it might just be the best self-help book for confidence for you.

Buy Love Yourself

Also Read: 31 Best Books to Read for Life and Transform It

Never Finished, by David Goggins

Never Finished is a book on overcoming limiting beliefs. It’s a memoir showcasing the journey of the author to becoming a decorated military veteran and ultramarathon runner. The book contains inspiring stories of overcoming adversity and pushing beyond one's limits. It’s among the most empowering books on building self-confidence. It provides insights into the power of mindset, self-discipline and resilience. And it shows how anyone can achieve their goals with a positive attitude and unwavering determination.

Top 5 Lessons from the book:

• Every minute you spend feeling sorry for yourself is another minute not getting better.
• You cannot be afraid to disappoint people. You have to live the life you want to live. Sometimes, that means being the motherfucker who can put a middle finger up to everyone in the room and be totally comfortable with that.
• I’m haunted by my future goals, not my past failures. I’m haunted by what I may still become. I’m haunted by my own continued thirst for evolution.
• We all owe it ourselves to stand for something.
• I am David Fucking Goggins. I exist; therefore, I complete what I start. I take pride in my effort and in my performance in all phases of life. Just because I am here!

Buy Never Finished

You are a Badass, by Jen Sincero

You are a Badass book is one of the best humour-laden confidence building books out there. It’s a refreshingly entertaining how-to guide. The book has bite-sized chapters full of hilariously inspiring stories, sage advice and easy exercises. It focuses on teaching readers to believe in themselves and develop a positive self-image. And this book about self-worth will help you overcome limiting beliefs, understand why you are how you are, and achieve your goals.

Top 5 Lessons from the book:

• If you’re serious about changing your life, you’ll find a way. If you’re not, you’ll find an excuse.
• You are responsible for what you say and do. You are not responsible for whether or not people freak out about it.
• You are perfect. To think anything less is as pointless as a river thinking that it’s got too many curves or that it moves too slowly or that its rapids are too rapid.
• What other people think about you has nothing to do with you and everything to do with them.
• You are loved. Massively. Ferociously. Unconditionally. The Universe is totally freaking out about how awesome you are. It’s got you wrapped in a warm gorilla hug of adoration.

Buy You are a Badass

Also Read: 10 Best Books for Self-Love

Not Nice, Dr. Aziz Gazipura

Not Nice is another light but effective book to improve self-confidence. It teaches how to assert oneself in a respectful and effective way. Dr. Aziz uses engaging stories and humour to help individuals who struggle with confidence to communicate their needs and boundaries more effectively. You'll discover how to say no when you want to, ask for what you want and speak up more freely.

Top 5 Lessons from the book:

• Here’s the thing. You are not responsible for other people’s feelings. They’re not incompetent children. They’re adults who can handle their own feelings.
• And if comfort is a prerequisite for action, then you will never take action.
• I saw that clients who were trying the hardest to be nice people also felt the most anxious, guilty, and frustrated.
• I discovered that being nice can make us secretly less loving and more burnt out over time as we stray further and further from our authentic selves.
• The opposite of nice is knowing who you are, what you believe in, and what you value.

Buy Not Nice

The Power of Your Subconscious Mind, by Joseph Murphy

The Power of Your Subconscious Mind is among the most popular books to help with low self esteem and confidence. The book explores the concept of the subconscious mind and how it influences thoughts and behaviours. It teaches how to harness the power of the subconscious mind to develop positive beliefs and overcome self-doubt and limiting thoughts. It’s definitely among the best books to build self-confidence for individuals with low self-esteem. The book can help them rewire their thought patterns and develop a more positive self-image.

Top 5 Lessons from the book:

• Just keep your conscious mind busy with expectation of the best.
• The only path by which another person can upset you is through your own thought.
• Busy your mind with the concepts of harmony, health, peace, and good will, and wonders will happen in your life.
• Prayer is the soul's sincere desire. Your desire is your prayer. It comes out of your deepest needs and it reveals the things you want in life.
• The way to get rid of darkness is with light; the way to overcome cold is with heat; the way to overcome the negative thought is to substitute the good thought. Affirm the good, and the bad will vanish.

