Books are like having someone tell you and essentially mentor you on how to be the best version of yourself and create your best life. I’ve learnt so much about myself - my personality type, my strengths + weaknesses and how to deal with other people.
The best part for me (which might sound like a negative thing) is finding out how I’ve let people walk all over me and take me for granted in my life because of my tendency to please others and always be nice. Now I have learnt to put myself and my values first.
I’ve learnt to let go, forgive others and most importantly forgive myself for the mistakes I’ve made in the past. Self-love and self-care are now two very important aspects of my everyday life.
I've read over 30 personal development books up to date and I have a few favourites to share with you. Including a few business/ entrepreneurship books!
My Favourite books and WHY
My top 10: The first 3, are books that have had the biggest impact on my life. I wrote a detailed blog post about them here: 3 books that changed my life
1- The Defining Decade by Meg Jay
This book taught me the importance of setting your life intentions earlier rather than later. Meg talks about how to use your twenties to define your life. The three main parts are: Work, Love and The Brain and Body.
2- Choose Yourself by James Altucher
Just like it says on the cover - choose yourself. It’s not about being selfish but about choosing your hopes, dreams, and goals and going after them. Don’t let anybody stop you from achieving what you want in life.
3- The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman
This book is amazing for all relationships, not just romantic ones. It teaches you how to identify your own love language and others as well so that you can understand how to make them feel loved.
Everyone feels loved differently, so being able to communicate your love to someone in their own love language is the most effective way to grow your relationship.
4- Unlimited Power by Anthony Robbins
For me this book gave me many firsts: it was the first book I read that helped me to discover ways in which to improve yourself, mentally, physically and emotionally. Tony Robbins covers so much in this book on how to achieve anything you want and do it at a high-performance level. This book could have easily been split into three books. It took me about 6-9 months to complete because I couldn’t just read the book, I had to try and implement some of the lessons.
Another first for me was that I couldn’t read it without highlighting and writing notes in the book! There was just too much goodness to keep track of in memory.
I implemented many of the health suggestions and also tried the goal-setting blueprint. My relationships with others improved after learning about the way in which people respond according to their needs and wants. This was the first book that helped me to understand the importance of having support to achieve your goals this can be formal like having a coach or informal like having an accountability partner. I was intrigued to find out more about how to invest in yourself by having a life coach, buying books and taking courses/workshops to improve your skills.
5- Your ONE Word by Evan Carmicheal
I loved this book, especially the first half. It has a simple principle - there is one word that can help you define who you are, what you stand for and what you believe in. This one word can help you navigate every part of your life personally and or professionally. Once you find your one word that is your guiding principle and you can revolve everything you do to your one word.
I was a bit sceptical at first that only one word can be used to guide your whole entire life but what I learnt was that this one word, once found, can easily represent what you stand for and what you value most in life. It encapsulates the most important things to you in one word. And you can add your own meaning to it.
I was pleasantly surprised at how the process of finding my one word also helped me to discover and define my purpose in a clear statement.
6- Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
It took me two attempts to actually read this book. The first time I read it I only got through three chapters then two years later when I attempted it again I read it all the way through. I personally think that you can’t read this book until you are ready to do something different or incredible in your life.
When I read it the second time I couldn’t put it down, everyday I was reading it, writing notes and making plans of what I want to do in my life. There are many excellent principles to learn from this book but you can’t implement all of them at once. I chose the most relevant principles for my life and implemented them. I have seen some radical results in my life since reading it in 2017. (I’m sure I will share them with you in a future post)
7- The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber
My fiance bought me this book as a Christmas/birthday gift because he knows that I’ve got the entrepreneurship bug. For the past few years, I’ve been thinking about business a lot. I’ve slowly been developing my knowledge and ideas on the type of business I would love to own.
This book helped me to learn about the pitfalls that entrepreneurs usually fall into when they first start a business. It helped me to think differently about how I would run my own business. I would say it helps you to dream bigger and have a bird's eye view approach to business.
The biggest lesson I learned from this book is to have a business that works for you, even when you are not there have systems in place to generate so that you don’t have to constantly work in your business because then you’ve just created another job for yourself.
8- Successful Women Think Differently by Valorie Burton
This was a powerful book which had two main themes resilience and purpose. For me, it helped me see how your mindset and approach to life can highly affect your results. The way in which we think and respond to events in our life can lead us down a better path or a path of destruction. Valorie shared many ways in which we can choose our response and behaviour in certain situations.
There were many helpful methods to create a positive mindset and hence a positive result. By sharing her own struggles and triumphs she demonstrated how she got through them and succeeded. There are also a number of other successful women featured in the book who tell their story of triumph and how they made it. Not only was this book uplifting but it was also practical and inspirational. I love this book because it was the first personal development book I read that the author, referred to a number of Bible verses. By turning to your faith and drawing strength from it you can get through anything in life. As a Christian myself I was able to agree and relate to her writing.
9- She Means Business by Carrie Green
I loved this book so much I read it in a week!! Which is something I never thought I could do. There are many business books out there and this one is different because it has a feminine approach to it. It is structured but not boring, it makes you feel like a friend is sitting next to you teaching you business strategies. There are many relevant personal stories included in the book to further express and enhance the business concepts. I took note of the many practical business tips from this book.
10- The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin
A personality test easier to remember than the Myers Briggs. In this book, there are just four personalities but each one can also be a combination of the other tendencies. Of course, all of humanity can’t be boxed into just four groups but this book could help you solve the mystery of why some people always get things done while others struggle to do the same.
