Want to be informed and stay ahead in everything you do? Our collection of carefully chosen self-improvement books will help you discover your strengths, stay motivated and achieve greater results. By selecting the best self-improvement books for you, we not only save you time, but money and effort too.
Sites like Amazon, Barnes and Noble have best sellers’ book lists and now we are revealing the best selling self-improvement books our esteemed readers have been buying in 2011. We’re really excited to share those best-selling self-improvement books with you.
It’s no surprise that in the year 2011, money mindset and wealth building tips and techniques became a top priority for our readers. 'Think and Grow Rich' has been topping our best sellers’ list.‘The Richest Man in Babylon’, ‘The Millionaire Mind’ and ‘The Science of Getting Rich’ were also hugely popular with our readers.
In addition books on purpose and fulfilment in life have also proven to be selling really well. Among such books are ‘The Element: How Finding your Passion Changes Everything ’, and ‘I could Do anything If I knew What It Was’. For those of you seeking inspiration and motivation titles such as 'Outliers: The Story of Success ', 'Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway ’, ‘7 Habits of Highly Effective People’ and ‘As a Man Thinketh’ captivated our readers.
Achieving more in less time was also a priority for our readers in 2011 with books on productivity ranking high on our best sellers book list. Getting Things Done’, ‘First Things First ’ and ‘ Do More Great Work’ were firm favourites.
Looking for great ideas? Then be sure to grab these top selling creativity books: ‘ Made to Stick ’and ‘ Six Thinking Hats ’.
So here it is! The top 25 best selling books chosen by our readers.
1. Think and Grow Rich
2. As a Man Thinketh
3. Outliers : The Story of Success
4. Acres of Diamonds
5. The Richest Man in Babylon
6. The Science of Getting Rich
7. Feel the Fear . . . and Do It Anyway
8. First Things First
9. Get the Life You Want: The Secrets to Quick and Lasting Life Change with NLP
10. Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
11. How To Make One Hell Of A Profit and Still Get In To Heaven
12. How to Stop Worrying and Start Living
13. I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was
14. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
15. The Dynamic Laws of Prosperity
16. The Millionaire Mind
17. Unlimited Power : The New Science Of Personal Achievement
18. Awaken the Giant Within
19. Do More Great Work: Stop the Busywork. Start the Work That Matters
20. Flow : The Psychology of Optimal Experience
21. How to be a Brilliant Thinker: Exercise Your Mind and Find Creative Solutions
22. How To Win Friends and Influence People
23. Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
24. Six Thinking Hats
25. The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything
One thing is certain, you are guaranteed to do more, have more and live better than you ever dreamed of by reading self-improvement books and learning from great mentors! We will continue to simplify the task of finding the best books about topics you’re really passionate about. If you have any suggestions or categories you would like us to include, just
let us know
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Do you find yourself continually running out of time or not getting everything done that you had hoped to? Do the phrases "I can't believe that's the time" or "I didn't get that finished today" seem all too familiar? In order to optimise your time, it is essential that you manage yourself effectively.
Whether you have lost focus and motivation or have found yourself overwhelmed with activity, step back and analyse yourself, prioritise your effort and organise your daily actions.
From my experience in training and coaching leaders, managers and entrepreneurs to be their best, I understand that people think about and process time differently. For example, you probably know someone who never wears a watch, yet they always know the time or indeed the opposite – someone who checks their watch every few minutes because they are not sure of the time.
How you relate to time depends on what you focus on. Perhaps you spend your time thinking about the future or maybe you tend to live in the moment.
If you are future orientated you tend to be very aware of time and always wondering what you are going to do next. Planning and prioritising techniques work well for you keeping you goal focused and on time for appointments. In addition to that use the following tips to make the most of your time:
- Know what you want to achieve and keep focused on the end result.
- Work from a prioritised daily "to do" list, ticking off completed items as you go.
- Change your diaries and organisers to display the weeks and months ahead at a glance.
- Imagine how you will feel when you have completed your task.
If you tend to live in the moment, you will find that traditional time management tips and techniques are not that effective for you. You may find yourself deeply engrossed in your work and time may lapse without your realisation. Your ability to multitask allows you to start many projects at one time, yet this may leave you overcommitted or even forgetting important appointments. Use the following tips to optimise your time:
- Use timers or alarms to increase your awareness of how long you are spending on task.
- Discipline yourself to complete tasks before starting new ones.
- Break down large goals into step by step tasks.
- Use a page a day diary or organiser.
- Learn to say 'no' when you are over committing yourself.
- Declutter your office, your projects and your 'to do' lists on a regular basis.
