7 Books To Read While Goal-Setting for 2025

Big plans for this year? Add these to your bookshelf.

So many of us put pressure on ourselves as we crest into a new year. We tell ourselves this is it, this is the one, this is my year; and sometimes if we feel we’ve left it too late, those realistic goals start to look a little… lofty. Sometimes, they slide all the way down the scale to feeling downright impossible. Where do you want to go? Who do you want to be? Where do you even start? Whether you’re aiming to fix your love life, get outrageously good at your work or finally stop doom-scrolling in bed, we’ve got ten books that’ll help guide you from “meh” to motivated for the year to come.

**1. F*ck Being Humble by Stefanie Sword-Williams**

Who says being humble is noble? That’s the through-line in Sword-Williams’ book on self-promotion and its many virtues in contemporary society. The book is a resource that packs theory, real-life scenarios and exercises into a narrative that is a timely challenge of a well-established yet obsolete mode of thinking: that progress is linear and merit is automatically rewarded. It’s about getting better at self advocacy. Think of it as a reimagining of the aphorism, “The squeaky wheel gets the grease”, except this book shows you how to not feel bad about doing the squeaking.

**2. The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins**

Are you a people pleaser? Perhaps you’re a people manager. Maybe you just want everyone to get along. Or maybe you overspend energy trying to get people to meet you where you are and it frustrates you when they can’t, or won’t: so, Robbins says, let them. This book takes a wrecking ball to the idea that maintaining control over how you’re perceived is at all a realistic goal. By reframing how other people’s opinions, criticisms, drama and neuroses impact your life, Robbins shows you the futility in attempting to fix or change things that you’re not able to actually influence. If you want to be free of the exhausting rigmarole of trying to be everything to everyone, if you’re tired of trying to get people to treat you the right way, if you find yourself disappointed when people don’t match your expectations, this book is going to fundamentally change your outlook on it all.

**3. The Slow Grind: Finding Our Way Back to Creative Balance by Georgina Johnson**

Personal aspirations are great, but if your goals for 2025 are more centred around creativity, community and slowing down, Georgina Johnson's The Slow Grind will fill your cup and remind you that we're all in this together. Formatted as a collection of essays, think pieces and conversations, gathering some of the most formidable voices across the cultural industries, it's an anecdote to hustle culture and a manifesto for unlearning workaholism.

**4. The Mountain Is You by Brianna Wiest**

There is no greater saboteur than the self. Sometimes we really can be our own worst enemies. We resist change, get stuck in cognitive dissonance, we look at something difficult and think, “I can never beat that” – which is a surefire way to… never beat that. Wiest’s book unpicks the mythologies we feed ourselves about our abilities, potential and habits. With mountains as metaphor, this book prepares you for the climb. Perhaps your 2025 starts with staring down who you are without all that storytelling to get in the way. After all, if you repeated last year’s habits for all of 2025, where would you be and how would you feel at the end of it?

**5. The Science of Stuck by Britt Frank**

Inertia is powerful. The Science of Stuck is lean, engaging, practical and easy to start applying to your life immediately. You’ll get emotional, you’ll be surprised and probably most importantly, you will feel seen by this book. If you’re feeling stuck in life, in work, in your relationships; if you feel like you’re going through the motions and are unable to get into gear with any of your goals, Frank’s no-nonsense and empathic approach is the accelerant you need to change it all in 2025.

**6. Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert**

This one is for the creative soul in all of us. Gilbert’s insightful views on inspiration, action and creative practice are tethered to a pragmatism that makes your creative goals more real and less vague. If one of your goals for 2025 is to lean into your creative self, this will encourage you to pursue your passions and curiosities with much less fear. A fantastic read for someone whose New Year goals are focused on creativity, self-expression and getting comfortable with owning your intent.

**7. The 12 Week Year by Brian P. Moran and Michael Lennington**

Achieve an entire year’s worth of goals in just 12 weeks! Just kidding, we’re not trying to rush you, so hear us out on this one. What if you could just shorten the amount of time you need to carry out your plans or goals? Instead of looking at 2025 as a whole, which can be scary and overwhelming, what if you could eat the elephant one bite at a time? This book will help you translate even your most vague ideas into actionable blocks of focus, without carrying the weighty expectations of planning and “winning” an entire year.