It teaches us about how we deal with both inner (yourself) and outer (others) expectations. Each personality either meets or resists expectation. This book is especially helpful for relationships and those that work with people daily. It can help you to know how to better present your requests to others so that you can get the best result.
Everyone can benefit from the ideas and methods in this book, like how to get yourself to do things.
I loved the simplicity of having just four personalities and the extensive detail of how each one can be combined with another. It also explains how there are exceptions to the rule. It is a fascinating book.
This book taught me the importance of setting your life intentions earlier rather than later. Meg talks about how to use your twenties to define your life. The three main parts are: Work, Love and The Brain and Body.
2- Choose Yourself by James Altucher
Just like it says on the cover - choose yourself. It’s not about being selfish but about choosing your hopes, dreams, and goals and going after them. Don’t let anybody stop you from achieving what you want in life.
3- The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman
This book is amazing for all relationships, not just romantic ones. It teaches you how to identify your own love language and others as well so that you can understand how to make them feel loved.
Everyone feels loved differently, so being able to communicate your love to someone in their own love language is the most effective way to grow your relationship.
4- Unlimited Power by Anthony Robbins
For me this book gave me many firsts: it was the first book I read that helped me to discover ways in which to improve yourself, mentally, physically and emotionally. Tony Robbins covers so much in this book on how to achieve anything you want and do it at a high-performance level. This book could have easily been split into three books. It took me about 6-9 months to complete because I couldn’t just read the book, I had to try and implement some of the lessons.
Another first for me was that I couldn’t read it without highlighting and writing notes in the book! There was just too much goodness to keep track of in memory.
I implemented many of the health suggestions and also tried the goal-setting blueprint. My relationships with others improved after learning about the way in which people respond according to their needs and wants. This was the first book that helped me to understand the importance of having support to achieve your goals this can be formal like having a coach or informal like having an accountability partner. I was intrigued to find out more about how to invest in yourself by having a life coach, buying books and taking courses/workshops to improve your skills.
5- Your ONE Word by Evan Carmicheal
I loved this book, especially the first half. It has a simple principle - there is one word that can help you define who you are, what you stand for and what you believe in. This one word can help you navigate every part of your life personally and or professionally. Once you find your one word that is your guiding principle and you can revolve everything you do to your one word. I was a bit sceptical at first that only one word can be used to guide your whole entire life but what I learnt was that this one word, once found, can easily represent what you stand for and what you value most in life. It encapsulates the most important things to you in one word. And you can add your own meaning to it.
I was pleasantly surprised at how the process of finding my one word also helped me to discover and define my purpose in a clear statement.
6- Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
It took me two attempts to actually read this book. The first time I read it I only got through three chapters then two years later when I attempted it again I read it all the way through. I personally think that you can’t read this book until you are ready to do something different or incredible in your life.
When I read it the second time I couldn’t put it down, everyday I was reading it, writing notes and making plans of what I want to do in my life. There are many excellent principles to learn from this book but you can’t implement all of them at once. I chose the most relevant principles for my life and implemented them. I have seen some radical results in my life since reading it in 2017. (I’m sure I will share them with you in a future post)
7- The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber
My fiance bought me this book as a Christmas/birthday gift because he knows that I’ve got the entrepreneurship bug. For the past few years, I’ve been thinking about business a lot. I’ve slowly been developing my knowledge and ideas on the type of business I would love to own.
This book helped me to learn about the pitfalls that entrepreneurs usually fall into when they first start a business. It helped me to think differently about how I would run my own business. I would say it helps you to dream bigger and have a bird's eye view approach to business.
The biggest lesson I learned from this book is to have a business that works for you, even when you are not there have systems in place to generate so that you don’t have to constantly work in your business because then you’ve just created another job for yourself.
8- Successful Women Think Differently by Valorie Burton
This was a powerful book which had two main themes resilience and purpose. For me, it helped me see how your mindset and approach to life can highly affect your results. The way in which we think and respond to events in our life can lead us down a better path or a path of destruction. Valorie shared many ways in which we can choose our response and behaviour in certain situations.
There were many helpful methods to create a positive mindset and hence a positive result. By sharing her own struggles and triumphs she demonstrated how she got through them and succeeded. There are also a number of other successful women featured in the book who tell their story of triumph and how they made it. Not only was this book uplifting but it was also practical and inspirational. I love this book because it was the first personal development book I read that the author, referred to a number of Bible verses. By turning to your faith and drawing strength from it you can get through anything in life. As a Christian myself I was able to agree and relate to her writing.
9- She Means Business by Carrie Green
I loved this book so much I read it in a week!! Which is something I never thought I could do. There are many business books out there and this one is different because it has a feminine approach to it. It is structured but not boring, it makes you feel like a friend is sitting next to you teaching you business strategies. There are many relevant personal stories included in the book to further express and enhance the business concepts. I took note of the many practical business tips from this book.
10- The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin
A personality test easier to remember than the Myers Briggs. In this book, there are just four personalities but each one can also be a combination of the other tendencies. Of course, all of humanity can’t be boxed into just four groups but this book could help you solve the mystery of why some people always get things done while others struggle to do the same. It teaches us about how we deal with both inner (yourself) and outer (others) expectations. Each personality either meets or resists expectation. This book is especially helpful for relationships and those that work with people daily. It can help you to know how to better present your requests to others so that you can get the best result.
Everyone can benefit from the ideas and methods in this book, like how to get yourself to do things.
I loved the simplicity of having just four personalities and the extensive detail of how each one can be combined with another. It also explains how there are exceptions to the rule. It is a fascinating book.
I hope you’ve enjoyed a round-up of my favourite books so far. Tell me in the comments below what is your favourite book?
Natalie-Claire x
Natalie-Claire x
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