9 Best Motivational Books to Awaken Your Initiative
Books have a magical way of transporting us to different worlds and enriching our lives with others' personal experiences and stories. In this collection of motivational books, we’ve selected the best motivational books to inspire personal growth and self-improvement.
There are some great titles out there that can help boost your motivation and productivity. For example, Why We Do What We Do provides insights into the psychology of human behavior, while Get It Done offers practical strategies for overcoming procrastination and achieving your goals. Each book has its own strengths and weaknesses, but all of them offer a unique perspective on how to boost your motivation and activate your inner drive.
9 Best Motivational Books to Awaken Your Initiative
1. Why We Do What We Do by Edward L. Deci
Genre: Self-Help
Vibe: Insightful, Engaging, Informative
Read It If You…
Seek deeper insights into human motivation.
Want to understand the psychology behind behavior.
Desire to enhance your self-awareness and personal freedom.
Why We Do What We Do explores the science of motivation. It looks into the factors that influence behavior. According to Deci, it's important to encourage autonomy and teach others how to do things not because they'll get a reward, but because they want to.
Quotes from Why We Do What We Do by Edward L. Deci
Rebellion is the outward manifestation of people’s tendency to defy controls, and it coexists uneasily with conformity, which is the expression of their tendency to comply.Edward L. Deci
Authencity necessitates behaving autonomously, for it means being the author of one’s actions.Edward L. Deci
Self-motivation rather than external motivation is at the heart of creativity, responsibility, healthy behavior and lasting change.Edward L. Deci
Throughout life, people grapple with the issue of whether they are making their own choices.Edward L. Deci
2. Get It Done by Ayelet Fishbach
Genre: Self-Help
Vibe: Action-oriented, results-driven
Read It If You…
Need practical strategies to improve productivity
Want to overcome procrastination and achieve goals
Prefer straightforward advice for getting things done
Get It Done provides actionable tips and techniques for maximizing productivity and efficiency in your daily lives. Fishbach looks for simple yet useful tools to achieve your goals with a distinctive writing style.
Quotes from Get It Done by Ayelet Fishbach
A goal doesn’t just point you in a specific direction, it also pulls you in that direction.Ayelet Fishbach
An activity feels more intrinsically motivated when it immediately achieves a goal, even if it’s not the goal you originally set out to achieve.Ayelet Fishbach
And, like focusing your attention on how much progress you’ve made, focusing attention on how much progress you haven’t made can sometimes help sustain your motivation.Ayelet Fishbach
Another reason learning from failure is difficult is that, despite our having failed in the past, failures catch us by surprise.Ayelet Fishbach
Most of the larger rewards we aspire to in life can take years of waiting.Ayelet Fishbach
3. Change Your Schedule, Change Your Life by Dr. Suhas Kshirsagar
Genre: Self-Help
Vibe: Holistic, enlightening
Read It If You…
Seek holistic strategies for improving well-being.
Want to optimize your daily routine for better health.
Are interested in learning about your Circadian rhythm.
Change Your Schedule, Change Your Life offers practical advice for aligning daily routines with natural rhythms. The author combines ancient wisdom with modern insights, providing a comprehensive guide to optimal living.
Quotes from Change Your Schedule, Change Your Life by Dr. Suhas Kshirsagar
Tell me your daily routine, and I’ll tell you how healthy you feel.Suhas Kshirsagar
Even without the presence of light each morning, your body would try to function on that same twenty-four-hour schedule.Suhas Kshirsagar
If you want to create a better schedule, you first have to keep track of what you do during a typical day.Suhas Kshirsagar
If you don’t know how your body feels throughout the day, it’s hard to figure out what or when to eat and when to stop eatingSuhas Kshirsagar
Getting in touch with the body you have neglected is a complicated business.Suhas Kshirsagar
A sedentary life causes you to breathe only shallowly, and this strains the heart and starves the brain.Suhas Kshirsagar
4. The Power of A Positive Attitude by Roger Fritz
Genre: Self-Help
Vibe: Uplifting, encouraging
Read It If You…
Want to cultivate a more positive mindset.
Seek inspiration to overcome challenges with optimism.
Prefer practical advice.
In The Power of a Positive Attitude, Roger Fritz highlights the importance of maintaining a positive attitude to attain one's goals in life. The book provides practical advice on how to overcome obstacles and develop a positive mindset. Fritz's approach is to help readers evaluate and enhance their attitudes to thrive in any situation. The book is written in an easy-to-understand language and offers valuable tools to help readers improve their outlook on life.
