If you’re on the path of personal development, you know how true this quote is:
“Your life only gets better when you get better.”
Brian Tracy
If you’re not yet on the path, does that quote get you thinking?
Do you want your life next year to be the same as it was this year, or better?
What about you? Do you want you next year to be the same as this year, or better?
What does it mean to “be better”? It means personal development, self improvement, or whatever name you want to call it. Many people never go down this path, personally, I didn’t start until I was 25.
I was unhappy. Then one day, one idea led to the next, which led to trying something new, which led to a book, which led to another, then another, and another. Next thing I knew, I’ve read over 40 personal development books this past year.
These 7 have been some of the most impactful. If you want more from life, please do yourself a favor: read these books and watch your life change before your eyes.
1. Extreme Ownership
If you want to learn strategies from top Navy Seals to handle the “battles” of life, working with others, and working with yourself, this book should go in your cart right now.
It teaches you how to act, and what to think, in the difficult situations in life. For me, one of the big takeaways was in their first chapter, also titled “Extreme Ownership.”
I used to blame other people for things. All this does is provide me with an excuse not to change…not to grow. When you take 100% responsibility, for the way things are, the way things have been, and the way things are going to be, your life will change.
My second biggest take away here was “Leading Up And Down The Chain.” Sometimes those in power “above” you don’t really know what they’re doing or what they’re talking about. Your experiences give you a much better view of things than those who are supposed to tell you what to do. Take control here and “lead up the chain” so that things turn out for the better and everyone wins.
Extreme Ownership is laid out very well, starting with “The War Within” (you managing yourself), “Laws Of Battle” (how to handle individual external situations), and “Sustaining Victory” (ideas to live by). Every chapter also has an “Application to Business” section, but everything in this book is applicable to your personal life.
You won’t regret giving your time to this book.
2. When I Say No I Feel Guilty
This book strengthened my backbone and greatly increased my confidence.
How many times have you said “I’m sorry” for something you honestly were not sorry for? This feeling of apologizing for everything, of feeling guilty for doing something you wanted when somebody else wanted something else has become ingrained within us. To us it feels normal, and we think this is how people should act.
What I realized from reading this book is that NO, this is NOT how people should act. Many people do, whether they know it or not, but plenty of people don’t and guess what, they’re the ones getting what they want out of life. They’re the type of person other people want to be around because they are confident in who they are and what they want.
With When I Say No I Feel Guilty, Manuel Smith teaches you techniques to use and words to say in situations where you want to say “No”, but don’t. It shows you how other people are going to react and how to respond to them.
With many examples of conversations displaying assertiveness, resisting manipulation, and simply getting what you want, no doubt you will come out the other side of this book a more confident person.
3. Breaking The Habit Of Being Yourself
Are you in control of your emotions or are your emotions in control of you? Would you believe that the emotions you feel are simply chemicals, and that after being exposed to them over and over again, your body can become addicted to them?
That’s right, addicted.
From experience, I can say this is true. My body loves to go back to the emotion of unworthiness. Thanks to this book, I know how to fight it.
Breaking The Habit Of Being Yourself can change your emotional state of being in a way that reminds you what it’s like to feel happy, or confident, or loved. Any positive emotion that may be missing from your life is within you. It may be way way way down, but it’s there. What I’ve found is your body will remember what that emotion feels like when it gets a taste of that chemical again.
Our neural pathways get wired and rewired as we go through life, and often some paths can be left untraveled for years. Dr. Joe Dispenza brings together neuroscience, psychology, quantum physics, and a little meditation to explain how we can redirect our lives to a better future.
4. Fascinate
You didn’t expect to see a book on marketing in this list did you? Well, here it is, and it’s great for personal development.
Author Sally Hogshead is an expert at getting people to be interested in things. How? She finds what it is about the thing that is fascinating. And she’s written all about it in this book.
How does this apply to personal development? She can help you find what is fascinating about you.
Have you ever heard of the Myers Briggs Personality Test? What it does is put you in a bucket of what type of person you are. What Sally does with her work (she also has a personality test) is tell you how other people perceive you.
The difference is subtle, but powerful.
In Fascinate, you’ll learn what your strengths are and how to use them to put your best foot forward. Are you a Maestro? An Anchor? Find out, and start taking on life as your best self!
5. Top 5 Regrets Of The Dying
Hearing the wisdom of the elderly on how they wished they lived their lives can give great perspective on how you’d like to live yours.
No one likes to regret things. Regretfully, we do all the time. (See what I did there?)
The sad part is that most people live life in a way they’ve been told how to live. This makes us do so many things that we would rather not do. Maybe we feel we have to do them. Or maybe it’s that we don’t know any other way.
In Top 5 Regrets Of The Dying, Bronnie Ware provides a wise perspective to stand in your older self’s velcro shoes, decades from now, and ask, “Am I happy with my life?”
Some of the stories in this book are sad, some are more peaceful but they all can have a profound impact on your future if you internalize their messages and make little adjustments in your life so you can look back one day and smile.
6. Loving What Is
Do other people get on your nerves? Do you wish they would stop? If so, the lessons here can help.
Byron Katie’s book is an eye opener on the path to personal development. One of the biggest frustrations in life is other people doing things we don’t like. Katie gives you the tools to see these situations from a different perspective.
My biggest takeaway from this book was this: if we have a negative thought towards someone else about something (be it anger, sadness, stress), that thought is really just a reflection of ourselves, and we’re likely angry/sad/stressed at ourselves for a very related reason.
That can be a hard pill to swallow, but once you do, and you accept it, you feel so much more in control of your experience.
In Loving What Is, Katie teaches four questions to analyze why you feel what you feel. It’s laid out as conversations with students so you can directly hear her suggestions to others as she coaches them. This one definitely takes some work, but do it, get through it, and you’ll be so glad you did.
7. Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends On It
If you loved yourself, truly and deeply, would you let your life look like it does now?
Before I read Kamal Ravikant’s book, my answer was “No”. Now, it’s “Yes”. A big part of that is mindset and another big part is what you’re doing with your life.
It’s amazing how one emotion can entirely change the way you feel and experience life, and that emotion is love. Equally amazing is how you are the most important person you should be getting love from. No one really teaches you that. Kamal does, and he does it well.
I wasn’t expecting to physically feel so different after applying the lessons in this book. Some may sound and feel stupid, like repeating “I love myself” over and over, but trust me they work. Every minute of every day my body just feels good. I feel positive, confident, and strong, all thanks to this small book with a big message.
Grab your copy of Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends On It today and you’ll be so, so happy you did.