20 Books that Will Tremendously Boost Your Career and Personal Development

Those personal development books have potent insights for your growth and will be an eye-opener for you so you can unleash your career potential. Those books have so much wisdom that reading at least 15 times is worth it. That’s because, on average, the reader will absorb 6% to 10% of the information each time read.

Therefore, I highly recommend you read all of the following books many times until you become one with the book.

Use this Time Optimization Technique to Read Books

Finding time to read books nowadays is quite challenging. That’s why I will share with you a technique that has been helping me a LOT to read books.

The technique is simple: I multi-task by listening to audiobooks whenever I do an activity that doesn’t require a lot of brain power. Examples of activities are going to the gym, cleaning the house, washing the dishes, commuting to work, jogging, and walking.

You can use the same technique to help you read the books below.

1 – How to Win Friends and Influence People

This book really helped me to communicate with other people more effectively. The most important lesson from the book is that instead of trying to talk about yourself and show how great you are, listen to the other person. But be really interested in what they are saying. Also, remember that when you talk you don’t learn anything new, when you listen, you are learning something new.

Wait for people to finish their sentences, and be genuinely curious about what the other person does. Don’t criticize people, don’t think you are always right, and avoid arguments as you avoid snakes. Of course, sometimes arguing will be necessary, but you must choose your battles wisely. But in general, if you really want to prove your point, remember that you will likely lose a meaningful connection.

2 – Think and Grow Rich

This book discusses the rules of money and wealth. It also discusses the law of attraction, which states that you get what you focus on, and the idea of organized effort to bring value to a business and make money.

It has several suitable lessons, such as the saying that there is no such thing as nothing for something. It also explains the importance of investing in yourself because it pays dividends in the long term.

3 – Golden Lessons

Obviously, I will include my book here as well :).

The Golden Lessons book contains 100 practical lessons that I applied to achieve my career dreams abroad. It’s a very direct book; the lessons are succinct, drawn from the more than 100 books I read, all my experience, and my mentors’ wisdom.

It’s a practical book for you to absorb the lessons you need to change your career and life.

4 – Psycho-Cybernetics

This book discusses how a person’s personality can change as their looks change. If a person is more confident with his or her appearance, he or she will be able to achieve more.

This is an actual 29 years of research from Dr. Maxwell Maltz, a renowned pioneer in plastic surgery. As he performed plastic surgery on his patients, they had impressive achievements. Of course, it’s not necessary to also do plastic surgery to get the benefits of this book since understanding the fundamentals of the book will already help you a great deal.

5 – Rich Dad Poor Dad

This book is an eye-opener about finance. It explains how to make your money work for you instead of you working for money. It talks a lot about buying assets, such as real estate, gold, silver, and stocks, to protect you from inflation and earn a passive income.

The book’s story also tells the difference in behavior between rich and poor dads. The poor dad is highly educated and focused on his career but has no interest in learning more about finance. The rich dad is the opposite. He’s not as educated as the poor dad but has vast knowledge about finance, which makes him rich.

6 – Four Agreements

This concise book contains four powerful agreements you can apply in life. It tells about the concept of using your words as white or black magic. Hitler, as an example, used black magic with his words and convinced a nation that killing people would be a solution. Another example of black magic is when people demotivate you with destructive words. Or put a limiting belief in your mind that impedes you from achieving your goals.

Another important agreement is “do your best.” No knowledge in the world will make a difference in your life if you don’t take action. Therefore, the concept of the “do your best” agreement is that you do your best even when tying up your bed. If you adopt the mindset that you will do your best in everything in your life, you will grow much faster. If you let your ego hold you back because you are terrified of failure, then growth will be slow. Taking action and doing your best is crucial for your life and growth!

7 – Be Your Future Self Now

This book has a powerful concept of you being your future self right now. It shows an example of a famous YouTuber, Mr. Beast, who didn’t have many subscribers on YouTube, and then he created a video describing how he would be in 5 years. He said he would have 1 million subscribers. In the past five years, he has had more than 1 million subscribers. Everything he said would happen happened beyond his expectations.

This powerful book is worth reading many times so the whole concept is absorbed. The book also emphasizes the importance of knowing what you want. When you know what you want, write it down, record a video, or do anything to make it more real, the odds are that, like Mr. Beast, you will achieve your goals beyond your expectations.

8 – Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations

This is the book of pure wisdom from the great emperor Marcus Aurelius. In the book, he talks a lot about our mortality and reminds us that we will die very often one day. Also, he warns that we must be careful not to let our desires control us because this is a form of slavery.

Marcus Aurelius was very wise, and even though the book is very old, its wisdom still applies today. This is a timeless wisdom book that everyone should read.

9 – The 1% Rule

This book talks about the concept of consistency and how it pays dividends. For example, if you decide to be 1% better in any vital life skill, at the end of the year, you will be 365% better. Other than that, we must remember that the growth starts to be exponential at a certain point.

Therefore, if you practice a skill every day and face your fears consistently, you can rest assured that your long-term benefits will be compounded, and you will be a much better version of yourself.

10 – Four Thousand Weeks

This is a book that reminds us that we are mortal. We have something around four thousand weeks to live, and most of us think we will live forever. Life is short, and we have to remind ourselves that one day, we will die constantly, and that’s a very good reason to face our fears, follow our dreams, and face ourselves.

