Six of the Best Books to Change Your Life!
Unleash your inner power!
There are thousands of books about how to live a better life. To save time, there is a useful resource on the “Mashable” website, that distils all the self-help books into eleven simple headings!
If you would like to do your own reading, or you are looking for a gift for friends and family, the following six books are particularly recommended:
1. “Awaken the Giant Within”, by Tony Robbins
The author turned his own life around and has become a world-leading motivational speaker in the process, from humble beginnings, scraping by working as a janitor, and driving a beaten-up car.
It is a book that promises to help you take immediate control of your mental, emotional, physical and financial destiny. Robbins uses a method of concentrated power, of thinking of the pain of what you may want to escape from, as a motivating force to get to your goal, unleashing the inner strength we all have. This is a similar approach to the “Lightning Process”, of saying a forceful mental “STOP” to negativity, and then visualising where we want to get to. Robbins encourages us to raise our standards, change our limiting beliefs, and adjust our strategy to achieve our goals.
2. “Be Your Own Life Coach”, by Fiona Harold
This is a fantastic book to create the life you want, right here, right now! It is easy reading, and aims to help you raise self-esteem, set goals, and achieve your dreams. There is encouragement, humour, and a ten-step approach, with affirmations, case studies, and encouragement along the way.
3. “The Alchemist”, by Paulo Coelho
This is outwardly a simple fable of an Andalusian shepherd boy who dreams of travelling the world in search of treasure. However behind the simple story, there are many lessons for life. The main one is about finding and following your passion in life. The following parable, versions of which may be found in many cultures, is re-told by Coelho, and emphasises the futility of always chasing more money:
“There was once a businessman who was sitting by the beach in a small Brazilian village. As he sat, he saw a Brazilian fisherman rowing a small boat towards the shore having caught quite few big fish. The businessman was impressed and asked the fisherman, ‘How long does it take you to catch so many fish?’ The fisherman replied, ’Oh, just a short while.’ ‘Then why don’t you stay longer at sea and catch even more?’ The businessman was astonished. ‘This is enough to feed my whole family,’ the fisherman said. The businessman then asked, ‘So, what do you do for the rest of the day?’ The fisherman replied, ‘Well, I usually wake up early in the morning, go out to sea and catch a few fish, then go back and play with my kids. In the afternoon, I take a nap with my wife, and evening comes, I join my buddies in the village for a drink — we play guitar, sing and dance throughout the night.’”
“The businessman offered a suggestion to the fisherman: ‘I am a PhD in business management. I could help you to become a more successful person. From now on, you should spend more time at sea and try to catch as many fish as possible. When you have saved enough money, you could buy a bigger boat and catch even more fish. Soon you will be able to afford to buy more boats, set up your own company, your own production plant for canned food and distribution network. By then, you will have moved out of this village and to Sao Paulo, where you can set up HQ to manage your other branches.’”
“The fisherman continues, ‘And after that?’ The businessman laughs heartily, ‘After that, you can live like a king in your own house, and when the time is right, you can go public and float your shares in the Stock Exchange, and you will be rich.’ The fisherman asks, ‘And after that?’ The businessman says, ‘After that, you can finally retire, you can move to a house by the fishing village, wake up early in the morning, catch a few fish, then return home to play with kids, have a nice afternoon nap with your wife, and when evening comes, you can join your buddies for a drink, play the guitar, sing and dance throughout the night!’ The fisherman was puzzled, “Isn’t that what I am doing now?’”
Coelho makes reference throughout the book to the “Soul of the World”, and although not religious in the traditional sense, it is a very spiritual book, taking a pantheist approach, of seeing that of God in everyone and everything, the concept that everything has a soul, including apparently inanimate objects like rocks and water. It also contains the inspiring but not always accurate advice that, “…..when you really want something to happen, the whole universe will conspire so that your wish comes true”.
4. “Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway” by Susan Jeffers
This best-selling book encourages us to confront our fears and push through to achieve our dreams. Expanding outside our comfort zone will help us grow to achieve our full potential. It is packed with case studies of how others have used this approach to succeed in their lives. It encourages us to challenge negative thinking, using an approach similar to Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), to reframe our inner dialogue, and use positive affirmations to help ourselves along the way.
5. “Happier”, by Tal Ben-Shahar
This book is based around one of the most popular courses at Harvard. It takes a fairly scientific and academic approach compared to the other books listed here, and promotes the notion that we can learn to be happy through affirming rituals, positive thinking, setting goals, organising our lives better, and giving gratitude. It promises to help us live the life we love, and love the life we live.
6. “Secrets of Super Achievers”, by Philip Baker
This book looks at the key characteristics of people who have achieved outstanding success –
- Responsibility
- An over-riding goal or passion
- Optimism
- Focus
- Endurance
- Abundance mentality
- Constant Learning
- Contentment
- Believing in people
- Balance
- Discipline
- Self-growth
- Humility
- Courage
Under each heading, Baker gives examples of historical figures, and uses inspiring quotes, including one from Zig Ziglar, that we have all been “endowed with the seeds of greatness”.
In summary, these six books are among the best of the crop. There are certain key themes in them, such as changing how we “frame” the world and improving our inner dialogue, the importance of setting goals and stepping outside of our comfort zone in order to grow and achieve our full potential, and giving gratitude for what we have. It is hoped that they will prove useful to the reader.