Self-Help

Calmness isn’t just a state of mind. It’s an essential life skill that, when practiced, can dramatically improve our everyday lives. This fascinating and pragmatic book argues that we can educate ourselves in the art of keeping calm not through slow breathing or special teas but through thinking. It patiently unpacks the root causes of our collective anxieties and gives us a succession of highly persuasive, beautiful, and sometimes dryly comic arguments with which to defend ourselves against panic and frustration. Part of a new essential paperback series from The School of Life, covering a range of emotional lessons needed in order to lead fulfilled and happy lives.

• THE ESSENTIAL MENTAL TOOLKIT provides readers with the skills needed to face life’s challenges with serenity. 
• EXPLORES THE ROOT CAUSES of our collective cultural anxieties. 
• A REFRESHING APPROACH to the art of finding calm in a chaotic world. 
• CLASSIC BLACK & WHITE IMAGES throughout. 
• PART OF THE NEW PAPERBACK SERIES 'LESSONS FOR LIFE'

The School of Life’s approach to calm - in a pocket format.

In the third of a series of pocket books, The School of Life has distilled its most essential ideas on serenity in order to produce a bitesize manual that is both useful and entertaining. 

Knowing how to fight off anxiety and remain calm belong to the greatest skills we can ever aspire to. Only with a serene state of mind are we in any position to enjoy all the other good things in life: friendship, love, family or work. Here is selection of The School of Life’s finest essays on the art of serenity. They teach us how to achieve the correct perspective on our problems, how to understand the worst of our fears and how to surround ourselves with the sort of people who can help us in our quest for a less anxious existence. 

We have – most of us – already spent far too long on needless worry; here at last is a crucial guide to the less turbulent future we deserve.

• A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AT WORK
• EXPLORES TWENTY KEY SKILLS: such as giving feedback, responding to criticism, and communicating effectively.
• INFORMATIVE FOR INDIVIDUALS AND BUSINESSES ALIKE
• INFORMED BY RESEARCH FROM THE SCHOOL OF LIFE BUSINESS: who deliver in-house training for clients including: Facebook, The Financial Times, Google, Havas Media, Nike, and Sony Music.

We’re surrounded by books telling us how to be rich, or thin. This book is different from other self-help books—because it teaches us to be nicer. Niceness might not have the immediate allure of money or fame, but who among us wouldn’t like to be more patient, less irritable, or better listeners? 

 With a gently philosophical tone, this book gives us practical advice on how to forgive, how to reassure, and how to be generous. Being nice isn’t at all the same as being weak, or naive. In fact, niceness is one of the highest planes of human achievement—a super power, and a strength. Niceness deserves to be rediscovered and cultivated, and this book shows you how. Part of a new essential paperback series from The School of Life, covering a range of emotional lessons needed in order to lead fulfilled and happy lives.

• BEING NICER CAN BENEFIT OUR LIVES, often in unexpected ways.
• IN A TIME OF GLOBAL TURMOIL, this book encourages a focus on human kindness and empathy.
• CLASSIC BLACK & WHITE IMAGES throughout.
• PART OF THE NEW PAPERBACK SERIES 'LESSONS FOR LIFE'
• PRACTICAL AND ACCESSIBLE TIPS makes this an easy book to use in everyday life.

A practical guide to finding fulfilling work - by understanding yourself.

The idea that work might be fulfilling rather than just necessary is a recent invention. These days, in prosperous areas of the world, we don't only expect to get paid, we also expect to find meaning and satisfaction. It's a big ask and explains why so many people have an identity crisis in their work lives.

The School of Life: A Job To Love is designed to help us better understand ourselves in order to find a job that is right for us. It explores the myths, traps and confusions that get in our way, and shows us how to develop new, effective attitudes and habits.

With compassion and practicality, this book guides us to discover our true talents and to make sense of our confusion, desires, and aspirations - before it is too late.

• FIND A CAREER YOU LOVE: a guide to finding fulfilling work through self-exploration.
• PRACTICAL EXAMPLES AND EXERCISES: to inspire fresh thinking about our jobs and ourselves.
• BEAUTIFULLY PRODUCED: with classic black and white illustrations.
• PART OF THE NEW PAPERBACK SERIES 'LESSONS FOR LIFE'

From the distinctive delight of holding a child’s hand to the paradoxical fun of a friendly argument to the peaceful joy of watching a sunset, this is a guide to the wealth of small pleasures that comprise our daily lives. 

