Are you looking for a book that can significantly change your life and you as a person? Our list of ’10 Books that can change your life’ is based on feedback from hundreds of people, who were able to change their life from mediocrity to meaningful success.
We often read stories about average people who have achieved an extraordinary feat. It is not due to luck or being in the right place at the right point in time. It is due to the fact that they have over a period of time learned a few skills and gained knowledge that helped them become what they are now.
This list of books is for individuals who want to improve their lives and yet interestingly none of the books on the list is a self-help book.
Let us now see the list of 10 Books that can change your life
1. Emotional Intelligence
By Daniel Goleman
This is one of its kind research-backed groundbreaking bestsellers from Daniel Goleman. He completely changed the preconceived notions about intelligence and success. It asks an important question. Does IQ define our destiny?
Daniel Goleman through its research showed that our view of human intelligence is far too narrow and that our emotions play a major role in thought, decision making, and individual success. Self-awareness, impulse control, persistence, motivation, empathy, and social deftness are all qualities that mark people who excel: whose relationships flourish, who are stars in the workplace. He called this Emotional Intelligence (EQ)
With new insights into the brain architecture and its implication on general success and well being which can most importantly learn rather than inherit by birth is what makes this book a must-read for individuals across profession and demographics.
2. Word Power Made Easy
By Norman Lewis
If you have anything to do with English, yes even 5% of the things that involve English, this is a must-buy book for you. It is a must-buy book for people whose first language is English and equally must buy for people whose first language is not English.
The reason this book is on our list is that it gives you command over the language which is most widely spoken and used across the world. Whether in scientific, literary, technological and business endeavors you can’t escape English.
Even if you speak Chinese or French or German or for that matter any other language, you can just check yourself and you’ll realize that you’ve been using at least 15% of English words in your communications.
This book gives you power where you decipher English words, don’t just learn their meaning. It can change the vocabulary of a school going kid to a graduate in English if the person follows the book as instructed.
The best thing about reading this book is that you will learn to find out the meaning of words from psychology, science, literature, medicine and many other areas of interest without even having heard the word before. Yes this is the magic of this book, it provides science to vocabulary by going into the roots of the word
2. How To Win Friends and Influence People
By Dale Carnegie
This book is really amazing for the fact that it covers the basic traits necessary to be liked and simply be able to win friends and exert influence over your daily interactions and dealing with people.
Following this book will lead to better networking, better inter-personal interaction and a better understanding of why people like you or vice versa.
This book was first published in 1937 and still is among the bestsellers speaks for itself. You must read this book if you want to foster better relations with the people you know and the people who you would meet in the future.
This is the only book in the list ’10 Books That Can Change Your Life’ which can be called mildly in the category of self-help
4. Crucial Conversation
By Joseph Grenny, Ron Mcmillan, Al Switzler
This is true for all of us that when faced with a difficult conversation we either back out or become seriously aggressive to put our point across without even realizing.
This book provides a framework to have a meaningful conversation when your emotions are running high, you have opposing views and stakes are high on all sides. This book is one which has most recently transformed me as an individual and
Many ‘defining’ moments in life come from having crucial conversations (as these create significant shifts in attitude and behavior). This book focuses on techniques on how to hold such conversations in a positive space when surrounded by highly charged emotions. Their findings are based on 25 years of research with 20,000 people.
5. Getting Things Done
By David Allen
This book describes the time management method like no other. It is written by productivity consultant David Allen. It is often referred to as GTD.
The GTD method rests on the idea of moving planned tasks and projects out of the mind by recording them externally and then breaking them into actionable work items. This allows one to focus attention on taking action on tasks, instead of recalling them.
First published in 2001, a revised edition of the book was released in 2015 to reflect the changes in information technology during the preceding decade and incorporate recent scientific research supporting the system’s claims regarding how the mind functions.
Even if you think you have spare time and don’t need to manage it, trust me it this will completely change your outlook. If you are busy, involved and struggling with managing time, you know where to go!
6. Lateral Thinking: A Textbook of Creativity
By: Edward de Bono
Lateral thinking is solving problems through an indirect and creative approach, using reasoning that is not immediately obvious and involving ideas that may not be obtainable by using only traditional step-by-step logic.
