New year, new you. The most clichéd statement to ever come from the human race. But there's no denying that Jan. 1 brings a sense of relief; a calmness often followed by an intense burst of motivation. And that calls for reflection. But rather than racking your brain for ways to "improve" yourself in 2020, why not sit down with a decent self help book that will actually alter your thinking patterns for the year ahead?

Whether it's the niggling voice in your head that always seems to undermine your ambition or your intense fear that you are not, and never will be, enough, think of these books as a soothing mechanism. Not only will they offer you easy-to-adopt tips, they'll also teach you how to cope when things don't go as swimmingly as you'd hoped.

They're realistic too. The worst self-help books are the ones that promise that a mantra a day is all you need to keep the negativity away. Although we all wish it was that simple, we sadly know it's not. The words on the following pages won't revolutionise your life in a day, but they will seep into your subconscious, allowing you to live the way you want in 2020. After all, the freedom to be yourself is the biggest freedom of all.