12 Best Books to Read in Your 20s

Where are the book lovers? This one’s for you! We know you guys might not have a ton of time in your busy schedule for reading, but it’s one of the best ways to improve your mind. Here are 12 top picks for anyone who’s currently trying to figure out life in their 20s—or life at any age!

1. Relationship Goals: How to Win at Dating, Marriage, and Sex by Pastor Michael Todd

Don’t let the title scare you off. This is real, honest, biblical advice from an awesome pastor. Whether you’re already in a relationship or you’re flying solo and don’t want to date or settle down for a while, this book is a great guide to help prepare you for the future!

In this book, Pastor Michael breaks down how to pursue your God-given desires for love and intimacy in a healthy way. He helps you steer clear of relationship problems, work through breakups, stay hopeful, and understand God’s purpose for marriage. Pretty helpful, right?

2. Relational Intelligence: The People Skills You Need for the Life of Purpose You Want by Pastor Dharius Daniels

Sometimes, you have to take a hard look at the people you’ve let in your life and think about whether they’re tearing you down or helping you get closer to what God has for you. This book will help you look at those relationships in a whole new light. And we’re not just talking about romantic relationships—friends, mentors and anyone else who’s close to you is going to influence you in some way.

Dharius Daniels does an awesome job of sharing wisdom and discernment about having the right people in your life and being intentional about the company you keep.

3. Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness by Dave Ramsey

The advice in this book is the real deal. It's changed tons of people's lives and helped them out of a lot of financial trouble. 

So, if you want to win with your money and learn the basics of budgeting, saving, investing and staying the heck out of debt, read this book. It’s the best way to get your financial house in order, which is what you definitely want to be doing in your 20s.

4. Building a Non-Anxious Life by Dr. John Delony

In his latest book, Dr. John Delony walks you through the Six Daily Choices you need to make to build a non-anxious life.

If you create a life of intentionally living out the six choices outlined in this book, you’ll be able to better respond to whatever life throws at you and build a more peaceful, joyful, non-anxious life.

5. Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear

Do you struggle with forming and keeping good habits? We all do. But James Clear draws from neuroscience, biology, philosophy and psychology to help us improve a little bit at a time, every single day.

Want to build a non-anxious life? Learn how in Dr. John Delony’s new book.

This book teaches readers how to fit new habits into already jam-packed schedules, stay motivated with all types of goals, and actually change thought patterns and environments to help stay on track. It might sound complicated, but the book makes it simple and easy to understand!

6. To Hell With the Hustle: Reclaiming Your Life in an Overworked, Overspent, and Overconnected World by Jefferson Bethke

Yes, there’s a cussword in the title. But this is actually a super edifying, valuable book about how to stay grounded and sane in our culture’s constant push to hustle and grind. Now, don’t take this wrong way— we're all about working hard and challenging yourself. But if you’ve ever been exhausted and overwhelmed by what seems like a constant push to be better and do more, this book is perfect for you. It really helpes keep things in perspective and remind you to slow down and breathe every once in a while.

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

It’s super easy to get distracted these days. We’ve got our social media, Google Calendar, emails and texts going 24/7. This book gives you some awesome techniques for focusing on the important work that needs to get done instead of the stuff that can wait.

The most surprising piece of advice? He says you should actually practice being bored. We won’t give away too much, but Cal Newport will show you how to do it and why it’s important for your mental focus.

8. Love Your Life, Not Theirs: 7 Money Habits for Living the Life You Want by Rachel Cruze

We all struggle with comparison in some way or another. It seems like we always measure ourselves against someone else’s job, relationship, family, Instagram followers, life—and it’s not healthy. Rachel is a voice of reason in the middle of all the comparison craziness. This book shows you the seven money habits you need to know as a young adult and breaks down how to be content and love your life for real (not just in a social media caption).

9. What to Say When You Talk to Your Self by Shad Helmstetter, Ph.D.

Whether we like it or not, we talk to ourselves. And as it turns out, that inner conversation has a big impact on our mental health. Dr. Helmstetter gives you practical ways to stop the negative self-talk and start talking to yourself in new ways that will actually lift you up instead of making you feel weighed down. It’s cool to learn the science behind this, and reading this book and putting it into practice is a great way to take care of yourself.

10. Why Are We Yelling?: The Art of Productive Disagreement by Buster Benson

No one likes conflict. But it’s one of those things you can’t really avoid in life! So instead of trying to escape conflict, try learning how to deal with it in a healthy way. That’s what this book is all about. It’s a huge relief to realize you can have a disagreement without having a fight, and that differing viewpoints can actually lead to some amazing outcomes.

If you have a fear of conflict, this book will help you learn how to channel those disagreements into something positive that can lead to better relationships, problem-solving and even inspiration. When you take the yelling and slammed doors out of the equation, arguments get a whole lot less scary.

11. The Proximity Principle: The Proven Strategy That Will Lead to a Career You Love by Ken Coleman

This is a must-read for young professionals! Ken Coleman gives some really solid, practical advice on how to find a job you actually like. Because let’s be honest, nobody wants to be working some J-O-B they hate. People want to do work that makes them feel alive and excited, but sometimes it can be really hard to know where to look. This book will show you how to sidestep the typical fake, exhausting networking scene and build real connections that will get you where you want to go.

12. The Bible by God

We're not going to try to write up some paragraph to try to convince you to read the Bible, because you’ll get a lot more out of the Word when you want to read it for yourself—not when somebody else says you should.

If you want more recommendations on stuff to read, watch and listen to, sign up for our email newsletter. We won’t spam you, but we will share some encouragement and motivation in your inbox when you need it!