What are self-improvement books?
Self-improvement books gives you the information, insights and instructions for improving your life, perspective and circumstances. They offer strategies that even the authors have personally used to improve their lives. And some others are based on scientific inquiry and research.
Why you need to read Self-improvement Books?
Self-improvement books provide you the specific steps that you can adopt to reach a desired outcome or expectation.
Self-improvement books can just guide you as you keenly seek to make the changes to your daily life. And gives you the freedom to make those specific changes at your own pace.
If you are going through personal, issues, problems or weaknesses that you are interested in improving. Then these 11 Best Self-improvement Books You Must Read Once.
Do self-improvement books actually work?
Well, the answer can be both, YES or NO. No self-improvement book is ever going to help you out until you’re not willing to do the work. They just can give you the tools to improve your life. But they won’t work unless you make efforts to apply the principles and guidance in the book.
This list of 11 Best Self-improvement Books You Must Read will help you reflect on your life and make big changes to yourself.
1. Eat That Frog!
by Brian Tracy
21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time
The legendary book Eat That Frog! by Brian Tracy, avails you the 21 most effective methods for accomplishing more and conquering procrastination. This book has been translated into 23 different languages and more than 450,000 copies have sold till now and still continuous.
According to Brian Tracy, eating a frog is just a metaphor to tackle the most challenging task. Doing this consistently you may have the greatest positive impact on your day and life as well.
The book gives a clear and concise idea to improve your productivity and to feel more satisfied with your own performance. According to Brian Tracy it’s high time to stop procrastinating and get more important things done more. As the successful people don’t try to do everything at a time but they focus on their most important tasks and get those done first. That’s how they eat their frogs.
As frog is the symbol of ugliness and unstability. So, if the first thing you do every morning is eating a frog, you’ll get the satisfaction by knowing that you’ve done the worst thing you’ll have to do all day.
2. Think and Grow Rich
by Napoleon Hill
The Original 1937 Unedited Edition
The book ‘Think and Grow Rich’ by Napoleon Hill, summarises and explains what should be the mindset, in order to grow and achieve success. For this one must work on the principles with the right amount of action.
The main theme of the book, is “Thinking” as evident in the name itself. Napoleon Hill’s famous statement was: “Everything that your mind can conceive, you can achieve”.
The most important depicted in the book is the power of ‘Auto-suggestion’. This quality of the book makes it world-class. This is the main reason of the book why it has become a trusted name in the success, self-improvement and self-help industry.
No doubt it’s an awesome book but some of its key features you must adopt in your life in order to succeed. Those are:
- Dedication is way of success.
- Learning yourself is the key of success.
- Set the target and try to reach your destination until death.
Napoleon Hill made it very clear that you must intentionally and systematically have to use yourself in order to get benefit from those insights. According to him, you must keep your eye on the prize, not only just dream about it.
3. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
by Stephen. R. Covey
Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
The book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey is a self-improvement book. According to the author Covey that our way of seeing the entire world is completely based on our own perceptions. He has written, in order to change a particular situation, we must have to change ourselves, and in order to change ourselves, we must change our perceptions.
In the book, the author begins with an explanation of individuals who have achieved a high degree of outward success. And still they find themselves struggling with growing healthy relationships with other people and an inner need for developing personal effectiveness.
Covey says, “The way we see the problem is the only problem”. In order to achieve true change we need to allow ourselves to undergo paradigm shifts to change ourselves -not only altering the attitudes and behaviours on the surface level but fundamentally too.
4. Failing Forward
by John C. Maxwell
Turning Mistakes into Stepping Stones for Success
John Maxwell is mostly known for his write-ups on the leadership and life-effectiveness.
In the book Failing Forward, Maxwell used motivational, factual, no-nonsense and hard-hitting style. There he has provided sound principles based on real-life examples from the people who have overcome their failures and used them to launch themselves into greater successes.
Failure is just a part of success and must be a common thing for leaders, and is a necessary part of the formation of life.
The only difference between successful and average people is their own perception and response to the failure. Author Maxwell includes all responsible reasons of why people fail. And he’s explained how to master fear instead of being mastered by it.
Readers will get to understand how positive benefits can accompany the negative experiences if you have the right attitude and approach. The book Failing Forward is full of sound suggestions and real-life stories. It’ll will help you move beyond mistakes to fulfill your potential and achieve higher success.
5. How to Win Friends & Influence People
by Dale Carnegie
The book, “How to Win Friends and Influence People” is a treasure of practical tips and strategies for building better relationships.
Dale Carnegie ultimately ended his sales career and had experience by keen observation in the society. Later, he taught public speaking and was earning up to $500 every week and the approximate of $11,800 today. Even Warren Buffet, world’s most successful investor of the 20th century, took Carnegie’s course at age of 20 and a loyal admirer of him.
No doubt while launching or promoting any kind of business, you’ve to deal with various kind of people. You must remember that you’re not dealing with creatures of logic but the creatures of emotion and the creatures motivated by pride and vanity and bristling with prejudices.
People react according to the self-requirements. So, the only way to influence other people is to talk about what they want and let them know how to get it. You might criticism, condemnation and complain and it’s probable. But you need to have a strong self-control and character for understanding and forgiving.
There is only one secret of success in business, is the ability to get the other person’s opinion and seeing things from the perspective of others as well as from your own.
6. Mindsight
by Daniel J. Siegel
The New Science of Personal Transformation
What is Mindsight?