- Focus you mind by asking the question "what is the best use of my time right now?"
Day by day, we are presented with the necessity to achieve more in less time. Whether you are future orientated or live in the moment, self management is the key to managing your time effectively.
How do you think about time and what can you do to make the most of it?
Recommended Reading on Time Management
The process of human change begins within us. We all have tremendous potential. We all desire good results from our efforts. Most of us are willing to work hard and to pay the price that success and happiness demand.
Each of us has the ability to put our unique human potential into action and to acquire a desired result. But the one thing that determines the level of our potential, that produces the intensity of our activity, and that predicts the quality of the result we receive is our attitude.
Attitude determines how much of the future we are allowed to see. It decides the size of our dreams and influences our determination when we are faced with new challenges. No other person on earth has dominion over our attitude. People can affect our attitude by teaching us poor thinking habits or unintentionally misinforming us or providing us with negative sources of influence, but no one can control our attitude unless we voluntarily surrender that control.
No one else "makes us angry." We make ourselves angry when we surrender control of our attitude. What someone else may have done is irrelevant. We choose, not they. They merely put our attitude to a test. If we select a volatile attitude by becoming hostile, angry, jealous or suspicious, then we have failed the test. If we condemn ourselves by believing that we are unworthy, then again, we have failed the test.
If we care at all about ourselves, then we must accept full responsibility for our own feelings. We must learn to guard against those feelings that have the capacity to lead our attitude down the wrong path and to strengthen those feelings that can lead us confidently into a better future.
If we want to receive the rewards the future holds in trust for us, then we must exercise the most important choice given to us as members of the human race by maintaining total dominion over our attitude. Our attitude is an asset, a treasure of great value, which must be protected accordingly. Beware of the vandals and thieves among us who would injure our positive attitude or seek to steal it away.
Having the right attitude is one of the basics that success requires. The combination of a sound personal philosophy and a positive attitude about ourselves and the world around us gives us an inner strength and a firm resolve that influences all the other areas of our existence.
Are there times when you doubt yourself and your abilities? Have you missed out on opportunities because you felt you were not talented enough, lacked education or felt unattractive?.
Time and time again, I coach people who have lots of talent and wonderful ability, yet for various reasons they are filled with self-doubt. They give up on their dreams, settle for less and become stuck in a rut due to lack of self-confidence. It is no wonder that those who lack self-confidence are less adventurous, get less out of life and always underachieve.
Having self-confidence is crucial to living a fulfilling life. It influences your success at work, your relationships with others and your performance in everything you do. Confident people have faith in themselves and their abilities and they believe that that they can have the best in life.
The good news is that confidence is a skill, it can be learned, and just like driving a car, it can become a habit. As you know, we don't even have to think about our habits as they are part of us.
Apply the following 5 steps to greater self-confidence and you'll soon notice positive changes:
Step 1 - Decide to Become Self-Confident
Write out the answer to the following two questions:
- What would your life be like if you were confident?
- What would self-confidence mean to you?
Based on your answers make a decision today to invest your time, effort and money in becoming self-confident. Read books about self-confidence, listen to confidence building audios, attend confidence building workshops and consult with a coach who specialises in confidence coaching.
Step 2 - Become More Self-Aware
Learn to develop an awareness of your unique individuality. When you know and understand yourself at a deeper level, you will have greater control over your thoughts, feelings and attitudes which in turn will help you build greater self-confidence.
Step 3 - Act with Confidence
If you want to feel confident; act with confidence. When you think confidently, walk confidently and talk confidently, it will easily and effortlessly become natural for you to be confident.
Step 4 - Use your Imagination
When you use your imagination to visualise yourself being confident, you are impressing very powerful images onto your subconscious mind. Your subconscious mind stores images and the more you visualise yourself being confident the more it becomes part of our life. Whenever your subconscious mind accepts an idea, it immediately begins to execute it.
Step 5 - Believe in Yourself
It is not your actual abilities that determine what you can achieve but your belief in them. It is essential that you let go of limiting beliefs that hinder your progress and develop empowering ones that assist your development. Often we are like the fish that does not even realise it is in water. When you work with a coach you will identify and eliminate those limiting beliefs that hinder your progress.
In order to achieve what you want in life, you must develop your self-confidence. Begin today to create a new and confident you that uses and values your talents and creates the life you want. Break free from self-doubt and learn to trust in yourself and your abilities. With greater self-confidence, you will feel inner strength, greater happiness and much more fulfilled. Begin today to sow the seeds of confidence and you will be amazed with the results and positive effects that ripple through all areas of your life.