This book also talks about how attached we are to our egos and how beneficial it is to let go of our egos.

11 – Be Obsessed or Be Average

Grant Cardone is a millionaire real estate investor, and in this book, he talks about many of the principles he used to get there. Grant was a drug addict, and he managed to change his circumstances by changing his addiction from drugs to business.

One of the principles I really like from this book is to stay dangerous. This means you should show up and connect with people as much as possible to grow and expand your horizons. Another key concept from the book is that successful people don’t wait until they are fully prepared, instead, they learn what must be done on the way and they get it done!

12 – Peak Performance: Elevate Your Game, Avoid Burnout, and Thrive with the New Science of Success

This book discusses operating at a high level and being good at what you do. It also discusses deliberate practice, which is a deliberate way to practice and master a skill by repeating it many times.

It also talks about the importance of consistency. Since repetition is the mother of mastery, repeating a skill practice often enough will enable you to really master whatever skill you wish to acquire.

13 – Man’s Search of Meaning

Man’s Search for Meaning” is a memoir and philosophical treatise written by Viktor E. Frankl, a psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor. The book is divided into two parts: the first describes Frankl’s experiences in the concentration camps, and the second explains his ideas on logotherapy, a form of psychotherapy that emphasizes finding meaning and purpose in life.

Frankl challenges us to find meaning and purpose in our lives and embrace the challenges and struggles that come our way. His message is one of hope and resilience, and his book is a testament to the power of the human spirit to overcome even the most daunting obstacles.

14 – The Infinite Game: How Great Businesses Achieve Long-lasting Success

This book has the concept of playing the long-term game, avoiding harmful shortcuts, and constantly striving to improve yourself. It also talks about the importance of becoming better than you, not becoming better than others. Doing so will allow you to go on in your journey more smoothly and never stop growing.

15 – Principles: Life and Work

Ray Dalio is a very successful investor. In his book, he says that it’s essential to define your values in life and business. He says that values are the foundation, and big things start from your values. He also talks about the culture he adopted for his company, where people would have transparent feedback, and people who couldn’t take it wouldn’t fit for the company.

It’s not an easy reading, but it has wisdom. It’s a fantastic book.

16 – The Alchemist: A Fable About Following Your Dream

Paulo Coelho, an excellent Brazillian writer, wrote the book The Alchemist. This book tells the story of a shepherd boy from Spain who wants to find a treasure in Egypt. The story is very well written and keeps the reader looking forward to the next part so hopefully, the treasure is found.

17 – Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff, and It’s All Small Stuff

It’s a powerful personal development book about handling stress without worrying about small things. Very often, we get stressed in the traffic, at work, or in any other situation that really doesn’t matter in the long term. The book aims to expose how those small things shouldn’t stress us out.

Another example is to be late for a meeting or whatever other commitment. Most times, being late once won’t have any long-term impact. Also, the book describes an example where the author drives the car steadily, not rushing, and another car is trying to overtake him and rushing. Ultimately, he arrives at the destination at the same time as the other driver. The book shows with many examples that we shouldn’t really stress out over small things.

We also must remind ourselves that we are not responsible for other people’s problems, not that we should never help, but we must remember that we don’t need to.

18 – The Power of the Subconscious Mind

The conscious mind is like the captain of the subconscious mind. That’s because the conscious mind has only 20% of our brain power, while the subconscious mind has an incredible 80% capacity.

This book teaches us how to use the power of the subconscious mind. Repeatedly saying little negative things about ourselves will program our subconscious mind to believe in whatever limiting belief we have.

Therefore, instead of programming our subconscious mind for failure, it’s much better to say good things for ourselves and never say that achieving any goal you want in life is impossible. Self-affirmations are an excellent tool to help you program your subconscious mind to accomplish outstanding achievements.

19 – Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones

This personal development book provides an actionable framework for building good habits and breaking bad ones. The book highlights the importance of focusing on minor, incremental behavioral improvements rather than dramatic changes. Clear argues that we can achieve remarkable results over time by making tiny, consistent changes to our habits.

It also explains the importance of hanging out with people who have the habits you want to have. For example, if you hang out with lazy people, chances are very high that you will also become lazy. Therefore, make friends with people who have what you want, preferably.

Cleaning up your environment and making it easy to be consistent with your goal is another key to really building up your habit.

20 – Mindset – Updated Edition: Changing the Way You Think to Fulfil Your Potential

Carol Dweck explores the concept of mindset and how it affects our ability to fulfill our potential. She argues that people generally fall into two mindsets: a fixed mindset, where people believe their abilities and intelligence are fixed and cannot be changed, and a growth mindset, where people believe they can develop their abilities through effort and hard work.

The book provides numerous examples of individuals and organizations who have benefited from a growth mindset and outlines strategies for cultivating this mindset in ourselves and those around us. Dweck emphasizes the importance of effort, persistence, willingness to learn and grow, and the value of embracing failure as a learning opportunity.

Conclusion

The more books we read, the more prepared we are for challenges. We also have to remember to take action with our knowledge. Otherwise, reading a lot is a waste of time. Execution is key! I prepared other book lists as well so you can read them:

Unlocking Your Potential: The Top Career and Life Skills You Need to Succeed