We all need a little bit of motivation and inspiration in our lives to achieve our goals. Motivation is one of the important factors that drive us towards our goals and what better way to motivate ourselves than motivational books. So in this article I will talk about 15 best motivational books in English you must read.
Life is full of ups and downs, the important thing is to remain positive, because the soon we realize that challenges will come, the sooner you will be able to face them and find a way to succeed. Many of us have a specific goal i.e., to lead a successful/peaceful life, yet we haven’t decided the path to achieve that.
In order to be successful you will experience pain and must be ready to face it to reap the rewards later. Therefore, you must read motivational books regularly to keep yourselves inspired and positive. Reading changes how you feel about yourself and your surroundings creating a huge difference within you. Motivational books makes you to push your limits to make better choices and take positive actions more oftenly.
So, without further waiting, let’s start with the list of books.
15 Motivational Books You Must Read
15. Awaken the Giant Within
This book is written by Tony Robbins, one of the most effective motivational speakers of all time in which he showcases his effective strategies to master yourself to gain control of your life, relationships, emotions, finance and discover your purpose in life to harness you energy to achieve your destiny.
He uses this book to be your trainer to achieve your goal by raising your standards, change your belief and modify your strategies.
14. The Monk Who Sold his Ferrari
This inspirational fiction is written by Robin Sharma, who is credited to have written 15 books on leadership. In this book, the author has revealed a profound way of living the life. The story of this book revolves around Julian Mantle, who being a lawyer has achieved success in life and has made fortune one can expect, but a sudden heart attack changed his life and created havoc as he leaves for India for spiritual awakening.
The author has written the book simply to showcase the wonders of living a fulfilling life. The book takes the readers through a spiritual journey into the old culture of India and promotes how to live happily, give value to your relationship, value your time, think deep and right and live every moment of your life.
This book was one of the bestselling books of Robin Sharma throughout the world due to its neat mixture of philosophies of both western and eastern worlds. Due to its alluring story, many great personalities of the world follow this book.
13. Wings of Fire: An Autobiography of Abdul Kalam
Wings of fire is an ultimate inspiring and motivational book written with Arun Tiwari that shares the story of an extremely humble and visionary scientist who rose to become the president of India. The story of this book revolves around the insights, personal moments and experiences of Dr. Abdul Kalam.
This book evokes the readers to find the inner peace and potential because according to him, every individual has the hidden strength in themselves to make a small change in the world. The book also recollects the memories of his childhood, and being a scientist and the tragic moments of his life such as collecting awards and demise of his father.
One part of book also deals with the significant contribution of Abdul Kalam by guiding the missile program for India which was necessary for the security of the nation. Due to his contribution, he was also named the “Missile man of India.”
12. Think and Grow Rich
This book was written by Napoleon Hill. The title of this book, “Thing and Grow Rich” might suggest that it is related to accumulating wealth, but being a reader of this, I can tell you that this motivational book is made to make you rich professionally as well as personally in every aspect of life.
The author has dedicated the idea of this book to Andrew Carnegie. He has placed the magic formulas of gaining fortune which he acquired through experience and conducting interviews of wealthiest and successful people which every one of us can apply in our lives.
11. Steve Jobs
This motivational book dictates the story of Steve jobs, an inventive and creative entrepreneur written by Walter Isaacson through the 40+ interviews conducted in 2 years and hundreds of interviews of his colleagues, family members, friends, and competitors.
This inspiring book shares the highs and lows of his life and his passion towards perfection and creativity which almost revolutionized numerous industries. The book where shared his nature of perfectionist also shared his brutal nature as he encouraged the people he knew to speak honestly about him.
His famous quote, “The best way to predict the future is to invent it” explains how obsessive and passionate he is towards his business.
10. The Power of Your Subconscious Mind
Do you know, you have one mind of your own mind known as sub-conscious mind and it is the powerful one. If you know how to control your sub-conscious mind, you are already successful. This book written by Joseph Murphy enlightens us about the power our subconscious mind holds and how can we control it.
To be able to control your mind is no joke as many people in this world try different remedies and remain unsuccessful. This book acts as a guide to take you through a journey of your subconscious and bring to light the power within you to change and improve your way of life. It will guide you through the spiritual ways to take over your sub-conscious mind.
9. The Power of Positive Thinking
The Power of Positive Thinking is a high rated book which helps you to believe in yourself and your work, build determination, improve your personal and professional feelings, and achieve a relaxed life. It was the bestselling book with over 5 million copies sold in print and helped numerous men and women in their lives.
It is written by Peale Vincent Norman and was highly criticised by psychologists and theologists. They even called the author a crank and called the book a heretic. However, with time science verified the basic idea behind the book. That basic idea was that “Being optimistic makes a person happy, healthy and even likely to be successful.”
8. The Greatest Salesman in The World
This book is written by Og Mandino that encourages you to live your live to the fullest. It has helped millions of people including Mathew McConaughey. The story in this book evolves around a poor camel boy who went on to become a rich person. Along with this story, the book also encourages you to follow certain principles in your life to be successful.