The term was promulgated in 1967 by Edward de Bono. He cites as an example the Judgment of Solomon, where King Solomon resolves a dispute over the parentage of a child by calling for the child to be cut in half and making his judgment according to the reactions that this order receives.
This is a must-read book for opening up your mind and think beyond the vertical or logical thinking that we are only accustomed to. It opens up a whole new world of creativity and out of box thinking for individual
7. 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
By Stephen R. Covey
This book needs no elaboration. It is one of the best-known non-fiction books of all time along with Dale Carnegie’s How to win friends and influence people. It remains a must-read for people who haven’t read it and a must-follow for those who already have read.
It should be revisited frequently to see where do we stand on the 7 habits mentioned in the book. A time for self-reflection and evaluation
The book first introduces the concept of paradigm shift and helps the reader understand that different perspectives exist, i.e. that two people can see the same thing and yet differ with each other. On this premise, it introduces the seven habits in proper order.
Each chapter is dedicated to one of the habits and is very easy to read and follow. Don’t let this book skip if you haven’t read it!
8. The Alchemist
By Paulo Coelho
It is very easy to read, highly descriptive, the story that teaches a powerful metaphor – how to pursue your dreams. Learn the obstacles that will arise, and learn how to channel your courage on the path of what you value most. Most often used in business schools, this is one of the most popular books to motivate and provide meaningful direction to the reading using a powerful metaphor
The Alchemist follows the journey of an Andalusian shepherd boy named Santiago. Believing a recurring dream to be prophetic, he asks a Romani fortune-teller in a nearby town about its meaning. The woman interprets the dream as a prophecy telling the boy that he will discover a treasure at the Egyptian pyramids.
Early into his journey, he meets an old king named Melchizedek or the king of Salem, who tells him to sell his sheep so as to travel to Egypt and introduces the idea of a Personal Legend. Your Personal Legend “is what you have always wanted to accomplish. Everyone, when they are young, knows what their Personal Legend is.”He adds that “when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” This is the core theme of the book.
9. The Big 100: The 100 Business Tools You Need to Succeed
By Jeremy Kourdi
This is one book for 100 powerful business tools and concepts. Must read for individuals who have anything to do with business, leadership, HR, coaching, finance, in short anything related to the commercial book
This becomes even more important for budding entrepreneurs to read this book and learn the concepts within a short span of time and manage their business well. One disclaimer though, it doesn’t get into the fine details of any of the tools therefore it is imperative that you read follow up material in case you wish to master the tool. Nonetheless, it is a powerful book to learn various tools quickly
10. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
By: Robert B Cialdini
One of my personal favorites in the list of 10 Books That Can Change Your Life, is a Psychology book authored by Dr. Robert B. Cialdini based on the understanding and study of why people tend to say ‘Yes’. The author has done extensive and rigorous research on the minds of the people and their general psychology.
His findings have enabled him to come up with this book on the art of persuasion and how one can use the knowledge of this psychology for their own advantage. The book is the result of a thirty-five year-long extensive research that involved surveys, evidence, experiments and as well as a three-year-long period of study on the behavior of people.
The book has been a widespread and mainstream success owing to its exceptional writing and groundbreaking content. The book has received critical acclaim from all angles. The book puts forth six universal principles and teaches its readers the art of becoming a skilled persuader and in turn the knowledge of protecting yourself from other skilled persuaders.
The book comes handy in all parts of life and will serve as a defining force in the change it brings to your lifestyle by pushing you towards a life of content and satisfaction. The book is strongly based on the foundation of marketing and helps to understand and analyze the same. The information in the book is presented in a lucid manner and effectively teaches the art of influence and persuasion which is gradually developing into a scientific field.
Conclusion
All the books mentioned in the list are the best and greatest in whatever topic they address. You get to gain a deeper insight into the knowledge and skills you need to succeed in life after reaching all of them. I recommend reading all of them.
I hope the readers like our list of 10 Books that can change your life and help you succeed Please do share the post for others to benefit and share your experience by commenting below
This article has been contributed by Conceptial Training and Consulting, A leading corporate soft skill training company in India and Training Industry India.
