Our personal development starts with reading and rereading books that give us new insights. Here is a list of books I have recommended most frequently for my clients:
| Life Learnings of a Life Coach by Heiner Karst |
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An insight into what I have learned as a life coach in terms of overcoming the most typical obstacles holding most people back from raising their game to becoming the best they can be. |
| The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle |
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This Eckhart Tolle classic is one of my personal favourites; a self-help guide for day-to-day living that stresses the importance of living in the present moment and avoiding thoughts of the past or future. |
| You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay |
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This book offers profound insight into the relationship between the mind and the body. Exploring the way that limiting thoughts and ideas control and constrict us, it offers us a powerful key to understanding the roots of our physical diseases and discomforts. I particularly appreciated the healing affirmations it contains for everyone. |
| The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni |
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This leadership fable provides a powerful (but practical) theory about the 5 behavioural tendencies that corrupt most teams. |
| “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Steven Covey |
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In this timeless classic, the author presents a holistic, integrated, principle-centered approach for solving personal and professional problems. |
| First Things First by Steven Covey |
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Building on his “7 Habits”, Covey focuses on overcoming debilitating habits, learning to distinguish what is truly important in life, and focusing on people and relationships instead of things and schedules; that is how to balance the demands of a schedule with the desire for fulfillment. |
| Time to Think by Nancy Kline |
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Building on the principle of “the quality of my listening enhances the quality of your thinking”, so as to create a “thinking environment” is a must read for superior business influencing and communication skills. |
| What to say when you talk to yourself by Shad Helmstetter |
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If we are what we say to ourselves in terms of our self worth, then replacing debilitating self-talk with positive affirmations is a great opportunity to overcome obstacles “made in our heads”. This book has helped so many of my clients do just that. |
| Personality Plus by Florence Littauer |
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Most of us are familiar with the profiling tool DISC. This book gives a delightfully written appreciation of the 4 temperaments and creates an enhanced understanding of how we (can) all use them to interact. |
| Quiet by Susan Cain |
| A “quietly but powerfully written” insight into the power of introverts in a world that can’t stop talking. What a great collection of research that underpins her message and also dispels a few old myths about so many of the stereotyped labels we are so quick to hand out. Whether you are a leader or led (aren’t we always both?) the insights gained from this book cannot but influence the way you can better understand, appreciate and leverage different behaviours of those around you. In my work as an executive life coach I so often help clients needing to raise their “corporate and political visibility”. We often need to focus on getting them “off their couch and out of their comfort zone” in order to proactively develop their business network. Many try to hide behind “being an introvert” until they read this and recognize the power embedded in their natural but not recognized finesse and ability to influence and win others over. No, it’s not just the “loud ones” that can do that. |
| The Richest Man in Babylon by George Clason |
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This little book dispenses invaluable financial advice through a collection of parables set in ancient Babylon in which the characters learn simple lessons in financial wisdom through experiences in business and managing household finance. |
| 7 Steps to Wealth by John Fitzgerald |
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A practical outline of what matters for successful investment in residential property to leverage capital growth, written and practiced by one of my personal mentors. |
| Over the Top by Zig Ziglar |
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Building on his “See you at the top” fame, Zig Ziglar identifies and shows precisely how to achieve what people desire most from life–to be happy, healthy, reasonably prosperous, blessed with friends, and hopeful. |
| Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi |
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Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s famous investigations of “optimal experience” have revealed that what makes an experience genuinely satisfying is a state of consciousness called flow, during which people typically experience deep enjoyment, creativity, and a total involvement with life. |
| The eMyth by Michael Gerber |
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The author dispels the myths surrounding starting your own business and shows how commonplace assumptions can get in the way of running a business through the steps from entrepreneurial infancy, through adolescent growing pains, to the mature entrepreneurial perspective, the guiding light of all businesses that succeed. |
| Getting everything you can out of all you’ve got – Jay Abraham |
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This book by renowned marketing guru Jay Abraham lets you spot the hidden assets, overlooked opportunities, and untapped resources around you, and gives you fresh eyes with which to see and capitalize on them. A must for anyone going out in their own business. |
| Mastery by Robert Greene |
| With this book Robert Greene shows us through his incredible research of past masters like Darwin, Da Vinci, Edison, Goethe, Keats, Einstein, Franklin, Ford, Mozart etc. how we can leverage their learnings and approaches to lead our own lives, so that we too can achieve mastery in whatever field we choose. All of these masters rebelled against conventional paths expected by their parents, environments or circumstances in order to choose and pursue (often over a period of time) what they instinctively felt was right for them in their life. The many factors that proved to be common across all their pursuits to mastery – the ones Greene outlines for us in this book – are the same ones available to each and every one of us, irrespective of our current age and stage. The masters all had to find who they were (and who they weren’t). They trained their minds to find the positive, often against all odds. They ignored the obvious and the mediocre and accepted that failure was necessary for success. They developed a confidence and belief in themselves that transcended their comfort zone and enabled them to see the uncommon being possible. Another common trait Greene highlights is how much all the Masters had to learn to persevere (discipline and technical skills) and to “sell” their ideas (social and influencing skills) through massive opposition in order to prevail, something I devote lots of coaching time to for my clients to succeed in their initiatives. he shows they knew they didn’t have to do it alone, seeking, leveraging and leapfrogging the mentors they needed along the way. Apart from starting out very strongly with the need for us identify and define the purpose of our life’s work we will pursue, Greene emphasizes 3 clear chapters in any great life outcome:
This isn’t an easy read, but an extremely worthwhile read. It took me months to read, because it took me into such depths of relevance that so powerfully confirmed what it takes to build “an extraordinary life”. |
