I love to read, and I especially love books that challenge my day-to-day thinking and operation. For me, a great book is inspiring, uplifting and incredibly motivating. It should make me want to plunge ahead into action. With that in mind, I’d like to introduce to you my top five favorite books for inspiring productivity and motivation. You may have read them already, and if so, it may be time to crack a favorite open again and it give it another spin. At any rate, I hope you find the same motivation and inspiration that these books have given me.
Linchpin by Seth Godin
Are you indispensable? If you put into practice the insights presented in Godin’s book, you will be. Here, Godin illustrates how we’ve been brought up to follow directions. With our business culture changing, this is no longer good enough. Linchpin is an amazing self-motivating validator that your work as an artist is needed and desired. Godin’s message is to learn to live your life as an indispensable asset in everything you do. For me, it reinforces the “Your life is your message” motto in simple layman’s terms.
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
This book is akin finding a road map on how to make decisions and live your life. It emphasizes personal ethics when making choices and teaches long-lasting principles that will let you live out your long-term goals. I believe knowledge mixed with action is the true formula for success, and this book will deliver on knowledge. All you need is to put the habits into motion. If you’re looking to make a real change in the way you do things in your life, this book is for you.
Getting Things Done by David Allen
I can honestly say this book has changed my entire system of doing things. I have increased my level of productivity dramatically and I find it extremely easy to break down projects into manageable, “actionable” steps without feeling too overwhelmed. The best aspect of this book is that Allen’s approach involves more than just your work to-dos. It helps you organize ALL of your life. While having just a spiral notebook would suffice to put Allen’s advice into action, I’ve paired what I’ve learned in the book with an awesome application based on his book, OmniFocus (Mac & iPhone Only).
Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude
by Napoleon Hill and W. Clement Stone
This book serves as an addendum to Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich. I prefer to put this book here, as it focuses on keeping a positive mental attitude, even when you don’t necessarily want to. I find myself referring to this book as my go-to book, especially when I feel like I’m falling off-track. My only wish for this book is that it would be available on Kindle.
The Now Habit by Neil Fiore
This is a newer favorite for me and to be honest, I haven’t finished reading it yet. However, what I have read has been simply amazing. It’s a source of positive affirmation regarding procrastination. Similar to Seth Godin’s Linchpin, the approach is that we naturally want to do well and be right about what we do. Our social conditioning has allowed us to see ourselves negatively and therefore attach harmful labels. This book helps you address these labels and see them for what they really are. It goes a step further and offers real useable strategies for being more productive and tips for finally being able to kiss that procrastinator label goodbye forever.
Have you read these books? Have any favorites you enjoy?