It is easy to think that Alice in Wonderland is a dreamland fairy tale for children. On the surface it appears to be just that. However, if you look closer, you will realise that Alice's world translates into much more than a children's fairytale.
The story has been studied and analysed by psychoanalysts since the early 1900's and although it is filled with chaos there is lots to learn from its underlying messages.
1. Manage your Personal Growth
The most important metaphor in the story is one of growth. We see Alice grow from tall to short and from big to small. Growing up is about changing body size, dealing with ups and downs, and feeling confident or insecure about oneself. When Alice eats, she grows when she drinks, she shrinks. She soon learns to use the resources in her world to control her personal growth.
We spend our lives 'growing up' in one way or another. What are you doing to manage your personal growth?
2. Be Specific about What You Want to Achieve
Alice learns about the importance of knowing what she wants. We can learn a great deal about the importance of goals from her conversation with the Cheshire Cat.
“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to." said the Cat.
"I don't much care where" said Alice.
"Then it doesn't matter which way you go," said the Cat.
Think about what you will achieve over the next 90 days! Write it down together with steps that you will take to achieve that. Imagine specifically what you will see and hear as you achieve your goal. Think about it until you can run a mental movie of what you want over and over again. In particular, think about how achieving your goal will make you feel, and build the intensity of that emotion in your mind.
3. Develop your Identity
The characters in wonderland continually ask Alice who she is. As a result, she questions her identity. When we have doubts about who we are and what we stand for, it affects our entire life. Consider the roles you have in your life, for example; a parent, a spouse, a son or a daughter, a colleague, a leader or a friend. Write out the qualities you believe you have in those roles. E.g. "I am a caring father" or "I am a creative business person". Remember that you will assume different behaviours in each role. As you learn more about yourself in each role, you will reinforce your self-belief and learn to develop your capabilities within each role.
4. Say What you Really Mean
Alice is continually told to say what she means. How often do you really say what you mean? When did you last have a really meaningful conversation? When you connect with people who share similar values, you will find that you share more meaningful thoughts, feelings and ideas.
5. Challenge your Creativity
In the latest movie, Alice's father, a successful entrepreneur, tells her that he thinks of 6 impossible things before breakfast every day. Imagine if you just thought of 1 impossible thing per day. You could find ways to solve problems or create something that was never invented before. Get your creative juices flowing by thinking of 1 impossible thing every day.
6. Follow the Advice you Give Yourself
"Alice generally gave herself good advice (though she very seldom followed it)."
Do you give yourself good advice and do you follow it? Or are we better at giving others advice and expecting them to follow it?
Whether you enjoy this fairytale for its entertainment value or search for the deeper meaning like I have, there is lots of value to be had.
We spend all of our lives “growing up” in one way or another. The underlying messages in Alice in Wonderland are about personal growth and development. Growing up is about learning who we are, what we stand for, what we want to do, be and have. It is about dealing with difficulty, hurt and pain as well as love, laughter and fun. It is about overcoming fears, embracing new challenges and nurturing relationships. It is about using our talents and learning to be the best we can be.
This may be a children's story at heart, but we can learn a great deal from a young girl who acquires the confidence and courage to break free from rules to become that person she aspires to be.
Perhaps you have read the story or been to see the movie. Was there something in particular from the story that resonated with you?
For many it has been a tough and challenging year and some have experienced all kinds of difficulty in their lives. While it's natural to feel distressed and distraught, there is a stronger urge within all of us to bounce back and recover.
Resiliency and a strong self-belief go hand in hand. Regardless of the situation, when you believe in your ability to succeed, you will develop the courage and enthusiasm needed to stretch beyond any challenge.
No doubt when you think of the challenges of the past, you realise that it's not just about merely surviving, but about growing stronger and wiser as a result.
When you stay focused on your vision, challenges won't stop you they will only slow you down.
Change is taking place at an ever increasing rate. The business world is quickly responding to changing market trends and new customer habits. But what about personal change?
Do you embrace change readily and easily, or have you been slow to respond or somewhat hesitant? Perhaps you have been waiting for the right time, a better opportunity or a push in the right direction?
Change is part of growing and developing. When we reflect on the major changes and the personal upheavals in our life, we often recognise that the setbacks and challenges that we encountered were catalysts for personal growth.
When you begin to understand more about change and how you deal with it, you can begin to create powerful and lasting changes in your life. Change can be exciting and something to look forward to, but more often it is dreaded. Why? The fear of the unknown can leave us feeling paralyzed. As humans, more than anything we need to feel the sense of certainty in our lives, when in fact, the reality is, that change is the only thing we can be certain of.
