The 5 Self-Improvement Books That Have Genuinely Changed My Life
I’m certain they’ll change yours too
I was walking to my car when an old man stopped me in my tracks.
“Come have a look at these books — I’m about to get rid of them.”
Casey and I pottered over to see what he had.
One book stood out to me, so I picked it up.
“If you read that book,” he said “you’ll be ahead of everyone your age in life.”
So I read it, and it genuinely did chang my life.
I decided to make a list of my 5 favourite self-improvement books. They changed my life, and I want to make spread the word, because I know they’ll help others too.
1 | The 5 Pieces to the Life Puzzle — by Jim Rohn
This is the book I picked up off that table.
It’s an amazing start for someone who’s fresh to the self-improvement genre and can change the way you think about life.
I can’t credit enough this book enough for how much it helped me become a more disciplined, logical and confident person.
Favourite teaching: The habits of success are easy to do. But they are just as easy NOT to do. You must consciously choose the route of success, do the small things right, consistently.
2 | Thick Face, Black Heart — Chin-Ning Chu
This book is about a woman who using Eastern philosophies for personal and business success. It’s almost like a western translation of the Tao Te Ching that’s been applied to our modern day life.
I found many profound quotes and mental reframes in this book.
I vouch heavily for it.
Favourite teaching: When you’re faced with a problem, give advice to yourself like you would with a friend. You remove all emotion and fear of something going wrong.
3 | Does it matter? — Alan Watts
Alan Watts is one of my all time favourite authors. Nobody writes like him. If you haven’t read one of his books, do yourself a favour and pick up this book.
It’s short, beautifully written and mind-boggling.
It’s a sort of analysis and take on our world as we know it, but as you’ve never thought of it before. He dives into all kinds of everyday things — like money or cooking — and presents them from a different lens.
There’s also a collection of short stories at the end.
It’s a short book — only 129 pages — perfect for quick reading.
Favourite lesson: He reframes cooking from being a chore that stands in our way of eating, to being an artform. He says “For the cook is, after all, a priest offering sacrifice, and the stove is an altar.” But the lesson is much deeper than that. It’s about:
- Not rushing our way through life — appreciating the small things that make life beautiful
- Things are not in our way — they ARE the way. If you didn’t have to cook, eat, work, talk to people — there’d be nothing left in life.
4 | The Way of the Wizard — Deepak Chopra
This book speaks through metaphors — it follows the story of Merlin mentoring Arthur. After each lesson, he breaks down what Merlin was saying and how we can apply it to our lives.
It’s a series mind-twisting reframes — I love this book so much. It brings back great memories and helped me see the world in a different light.
Favourite lesson: We are not our name, we are the witness inside of us who remains awake even when we’re asleep and dreaming. We’re the experiencer, the observer. The player playing the game, not the character in the game.
5 | Solve For Happy — Mo Gawdat
Mo was the CBO of Google X. He went through a family tragedy. Instead of stopping there, he decided to make it his life’s mission to figure out a repeatable formula for happiness.
This story of a man in search of happiness, is beautiful. Coming from an Engineering background, he wants the black and white ways to be happier, and in my opinion, he does an excellent job.
He dives into the nitty gritty and reverse engineer’s a solution — it’s simply genius.
Favourite lesson: It’s not the event itself that causes you to be happy or sad, it’s your expectation of the event compared to the outcome. If you want to go to the beach, and it rains — you’re sad. If you want your plants to be watered, and it rains — you’re happy.
In summary:
- The Five Major Pieces to the Life Puzzle by Jim Rohn
- Thick Face, Black Heart by Chin-Ning Chu
- Does it Matter? by Alan Watts
- The Way of the Wizard by Deepak Chopra
- Solve for Happy by Mo Gawdat
I hope these books help you as much as they helped me :)
I truly loved them, and they made a huge difference in the way I live my life. I wouldn’t recommend books that I don’t vouch for to you.
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Thank you again for reading.
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