My Top Five Personal Development Books

I am an addict!

Yep – a hardcore, long term addict, and my addiction is books. I am one of those people who experiences a dopamine hit when I get home and there is a package from the bookstore on my doorstep with my latest purchase.

I eagerly rip open the parcel and will often sit and scan the first few paragraphs before adding it to my (already large) pile of books to read. Sometimes I end up sitting there for two hours and consuming half the book before I even realise what I’ve done. Books just light me up!

I was asked the other day what my favourite personal development books are, and I must admit I found it to be a hard question. There are just so many!! And within that very broad topic there are so many sub-topics so to narrow it down to five is a very tall order!

Since then I have put some dedicated thought in to the question and have finally managed to cut down my list to five. Here they are:

Maximum Achievement by Brian Tracy

Brian Tracy is the man!  He is one of the world’s leading authorities on success and personal achievement, addressing more than 100,000 men and women each year in both public and private seminars. Maximum Achievement is an easy read chocked full of ideas, concepts, and methods used by high-achieving people in every field.

Mr Tracy gives you a powerful and proven system – based on twenty-five years of research and practice – that you can apply immediately to get even better results in every area of your life.

This book is all about unlocking your individual potential for personal greatness.  If you choose to implement the learnings from this book, you will immediately become more positive, persuasive, and powerfully focused in everything you do. Who doesn’t want more of that?

The book lays out a step-by-step blueprint for creating success and achievement and includes proven principles based on psychology, religion, philosophy, business, economics, politics, history, and metaphysics.

I would have bought at least fifty copies of this book over the last few years to give to clients and friends, as well as advising countless others to read it.

If you haven’t read this book, do yourself a favour and get it!

Dying To Be Me by Anita Moorjani

I am a firm believer in the spiritual plane and I love books that explore that world. This one blew me away!

In this truly inspirational memoir, Anita Moorjani relates how, after fighting cancer for almost four years, her body – overwhelmed by the malignant cells spreading throughout her system – began shutting down. As her organs failed, she entered into an extraordinary near-death experience where she realised her true worth and why her body had created the illness in the first place.

Upon regaining consciousness, Anita found that her condition had improved so rapidly that she was able to be released from the hospital within weeks – without a trace of cancer in her body! This is what is called a Radical Remission, something that her doctors struggled with.

In the book, Anita shares her story and the journey that she has been on.  She was raised in a traditional Hindu family while growing up in Hong Kong, in a largely British and Chinese community, and therefore experienced a continual pushing and pulling of cultural and religious customs. She talks about the challenges of establishing her career and finding love and the continual pressure she felt while trying to meet everyone else expectations.

What I love about Anita’s story is there is something for everyone.  She shares all she has learned about illness, healing, fear, love and how each of us is truly magnificent.  As Wayne Dyer, one of the greatest spiritual teachers of the 21st century says, “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, we are spiritual beings having a human experience”. This book definitely supports that statement.

The Five Second Rule by Mel Robbins

I have talked about the awesomeness of The Five Second Rule consistently since I read it about a year ago!

This book makes my list because Mel Robbins has come up with a tool that is so simple, so elegant and yet SO very effective that anyone can create change in their life by using it. I like that!!

So often in life, our fear stops us.  We find an excuse, we baulk at the critical moment or we simply talk ourselves out of taking the action required to help us achieve what we want.  The Five Second Rule is the tool that will help you have the courage and confidence to do the “thing”, whatever your “thing” is.

This tool is what will allow you to push yourself in that critical moment. I use it all the time and I know it works!

Using the science of habits, fascinating stories, and surprising facts from some of the most famous moments in history, art and business, Mel Robbins explains the power of a “push moment”. Then she gives you one simple tool you can use to become your greatest self.

In my experience simple things work best and it takes just five seconds to use this tool. Not only that, it is hugely versatile and can be used for everything from procrastination to managing anxiety.

Mel has spoken all over the world sharing The Five Second Rule with hundreds of thousands of people and more than 8 million people have watched her TEDx Talk. This lady is no nonsense so and she will kick your butt throughout the book!

The Success Principles by Jack Canfield

I love a good shortcut and this book is definitely that!

The Success Principles contains 67 timeless and tested principles that feels like a condensing of so many other books that I have read over the years.  Every page has sensational content and I love how the book is a journey, layering each new idea on the last one.

In The Success Principles, the co-creator of the phenomenal best-selling Chicken Soup for the Soul series Jack Canfield, guides the reader to get from where they are to where they want to be by teaching them how to increase their confidence, to tackle daily challenges, to live with passion and purpose, and to realise all of their ambitions.

Again, it’s incredibly simple to read and apply, if you are willing to take the action!

The book is full of inspiring stories from all walks of life, CEOs, world-class athletes, celebrities, and everyday people, which makes it interesting and relatable.

Taken together and practiced every day, these principles can help you change your life! At the very minimum, it is a refresher course on creating phenomenal success in your world.

The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman

I LOVE The Five Love Languages!!

Any person who has ever been in any sort of relationship (yes, that’s all of you!!) and doesn’t understand The Five Love Languages is doing themselves and the people around them a huge disservice! This is the greatest book ever written on communicating love effectively.

Dr Chapman worked with couples for many decades and realised early on that there are five main ways that we communicate love to each other.  Like everything else in life, there is a pattern.

What he discovered is that couples who had challenging relationships often were communicating their love to each other in different “love languages”.  There was a miscommunication going on. What that meant was each party didn’t feel valued, cared for, understood or loved. This was the basis for their problems.

Whether your relationship is flourishing or failing, Dr Gary Chapman’s time tested approach to giving and receiving love will help you experience deeper and richer levels of intimacy and connection with your partner. Not only that, these principles can be applied to any relationship, with your children, your parents and your friends.

The Five Love Languages is as practical as it is insightful and I feel confident that you will get huge value from reading it.

If you have read an amazing books lately, I would love the recommendation!  Pop the book title in the comments and share it with all of us.

Happy reading Folks!