Sometimes there is no compelling reason to change or lack clarity about what the future may hold. With such feelings of fear, lack of focus and little certainly it’s no wonder that the process of planning to change can often take longer than change itself. With a new awareness of why you might resist change, use the following steps to break down the barriers and guide you to change.
1. You must have a compelling reason to change
Having a clear and compelling reason to change will give you the determination you need to change. It will encourage you to creatively seek out solutions and new ideas to overcome the challenges you face along the way.
2. Have a clear vision of what you want to achieve
Having a clear vision of what you want to achieve will enable you to focus on the future and propel yourself forward. Clarify your vision and set clear goals that enable you to achieve that vision.
3. Overcome fear of change
It’s natural to feel anxious, uneasy and uncomfortable about something new. Use the process of visualisation to mentally rehearse a positive outcome and reduce the feelings of anxiousness. When you accept that fear is a necessary part of growth,you can begin to have more control of the changes in your life.
Never underestimate your ability to create meaning, clarify your vision or overcome your fears. Change is not to be dreaded; it’s something to look forward to.
As I write this article the word 'confidence' returns 124 million results on Google. It's no wonder,as confidence is surprisingly difficult to tie down precisely and regardless of how much we have, we crave more.
Confidence is one of our greatest personal resources. With it we can handle any situation, reach our goals and take on new challenges, yet without it we tend to suffer. Simply put, the more confident you are the more likely you are to succeed.
Confidence means something different for each one of us and rather than searching for the perfect definition, let's focus on how we can build more of it.
Confidence is almost all about perception and the perception you have of yourself also impacts how others perceive you. Self-confident people believe in their ability to achieve which drives their success.
Believing in yourself means that you recognise and accept that you have all the capability you need to achieve whatever it is you want. It also means that you accept failure as a challenge and an opportunity to learn and grow. Knowing that you are the greatest asset you have translates into a whole range of positive outcomes.
There is a lot of truth in the phrase confidence breeds confidence. The best way to build confidence is to relive times of prior success and develop empowering beliefs about future success. The key to doing this successfully is to use the process of visualisation. Allow your mind to relive the uplifting and empowering emotions of times when you felt really confident in the past and also to rehearse future envisioned confidence.
Repeatedly focus your thoughts on the things you want to happen in your life and vividly imagine them happening now. Remember to use all your senses to build up the positive experience and emotions of a confident and competent you. Visualisation is extremely effective, as our subconscious mind cannot distinguish between thoughts that are real or imagined. It is particularly useful when building up confidence for a future experience, of which you have no experience or even where you previously failed.
When you repeatedly visualise the confidence you want, you change how you habitually think about yourself. When you begin to see yourself as you want to be, you gradually and naturally feel yourself enjoying more and more confidence.
Recent research suggests that compared to last year Irish people are working an extra 6-10 hours per week with only 32% stopping to take a full lunch. Despite countless articles written each year aimed at helping create balance and quality in life, we are still overworking and expecting to achieve more. We all know that when we burn the candle at both ends, productivity decreases and we are left overwhelmed, overworked, overstressed and overcommitted.
Yes, it’s the holiday season and of course a break from the norm will recharge your energies, but in terms of yielding sustainable improvements in productivity the benefits may only be short lived.
In order to enhance productivity in the long term, you need to maintain and develop the greatest asset that you have – yourself. It’s essential that you take time to refresh your skills, enhance your knowledge and develop your mental capabilities. Take time to tap into the potential you always knew you had. Read a book, listen to a great speaker on audio or attend a programme focused on developing your potential.
Ensure that you are sharp enough to deal with all the obstacles that the recession is throwing at you. Invest in yourself so that you are physically charged and mentally alert. You will then be able to step back and work effectively on your business and not in your business. Assess if your fire is burning out and add some spark to it again. Recharge, reignite and reenergise and be the best you can be.
One of the most important factors in determining our success in life is our attitude.
William James an American psychologist and philosopher captured the fundamental significance of attitude in his profound words "The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind."
Attitude is a mental state relative to what we believe and affects our entire lives. We express our attitude in our words and actions. It is a habitual way of thinking that can either lean towards an optimistic or pessimistic viewpoint. Whether your thinking is “full-glass” or “empty-glass” in nature, you have the ability to choose your own attitude.
Attitudes are greatly influenced by association which means they are contagious. The best way to develop a positive mental attitude is to surround yourself with optimists. Positive people have a magnetic influence which attracts help and support that assist them in achieving their goals. They have developed a ‘can do’ attitude and a resilient nature that propels them forward.