In a culture that encourages the pursuit of large, self-aggrandizing gratification, this book is a refreshing reminder that small pleasures are in fact points of access to the great themes of our lives. By focusing our attention on the small moments that move us, we heighten our senses and return to the world with newfound excitement and enthusiasm. Part of a new essential paperback series from The School of Life, covering a range of emotional lessons needed in order to lead fulfilled and happy lives.

• 52 SHORT AND DIGESTIBLE meditations on life’s small pleasure, designed for five minute snatches of time in between real life demands.
• REFOCUS YOUR GAZE ON THE SMALL THINGS — and gain a fresh perspective and look at life with new found enthusiasm and energy.
• CLASSIC BLACK & WHITE IMAGES throughout.
• PART OF THE NEW PAPERBACK SERIES 'LESSONS FOR LIFE'

The School of Life’s thought-provoking and practical guide to one of the greatest questions we will ever face – now in paperback

To wonder too openly or intensely about the meaning of life can seem a peculiar, ill-fated and faintly ridiculous pastime. It can seem like a topic on which ordinary mortals cannot make much progress. In truth, it is for all of us to wonder about, define and work towards a more meaningful existence.

This book considers a range of options for where the meaning of life is to be found, including love, family, friendship, work, self-knowledge and nature. We learn why certain things feel meaningful while others don’t, and consider how we might introduce more meaning into our activities.

What follows is a hugely thought-provoking as well as practical guide to one of the greatest questions we will ever face.

From The School of Life— a roadmap for the emotionally mature adult 

Most of us want to be more emotionally mature and better able to face up to life’s challenges with poise, confidence, kindness and good-natured intelligence. We want to be grown-ups! 

With gentleness and insight, How Emotionally Mature Are You?  helps us to zero in on the key markers of psychological adulthood. It prompts us to look at how we respond to rejection, frustration, anxiety, ambiguity and hope, by asking questions such as: How much do we like ourselves? Do we worry too much about the opinions of other people? What might be the best way to become a more interesting person? 

This questionnaire considers the childhood, the role of self-love and the perils of perfectionism – as well as the best ways to achieve self-belief and overcome impostor syndrome. In a series of accompanying essays, we are given material to reflect on – and shown how to reach the emotional age we aspire to be.

Pair with the Emotional Barometer to reach a clearer understanding of our inner emotional weather.

A notebook designed to accommodate ideas, aspirations and worries, through the therapeutic act of writing

The act of writing things down is one of the simplest but most effective ways of seeing what we really want, what’s truly at stake – and where we might go next. It’s simply the finest route to knowing oneself. 

This is a journal that honors the act of writing as a road to greater calm, joy and self-awareness. Use it on its own or alongside our Journal Prompt Cards as a place to capture, tame and explore everything that might otherwise flap restlessly or unfruitfully in the mind; make this a privileged repository of all that you feel, remember, think – and are.

An essential guide to modern etiquette—now in paperback 

Life is full of awkward social situations; we forget someone's name while making introductions, we're stuck on the elevator with our boss, we run into our ex on a first date. While these dilemmas might feel trivial, they tap into some of the deepest themes of our social existence: how to pursue our own agenda while honoring the happiness and needs of others? How to go beyond the surface level when relating to another person? 

Featuring twenty case studies from our modern world, this book puts good manners back at the center of our lives. Far from being old fashioned or stuffy, The School of Life argues, etiquette provides a framework through which to create a kinder and more considerate world. 

• THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO ETIQUETTE IN THE 21ST CENTURY 
• NAVIGATING OUR MOST AWKWARD SOCIAL SITUATIONS this practical and relevant guide offers tips and scripts. 
• TWENTY CASE STUDIES AND ACTIONABLE ADVICE for dealing with common social dilemmas. 
• HOW TO WIN PEOPLE OVER, how to approach strangers at a party, and how to write an effective thank you note - the chapters in this book address common perplexing social situations head on. 
• BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY THROUGHOUT