Buy The Power of Your Subconscious Mind

Also Read: 15 Best Books for Success and Personal Growth

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen R. Covey

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is also a popular book to boost self-confidence and self-esteem. It’s a helpful guide for those struggling with self-doubt. The book offers practical advice for personal and professional development. It shares seven habits such as being goal-oriented and having a positive attitude needed for success. And the book suggests that you can take control of your life, achieve your goals and be more confident by practicing those.

Top 5 Lessons from the book:

• Until a person can say deeply and honestly, "I am what I am today because of the choices I made yesterday," that person cannot say, "I choose otherwise.”
• Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.
• Treat a man as he is and he will remain as he is. Treat a man as he can and should be and he will become as he can and should be.
• Start with the end in mind.
• To change ourselves effectively, we first had to change our perceptions.

Buy The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Also Read: 14 Best Books for Young Entrepreneurs

How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, by Dale Carnegie

How to Stop Worrying and Start Living is one of the confidence books that offers techniques to overcome worry and anxiety. In this book, Dale encourages readers to take action, maintain a positive attitude, and live in the present. And it might just be the best book for building self-confidence. It has practical advice and real-life examples to help individuals develop a more confident and optimistic outlook towards life.

Top 5 Lessons from the book:

• When we hate our enemies, we are giving them power over us: power over our sleep, our appetites, our blood pressure, our health, and our happiness.”
• Our thoughts make us what we are.
• The best possible way to prepare for tomorrow is to concentrate with all your intelligence, all your enthusiasm, on doing today's work superbly today.
• No matter what happens, always be yourself.
• Two men looked out from prison bars. One saw the mud, the other saw stars.

Buy How to Stop Worrying and Start Living

Also Read: 9 Best Books to Find Purpose and Meaning in Life

How to Talk to Anyone, by Leil Lowndes

How to Talk to Anyone book is considered among the best books to help with confidence and communication. The book covers topics such as focusing on body language, making a positive first impression, and handling difficult conversations. It provides tips and strategies for building better relationships and improving communication skills. And it can be a helpful guide for individuals become more confident in their interactions. It can lead to an improved self-esteem and a stronger sense of self-worth.

Top 5 Lessons from the book:

• Look at the other person’s face for a second. Pause. Soak in their persona. Then let a big, warm, responsive smile flood over your face and overflow into your eyes.
• Take consolation from the fact that the brighter the individual, the more he or she detests small talk.
• How do you find out what someone does for a living? You simply practice the following eight words: "How . . . do . . . you . . . spend . . . most . . . of . . . your . . . time?”
• Keep good eye contact.
• When you act as though you like someone, you start to really like them.

Buy How to Talk to Anyone

Also Read: 21 Best Books for Marketers and Salespeople

The Daily Stoic, Ryan Holiday

The Daily Stoic is one of the best self-confidence books and books on self-belief. It provides daily reflections and exercises based on the teachings of ancient Stoic philosophers such as Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus and Seneca. The book focuses on themes such as self-discipline, resilience, and inner peace to help individuals develop a more confident outlook. It has many self-doubt and overthinking quotes. And it can help you cultivate a strong sense of self-worth, and enhance self-esteem and overall well-being.

Top 5 Lessons from the book:

• Be ruthless to the things that don’t matter.
• God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
• If a person gave away your body to some passerby, you’d be furious. Yet you hand over your mind to anyone who comes along, so they may abuse you, leaving it disturbed and troubled.
• What we desire makes us vulnerable.
• All you need are these: certainty of judgment in the present moment; action for the common good in the present moment; and an attitude of gratitude in the present moment for anything that comes your way.

Buy The Daily Stoic

Unleash the Warrior Within, by Richard Mack Machowicz

Unleash the Warrior Within is a self-help book that draws on the author's experience as a Navy SEAL and martial artist. The book teaches how to harness inner strength and overcome personal challenges, such as fear and self-doubt. And it’s probably one of the best books on confidence. Through practical exercises and real-life examples, the author shows readers how to cultivate a warrior mentality and develop a more confident and resilient outlook.

Buy Unleash the Warrior Within

Also Read: 11 Best Books on Willpower

OK, those were all the best books to gain confidence and outwork your self-doubt. These were some of the most effective books on overcoming self-doubt and building confidence. You'll be better armed in dealing with self-doubt and improving self-esteem.

Liked the article?

Join Book Blabbers WhatsApp group to bond over books, memes and quotes.

Subscribe to Book Blabber's Bulletin to get book summaries, reading tips and occasional hugs in your inbox.