Once you begin to condition your thinking, you will develop a positive mental attitude that will greatly accelerate your future success.
When it comes to getting results there are two qualities that you must possess.
The first quality is persistence. Everybody faces challenges in their lives. They can act as a motivator to encourage action. On the other hand, they can be viewed by some as a negative source. It’s not what happens to you that matters, it’s how you respond to what happens that counts. Will you give up on the first hurdle or will you persevere? Reaching our goals is rewarding, but overcoming the challenges along the way is extremely empowering. There are times when we just want to give up, but where is the success in that?
The second quality is patience. We have all heard of that familiar expression “good things come to those who wait.” In trying to reach goals we need stay focused yet remain patient. Sometimes we rush things and want to see results straight away. This is not realistic. I do not know anyone who achieved success overnight, do you?
So my advice to you is if you are not reaching your goals right now ask yourself if you are using these two qualities. If not then try some patience and persistence.Then see if things change.
Today marks Barack Obama’s 100th day in office with his achievements measuring up to our expectations. He has planted and nourished seeds of optimism and already he is reaping “green shoots of growth” and “glimmers of hope”.
100 days is a good landmark measure for all of us. It’s approximately 3 months and just as the farmer prepares for each season, we can sow the seeds and later gather the harvest. Is there something you would love to achieve in a season? What would you do in 100 days if you knew that you would be successful?
Barack Obama has transcended very real constraints in 100 days in an office described as the most powerful in the world. You too can achieve remarkable results in 100 days. Begin today. Be specific about what you want to achieve and remember to mark the calendar and reap your harvest in 100 days.
Well if you do, you may want to read this article at another time!
“Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today” is a familiar proverb that advises us to complete the tasks at hand, yet time and time again we fall victim to procrastination. Despite detailed plans, clear objectives and digital accessories that beep at us, we still defer what needs to be done until a later date and often fail to do them at all.
Unfortunately, the consequences of missing deadlines are similar to having a credit card - we do not realise how much damage we have done until we get the bill! Procrastination not only affects our work, but it also gives us feelings of guilt, regret, stress and inadequacy.
When you begin to understand the personal and emotional reasons behind procrastination you will realise why you put off your plans and goals.
One of the major reasons we avoid tasks is fear of failure. Interestingly, those who avoid failure can even avoid success. Either way, they are often too concerned about what others think of them. They would rather show that they lack time and not ability. The fear of failure, can also disguise itself in the form of perfectionism - waiting until everything is perfect before the task can be considered complete. There are also those who procrastinate because of indecision. By not making decisions, they free themselves from the responsibility of a poor outcome. Some procrastinate because they enjoy the last minute rush and thrill of striving to reach the deadline within limited time constraints.
Whether you actively look for distractions, put things off entirely or are just not happy with the quality of your work, then you are procrastinating. Identify why you procrastinate so that you understand how you can overcome it.
Last year brought unexpected global changes. The media’s coverage of the economic climate has had its influence, leaving many feeling anxious, uneasy and uncertain. People are confused about how to adapt and prosper with changing circumstances.
But the truth is that there will always be something. People have got through tough times in the past; they did this by having the right mindset. We all have done things before that seemed impossible at the time. The mind is a powerful instrument. It can deliver literally anything that we want, but right now it is focusing on what we don’t want, closures, failures, and crashes.
We need to turn our attention to what we do want because, when you begin think differently about what lies ahead, you will begin to organise yourself and resources so that you accelerate your achievement this year and beyond.
The first thing we have to do is learn to deal with change. We are used to so much change today. Change is everywhere. But we are slow to respond. Why? Because one of our greatest fears come from not knowing what lies ahead. Nobody knows what’s going to happen! Every economist is paid to have a different opinion about the future, but it’s not what happens that matters; it’s how we respond to it that counts.
Adaptability is the ke. Be open minded, consider alternatives, refine and alter your ways so that you avoid limiting your options.
Remember Darwin’s great words. "It's not the strongest species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change."
I’m an admirer of Richard Branson I listen to what he says; he runs over 300 companies,so I think he’s doing something right!
He says, that bigger companies will lay a lot of people off, and many of those people will become the entrepreneurs of the future, but it’s the smaller businesses that will get the economy up and running again - their cost base is less, and they will find more effective ways of employing people than they have done in the past. Many small companies will fill in the gaps that the larger ones have created, However, they must look for opportunities and there will be lots; they must be creative in both cutting costs and providing something new.
So it’s not the strongest businesses that will survive either, we see the big ones tumbling down; it’s the ones most adaptive to change that will capture the opportunities.