According to the author, Daniel J. Siegel, “Mindsight is a kind of focused attention that allows us to see the internal workings of our mind, without being swept away from them”. Daniel Siegel used the term Mindsight essentially for mindfulness meditation.
In in book Mindsight, the author states that you can surely achieve well-being by becoming more responsive than reactive. And by observing and improving your reactions and behaviours, instead of being controlled by them. This can be done by practicing focused attention through meditation and mindfulness practices.
The books teaches readers to focus their attention by the process of deliberately accessing your Sensations, Feelings, Thoughts and Images.
The science is very certain that by focusing on the breath, you boost your health, lowers stimulation to stress and increases empathy.
7. Fooled by Randomness
by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets
The role of randomness is vital in both business and day to day life to avoid becoming a victim of your own superstitious foolishness.
Fooled by Randomness is for those who are willing to gain knowledge and are ready to accept and remove their drawbacks.
The book Randomness, is not a theory or a concept, but here author Nassim Nicholas Taleb says that randomness is the people’s ability to create unpredictable situations, occurrences, occasions, events, and still list goes on.
Taleb says that randomness is not all malicious but it’s harmless too. We need to use randomness in a better way so that our lives get improved in a better way.
Although, there are some fields like poetry, art, humour, books etc., which can’t work without randomness. Nassim Nicholas Taleb says that without randomness there will be neither beauty nor joy in the art.
If we find happiness in these things, randomness is good. Author says that we can’t let randomness fooled us, but right kind of randomness is good.
The author has given the best example of perception. Further illustrating the example of half empty and half full glass. Author has discussed how a person can become positive, and how one tempted to approach things.
8. Philosophy for Life
by Jules Evans
In this book you’ll get to know the principles of modern cognitive behavioural therapy those were already advocated by philosophers thousands of years ago.
In the book Philosophy for Life, author Jules Evans has depicted about the practical benefits of an ancient philosophy embraced by both an emperor and a slave.
You should surround yourself with the people who are admirable and inspiring for you. Unconsciously, you’ll start developing the same character traits that you find admirable in those brilliant.
Jules Evans says to remember that life isn’t but a flash of light in the infinite darkness of the universe.
Therefore, you shouldn’t ever forget the importance of the present moment. Each breath, each thought, each conversation and each bite of the food can be your last one, so live it and feel it.
Finally, you’ll come to understand why at the end of the day it’s up to you, and no one else, to help you lead a good life. Try to keep a journal of your own behaviour, updating it every specific day.
9. The 48 Laws of Power
by Robert Greene
The 48 Laws of Power different of the reads that you read before. Though it’s rude for some people, but it’s honest and states what it has to say. The book comprises the laws that one must follow in the pursuit of power of any form. Whether they are positive impacts or manipulative influences.
The game of power is inescapable regardless of your motivation. Learning how to play the game of power doesn’t just help you thrive, but keep you alive.
- It suggests that making your masters appear more brilliant and genius than they are. You will attain the heights of power.
- Never take your position for granted and never let any favours you receive go to your head.
- The key to power, is the ability to judge who is best able to further your interests in all situations.
- Keep friends for friendship, but work with the skilled and competent only.
Most important lesson from this is: Once the words are out, you cannot take them back. Keep them under your own control. Be particular with sarcasm.
10. The Power of Now
by Eckhart Tolle
The Power of Now proposes that the only way to find true mental peace and soul fulfillment is through being intensely and solely present in each and every moment. The more we live in the now, the more we are able to connect with our true selves. And can experience life completly, without troubling speculations and thoughts clouding our minds and changing the view point to the world.
Most of the time thoughts eventually focus on the past or the future. Though, we haven’t any control over them. Even if the past is over and the future isn’t here yet. Unconsciously, we are in an endless pattern of wasting our emotional and mental energy on the things that we can’t control. The only moment in our hands is the present.
Often, we spend our lives searching for wealth, joy, peace, and fulfillment. We try to measure them in different ways, on the basis of material possessions, relationships, accomplishments and experiences.
The past exists only in the memories and the future exists only in the projections. In present, you’ll experience the only moment that is real.
11. The Attention Revolution
by Alan Wallace
Unlocking the Power of the Focused Mind
The book is about meditation and how you can conquer your own thoughts. Meditation offers a method for achieving inconceivable levels of concentration.
Author B. Alan Wallace has practiced attention-enhancing meditation for nearly 30 years including the guidance of Dalai Lama. He can be said as an active participant in the dialogues between Buddhists and scientists. The author has used an approach which is the combo of science and yog.
The author B. Alan Wallace has pointed out the ill effects of our inability to focus. He has explored a systematic path of meditation to deepen our capacity for deep concentration.
The result of which is an “expedition of the mind”, tracing everything from the bottom of the confusion to the top of the clarity and power. The book also provides complementary practices for cultivating love, light, compassion, and clarity in our lives.
The 20 Powerful Keys to a Better Life
Conclusion
Here I have tried to cover up all the 11 Best Self-improvement Books You Must Read Once. Now that you’ve got a list of the most inspirational and factual books to improve your life. It’s up to you how you adopt their life changing knowledge to your life.
What will you do next?
Undoubtedly it’s best to read them all, yes we have so much brain energy to take all this knowledge. But you need to choose wisely and apply their knowledge to get the success and lead a better life.
