Highly successful people read, it’s a fact. No matter what they do or who they are, they invest in themselves.
I read my first book on personal development at the age of 22, Think and Grow Rich. Reading that book changed my life, I even wrote a blog post titled: The Book That Changed My Life.

Since then I have been inspired to read 1-2 books per week. If you want to design your own life, I cannot recommend it highly enough.

People often ask what are my favourite books. The answer changes over time depending on what I’m studying. The books may change but the topic is always related to personal growth.

Here are my 6 favourite books.

1. Achieve Anything In Just One Year by Jason Harvey

This is an exceptional book, one that I’m sure you will get lots of value from. I normally talk about getting 3 takeaways but with this I took 24 and that was me holding back.

Jason has set the book out so that for every day of the year you read one page. Each day there’s famous quote from historic figures and a task for you to complete. I’m not keen with sticking to rules and I tend to be all or nothing which is why I didn’t read a page a day but instead finished it in 5 days.

It’s the first on my list for a reason, please read it. Here are 3 of my takeaways;

• Journal every day. If you don’t know what to write, write exactly that “I don’t know what to write”. You’ll soon get bored of that. Don’t plan what to write, let your pen do the talking.
• If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything – Mark Twain
• You never fail if you learn from your mistakes

2. How to Succeed with People by Paul McGee

Here’s another example of me failing to stick to 3 takeaways….9 this time! This is fantastic book, which is easy to read.

People skills are a top trait running through all successful people. I invest of a lot of my personal development time into becoming better with people.

Here are 3 of my favourite takeaways;

• It’s difficult to sustain anger with someone who’s agreeing with you and trying to understand you.
• If you want to succeed with people focus on meeting their needs first rather than your own. Treat them how they want to be treated.
• People with a need to be liked don’t change the world. To be successful with people it’s more important to be respected then to be liked.

3. The Art of Happiness by The Dalai Lama

Everyone wants to be happy! And who better to learn from than The Dalai Lama.

This book is in an interview style with co-author, Howard C.Cutler asking the questions. The Dalai Lama tells some fascinating stories which I’m sure will inspire you to become better.

Here are my 3 simple points of value that I took away;

• The Dalai Lama’s model for intimacy is based on a willingness to open ourselves to many others; family, friends and even strangers, forming genuine and deep bonds based on our common humanity.
• Shifting perspective – deliberately broadening our outlook so we can often overcome the kind of extreme thinking that leads to negative consequences.
• Investigators have proven that by replacing these distorted modes of thinking with accurate information, one can bring about a change in one’s feelings and improve one’s mood.

The Next 3 Books….

I hope you’ve enjoyed the 3 books and have taken at least 3 points of value from this post and the books.

To receive the next three books click here!