The title of this book might suggest this book for a salesperson yet it is more than that. The book contains powerful messages that have the power to change lives of a person as many have experienced and shared with others.
7. Grit: The POWER of PASSION and PERSEVERANCE
This motivational book is written by Angela Duckworth who is psychologist by profession. She takes her readers through a journey to tell them that the success never comes with talent but with the consistent blend of passion and perseverance, what she calls as “GRIT”.
Being a daughter of a scientist she always felt being less genius but as she grew and gained experience in his teaching, research and consultancy, she came to a conclusion that the genius doesn’t lead to success but a person’s GRIT leads to success.
The insights provided by Angela in this book are inspiring and encouraging to never underestimate the power of passion, consistency, and action towards a goal.
6. The Alchemist
The Alchemist is an inspiring story of a young boy named Santiago who travels from his homeland to travel the world to the Egyptian pyramids to find the treasure instead ends up gaining different kind of riches, he had never imagined.
This book is one of the best inspiring, spiritual, and motivational books sold millions of copies around the world.
The Alchemist is written by Paulo Coelho about self-discovery which encourages us to listen to our heart, recognize our passion and grab the opportunities. Author’s blend of spirituality, wisdom, magical realism, and folklore in this book has inspired around 62 million readers.
5. The Art of Happiness
Everyone work to seeks happiness in life more than money. This book was written by Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler in which both the authors discussed many different facets of life such as relationships, loss, inner peace, wealth, etc. With different stories, they discuss the ways to defeat anger, anxiety, insecurity, discouragement, etc.
This motivational book encourages you to reflect into your inner-self and discover what happiness is to you. By determining your happiness, you determines your purpose which ultimately gives you clarity, focus, and vision in your life.
4. The Magic of Thinking Big
The magic of thinking big is one of the long regarded as foremost expert on motivation. Written by Dr. Schwartz, the book has sold millions of copies throughout the world in which the author offers you useful methods to sell better, manage better, earn more money, find happiness and peace of mind.
According to the author, to achieve everything you desire and change your lives, you need to change your thinking and your attitude. With the help of this book, the author has proved that the secret to success is to learn the way you think and behave.
3. How Successful People Think
This motivational book is written by a leadership expert John C. Maxwell. It is a perfect book considering today’s fast paced world in which author teaches us how to be more creative and when to question popular thinking.
You’ll learn how to capture the big picture while focusing your thinking. You’ll find out how to tap into your creative potential, develop shared ideas, and derive lessons from the past to better understand the future. With these eleven keys to more effective thinking, you’ll clearly see the path to personal success.
2. Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude
This classic motivational book has led millions to personal success. This book is written by Napoleon Hill in which he describes the methods in an easy way to be successful. According to him, all the dreams comes true if you think positive in all situations and discover to awake hidden powers beneath you.
In this book, the author teaches you how to motivate yourself, create personal initiative, maintain self-discipline, use creativity, organized thinking and focus in following your dreams. He believes that your mind makes up how you live successfully, healthy, happily, and wealthy in life.
1. The Four Agreements
This motivational book is written by Miguel Ruiz and Janet Mills who believes that the four agreements are necessary in life to lead a path to freedom. Those agreements are:-
- Be impeccable with your word
- Don’t take anything personally
- Don’t make assumptions
- Always do your best
This book guides you to transform your lives to a new experience of love, freedom, and happiness. It’s not what but how and why we should apply these agreements in our life makes it worth reading and remembering this book.
Conclusions | 15 Best Motivational Books in English You Must Read
These 15 books are extremely wonderful to read, if you are ready to change your lives. Even 3-4 books among these recommendations can help you on your way towards a more inspiring life. In this current fast paced world, these books have a good message of self-analysis, personality development and positive attitude and thinking which makes them worth reading.
If you have read any books from this list, do share your thoughts with us. Also share some of the best books you think could have been in this list.
To make it more interesting, I have added some links below to continue reading and enjoy some of the best recommendations.
- 15 Celebrity Autobiographies to Read
- 22 Non-Fiction Books on World War 2
- Books to Read More About Revolutionary Bhagat Singh
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What Are Self-Motivational Books?
Self-help books are the one designed in such a way that they help the readers make a positive change in their lives. Self-help books also help in finding the purpose and develop the habits required in making a person successful.
Self-help books focus on providing the practical knowledge that in-turn also gives clarity to the readers in their about their goal and the process to achieve them.
2. Do Successful People Read a Lot of Books?
Yes, many people who are successful are indulged in reading and also urges upcoming entrepreneurs to read more and more books to gain knowledge and experience of successful people and implement the same in our lives. Some of the successful people who read books regularly and are an inspiration for most of us include Warren Buffett, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, Oprah Winfrey, Mark Cuban, etc.
3. What Do Rich People Read Everyday?
It is true that successful people do read, but what do they actually read in their daily lives is now not a secret since many of them have revealed their favorite books in interviews. The common of them include biographies, self-help books, magazines, newspapers, etc.
