5 Books Every Adult Should Read

Books that will help you live a more fulfilled life

Adulting can be a scary thing to understand since it is really an abstract idea. What is adulting? Where and when does it start? Is it necessary? Can I do it wrong?

Questions like that floated my mind all the time as a young adult and it took time for me to figure out that most adults, including those that I had looked up to when I was younger, had no idea what they were doing.

They were all just making stuff up and hoping that everything will be alright.

Adulting is done differently with each person but it all comes down to being a responsible human being. There are general characteristics that we all know as being responsible but responsibility can also mean different things to different people. How that can be achieved is also approached differently from person to person.

Some people think that being responsible is about taking the safe alternatives to everything while others disregard that idea and run with risk-taking of all sorts.

These two opposites of people and those in between are all adulting but few of them have a grasp on what they are doing.

I do not entirely know whether I am making stuff up in my life as well or know what I am doing but what I know is that I have had guides in form of books along the way that have helped get me from the scared and depressed young adult I was a few years ago to now a more confident, successful and fulfilled adult I am today.

These are those books…

1. The Richest Man In Babylon

One of the biggest struggles I had in my young adult life days was in personal finance. There were so many times that I struggled to have money and I accrued a lot of debt that I didn’t know how to get rid of.

This book was my introduction to personal finance and it helped me form structures and habits around saving, paying off my debts, and understanding many aspects relating to managing my finances.

Following the steps that this book recommended on how to hold of my finances was the first step I needed. It was simple to understand and the lessons stuck longer since it was written in story form.

This book will teach you very simple lessons on money and personal finances and some of its lessons are echoed in the next book on finances that helped me become better at adulting.

2. Money Master the Game

This is an in-depth book on personal finance and investing by Tony Robbins. After reading the first book above, this is the one I read to help me deeply understand how I can manage my finances in the 21st century.

The richest man in Babylon will give you the absolute fundamentals and mindset that you need to have when dealing with finances but then this book will dig deeper into practical and detailed steps on what you should do to take control of your finances.

It will show you all the hows, whats, where and the when of how to save, invest and manage your finances.

The book is relevant for anyone whether employee or business owner and the recommendations in it have come from the best industry experts we have around today.

3. How to win friends and influence people

This is a classic by Dale Carnegie and it is one of the most powerful books that will help you navigate your social interactions be it, person, to a person, or public speech.

At first glance, the book sounded manipulative to me because of its bold title but when I started reading its contents, I found so many things I had been doing wrong and many of which had cost me great friendships.

Its recommendations have helped me to make more meaningful friendships as well as navigate my social interactions much better than I used to seven years ago.

4. The Kybalion

This book was written by a group that called themselves the three initiates.

In simple terms, this book is about the laws of the universe. Now I am not talking about physical laws such as gravity. No. I am talking about the laws back of all the physical laws.

This is a book on the nature of our world and how we can thrive in it by understanding how to deal with circumstances we find ourselves in using the laws.

This book explains that the laws of the universe are seven and it gives a detailed description of each of them and how we can use them for our well-being and advancement.

It took me 7 months to understand what this book was talking about since I had never heard of anything like that. But when I started observing what that book was talking about, I started seeing it everywhere and I am sure much of my life has fallen in order because of this.

The Kybalion may not be an easy read but it is a book you must take time to understand if you want to have some sense and meaning out in your life.

5. Impersonal Life

This is a book by Joseph Benner. This book was the most strange that I had ever read. It was like me introducing myself to me if that makes sense.

This is not a book you should read if you have not read the Kybalion first. If you are a Christian, after reading the Kybalion, first go back and read your bible again before reading this book. Only then will it make sense.

If you don’t, it will be extremely difficult for you to agree with what it is saying and since I grew up as a roman catholic, it took work for me to really understand how these teachings match those of the bible.

The impersonal life, should you start agreeing with what it is teaching will teach you how to think and it will show you practical steps to do to create improved conditions in your life.

I read this book every week and I always keep learning something new from it. This has not only made me understand “God” better, but it has also made me appreciate my role in the world and as such brought so much meaning to my day-to-day activities at work, with friends, and with family.

Bonus…

The Mamba Mentality

This is one that was written by Kobe Bryant. (RIP).

Growing up, I learned all my basketball moves while watching Kobe play but it took very long for me to realize that his work ethic was just as incredible.

This book shows you Kobe’s life lessons on how he succeeded in the challenges he faced through life and in a way taught me how to approach problem-solving in my activities.

If you want to develop a resilient mindset that will help you outperform and become better at what you do, this is the book you have to read. It will give you amazing insights on how to navigate the challenges that come with adulting.

Conclusion

These are the books that helped me when I was lost. I find them extremely useful and I read them every few months at least.

I am not promising that they are going to do for you what they have done for me but I know that some of them if not all will give you an insight on how you could have improved conditions.

These are not easy books. Some of them may even shake your beliefs to their core but when that happens, just try to question the validity of the beliefs you hold.

The only way I have been able to form new and beneficial beliefs from some of these books has been by having an experience of my own based on their teachings. Nothing beats experience.

If you can experience what any of them is talking about, you will have formed a new and probably beneficial belief and life in the process.