16 Books To Help You Think, Grow, and Prosper

Without a doubt, the most common question I get asked is:

"What books would you recommend for someone just starting out on their personal development journey?" (Or some version of this).

I've given this question a lot of thought and I made the following book list to address it.

Of course, you don't have to be a newbie to benefit from these books. I've chosen books that can be read at multiple levels, they also just happen to be a great entry point for beginners. The principles in these books will be just as relevant and applicable decades from now as they are today.

Personal development is about improving and evolving across all areas of your life, not just one. With that in mind, I've included books from a variety of genres, including achievement psychology, people skills, relationships, spirituality, entrepreneurship, creativity, philosophy, and personal finance.

How Your Focus Shapes Your Reality

You may be familiar with with popular adage, “Your focus creates your reality.” Variants of this saying also include:

“You get what you focus on, so focus on what you want.”

“Energy flows where attention goes.”

“What you focus on expands.”

I love pithy maxims as much as the next person but I’m more interested in practical wisdom.

When I hear a quote or idea that resonates with me, I typically ask questions like, “What makes this true? What basis does this statement have in reality?” “Can I corroborate this with an experience from my own life?”

I’ve found that sayings that have been around for a long time tend to contain at least some truth or wisdom. It turns out there is a lot of wisdom packed into the idea that your focus creates your reality. Let me walk you through a short exercise that will demonstrate, on a small scale, how your powerful your focus can be...

How To Create Better Beliefs

Many of the beliefs that hold you back from living your best life are not true -- at least not in the objective, scientific sense. In other words, they are not absolute, inviolable laws of nature. Rather, they are only subjectively true to you. The reason they seem true is because of a quirky mechanism your brain has.

Psychology has a name for this mechanism. It’s called confirmation bias, or the tendency to search for, interpret, and recall information in a way that confirms your pre-existing beliefs or theories. Basically, when you think something might be true, your brain immediately goes to work to find more evidence that supports your theory.

This tendency to jump to conclusions about our theories is

Why Reading Isn't Enough

I often talk about the benefits of reading and the positive impact it has had on my personal development. While there's no doubt it is a valuable learning tool, I want to emphasize several vital aspects of the learning process I don't discuss quite as often: experience, observation, and critical thinking.

Indeed, these are the most powerful learning tools you have at your disposal. You can easily forget something you read within a week, but the lessons you learn through experience and figuring things out for yourself often last a lifetime.

Over the years, I've realized the primary purpose of reading is to...

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