Personal Growth Book Recommendations
I love a good personal growth recommendation. Whether it’s a book, TED Talk, or motivational series. Personal growth is super important as it teaches us to look within ourselves and confront what is working and what we need to improve.
Personal growth is not one thing. It’s whatever you need it to be. You can use it to grow in your career, relationships, goals, and more. I use personal growth to instill better mindsets so I can approach life with a more intentional perspective.
And today I thought I’d share with you some personal growth books that really affected me. While some may not technically be considered “personal growth,” they still did what I expect from it: forced me to look at my life in a new way and see what I could adjust.
Here are my top five personal growth book recommendations:
Chasing the Bright Side by Jess Ekstrom
Jess Ekstrom is an entrepreneur, bestselling author, and motivational speaker who is a powerhouse on social media. She shares so many amazing tips in the areas of public speaking, writing, and owning a business.
Her first book, Chasing the Bright Side, details her journey as she starts her own business, Headbands of Hope. She recounts the difficulties, the obstacles, and the people who claimed she’d never succeed.
But through it all, she remains optimistic and does whatever she can to keep moving forward. Needless to say, she’s doing really well and her second book, a children’s version of Chasing the Bright Side, has just been released.
What Ekstrom teaches you throughout her book is that no matter how bad things get, you can make them better. The main thing you must do is use what you have. For example, she relied on business professors to give her tips when starting her business because she had little money to spend.
Optimism, Ekstrom claims, is key to succeeding. It’s knowing that while things may not always go your way, you’ll figure out a way to make it better. That’s what she did. And it will make you look at failure in a whole new light.
Ekstrom offers several courses on her website where she teaches women to become public speakers or write the nonfiction book they’ve been dreaming about. You can find out more about her and her services here.
Your Time to Thrive by Marina Khidekel
I’ve read many habit and routine books, the most prominent being Atomic Habits by James Clear. But I love finding other books about the subject because different perspectives are important when it comes to personal growth. One book or opinion is not the be-all-end-all.
I came across Your Time to Thrive while shopping at Barnes & Noble. It was sitting on the bargain shelf and when I read the jacket blurb, it intrigued me.
In this book, Marina Khidekel walks you through several areas that people claim they need help to improve. Some topics covered include sleep, relationships, nutrition, creativity, focus, and purpose.
Each chapter uses scientific evidence to explain that the best way to improve these areas is by using microsteps. Essentially, small habits and routines you need to make in order to reach the result you want.
Some examples of these microsteps include unplugging at 8:00 pm every night, having a “walking” meeting to get away from computers, and saying thank you more often.
The concept presented in this book is nothing new. James Clear shares similar ideas in Atomic Habits, but what I really enjoyed about this book is the simplicity with which they share the steps.
You don’t have to do everything they suggest, but if you want to see a change in any areas they talk about, you have a ton of options at your disposal.
Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
Elizabeth Gilbert is widely known as the author of Eat, Pray, Love, but she has another nonfiction book that is considered a bible of sorts to creatives. That book is Big Magic. Within its pages, Gilbert shares common misconceptions, problems, and fears creatives tend to have.
Whether that’s not feeling good enough, having too many ideas, or getting rejected, she gets it. She’s been there and still feels those things even today as a bestselling author.
What I love most about Big Magic is its quotability. It’s written in such simple prose and has so many quotes you can pluck and keep on a sticky note near your desk. In fact, many writers often share quotes from her book on social media because they’re so relatable.
The main thing Gilbert wants you to take away from this book is that no matter how successful you are, creative minds will always—-and she means ALWAYS—-suffer from imposter syndrome, shiny new object syndrome, and more.
This doesn’t mean you’re a bad creative. It means you’re working through the process. And Big Magic is there to remind you that every creative goes through this. But there are ways through it and that’s what she shares in this beautiful and inspiring book.
Daring Greatly by Brene Brown
Another big name in the personal growth/development field is Brene Brown. Chances are high that you’ve heard her name before. Popular for giving talks and writing books about the concept of vulnerability, Brown has an impressive list of books under her belt. But my favorite is Daring Greatly.
In the book, Brown walks you through the concept of “going for it.” At least, that’s what I take from it. Basically, she writes about how we, as people, crave achievement and pursue goals, but we’re often scared to see them through. That is NORMAL, she writes.
You can’t hope to achieve greatness if you’re not a little scared of the process. But what Brown does is explain why we often feel scared of doing things that others may never attempt.
Like Gilbert’s Big Magic, this book is endlessly quotable. My favorite moment is when she mentions that if people are not in the arena getting their asses kicked with you, then their opinion doesn’t matter.
With this she means that if you’re going after something—-like becoming a published author—-others might try to dissuade you from doing so. But Brown encourages you to keep going because if you’re willing to put in the work, it doesn’t matter what other people think. Let them do their own thing and you do yours.
If you want a shorter version of this book, I highly recommend her Netflix special, “Call to Courage.” It covers a lot of what is mentioned in this book, though it’s worth reading as well.
10% Happier by Dan Harris
You might know Dan Harris as an ABC news anchor or correspondent. You might even remember the panic attack he suffered live on Good Morning America. That real-time attack led him on a personal growth journey that relied heavily on meditation. His book, 10% Happier, takes you on that journey and beyond.
Meditation is often on many self-care lists. But what exactly is meditation? This is what Harris answers in his book. He recounts being told about this “meditation thing” by colleagues, therapists, and celebrities he interviewed. But he didn’t quite understand it.
Throughout the book, he talks about how meeting highly famous “spiritual” leaders like Eckhart Tolle, the Dalai Lama, and Deepak Chopra made him inquisitive, but not in the extreme state that they live in.
It isn’t until Harris attends a silent retreat and starts doing meditation in his own way that he begins to notice the benefits. In fact, the title comes from the response he’d give colleagues when asked why he meditates. He says, “It makes me about 10% happier.”
Since the publication of the book, Harris has traveled to speak about meditation and now hosts a podcast about it. And while he still doesn’t believe in full enlightenment, he recommends everyone take part in some type of meditation throughout their day. If only to be 10% happier.
If you’re looking for personal growth books that cover career growth, habit forming, belief in yourself, and meditation, there’s a title for you in this group.
Every single one of these books helped me view my life from a fresh perspective and that, to me, is what personal development is all about.
So I encourage you to read one or all of these books. Pick them up on your next trip to the bookstore. And if you find another one just like it, be sure to let me know. As I mentioned earlier, I love finding good personal growth recommendations.
Have you read any of the above-mentioned books? What’s your take on personal growth/development?