Quotes from The Power of A Positive Attitude by Roger Fritz
When you have the right attitude, you can find great success even when you are confronted with failure or obstacles.Roger Fritz
Consider the people around you—your boss, your colleagues, and your employees—to determine if they are helping you or pulling you down.Roger Fritz
Successful people acknowledge that they are vulnerable in their dependence upon the performance of others.Roger Fritz
The essence of a positive attitude is belief in yourself.Roger Fritz
No matter how you slice it, caring can’t be faked. But being truly caring is a critical component to having a positive toward those around you.Roger Fritz
Doubters and pessimists stay the same or get worse.Roger Fritz
5. Hidden Potential by Adam Grant
Genre: Self-Help
Vibe: Inspirational, reflective
Read It If You…
Want to explore hidden talents
Are inspired by narratives of overcoming obstacles
Have a sense that you need to unlock your motivation
Adam Grant's book challenges conventional notions of success, emphasizing character development and effective learning over intrinsic talent. It celebrates human potential. Overall, his work in Hidden Potential is an inspiring reminder that success is not just about talent, but also about hard work, dedication, and a willingness to learn and grow.
Quotes from Hidden Potential by Adam Grant
Character is often confused with personality, but they’re not the same. Personality is your predisposition—your basic instincts for how to think, feel, and act. Character is your capacity to prioritize your values over your instincts.Adam Grant
Many people associate procrastination with laziness. But psychologists find that procrastination is not a time management problem—it’s an emotion management problem.Adam Grant
The progress we normally chalk up to working harder may actually be due to working smarter.Adam Grant
The people who go on to become masters in their fields often start out with imperfect transcripts in school.Adam Grant
6. Love Life by Matthew Hussey
Genre: Self-Help
Vibe: Heartfelt, authentic
Read It If You…
Seek to cultivate a healthier sense of self-love and self-awareness.
Desire deeper insights into the dynamics of love, vulnerability, and personal growth.
Aim to break free from patterns of self-doubt and fear.
In Love Life, Matthew Hussey emphasizes the importance of self-love as the foundation of a successful relationship. It highlights the transformative journey toward self-discovery and fulfillment that relationships bring to the surface. "Love Life" empowers readers to cultivate a love for life beyond their relationship status and grow personally.
Quotes from Love Life by Matthew Hussey
In the course of your love life you may run into a lot of poets, but I assure you, you’ll find a lot less poetry. A poet may talk a good game, but poetry takes effort and has to actually be written for it to exist.Matthew Hussey
Don’t ever sell yourself short by giving everything to someone who isn’t worth it, or hasn’t proven themselves to be worth it yet.Matthew Hussey
Putting pressure on someone rarely works. It’s more about staying true to yourself and what you want, while demonstrating that you’re not judging them for the phase they’re in, even if it means the two of you need to go your separate ways.Matthew Hussey
7. Set Boundaries, Find Peace by Nedra Glover Tawwab
Genre: Self-Help
Vibe: Supportive, empowering
Read It If You…
Struggle with setting and maintaining healthy boundaries.
Seek guidance on cultivating self-awareness and assertiveness.
Want to improve relationships and prioritize self-care.
Set Boundaries, Find Peace: A Guide to Reclaiming Yourself provides practical strategies for setting and enforcing boundaries in various areas of life. Tawwab's compassionate approach empowers readers to prioritize their needs, communicate effectively, and foster healthier connections.
You Might Also Like: Can Prioritizing Yourself Reduce Resentment In Your Relationship?
Quotes from Set Boundaries, Find Peace by Nedra Glover Tawwab
I can’t tell you how many people show up in my office lamenting, “I don’t have time to do anything for myself.” After a quick evaluation, it becomes apparent that these people are not making any time for themselves.Nedra Glover Tawwab
People ignore boundaries as a passive-aggressive way of pretending they didn’t hear them. But boundaries should be respected. When people ignore our requests, resentment builds.Nedra Glover Tawwab
Gossip isn’t helpful and only leads to more resentment. It does nothing to improve the relationship or end the behavior that bothers us.Nedra Glover Tawwab
If you see setting boundaries as mean or rude, you will be sad after setting one. It’s essential to reframe the way you think about this process.Nedra Glover Tawwab
For some of us, however, expressing emotions isn’t easy. So when someone belittles your emotions or invalidates your feelings, they are violating your emotional boundaries. This can make you feel uncomfortable the next time you want to express your emotions.Nedra Glover Tawwab
8. Worthy by Nancy Levin
Genre: Self-Help
Vibe: Transformative
Read It If You…
Struggle with self-worth and self-acceptance
Seek guidance on overcoming limiting beliefs and self-doubt
Want to cultivate a deeper sense of worthiness and fulfillment
When we doubt our worth, we fear scarcity in all aspects of life, including finances. In Worthy, Nancy Levin reveals the profound connection between self-worth and financial abundance. She guides readers to confront money anxieties, challenge limiting beliefs, and reclaim their inherent value.
Quotes from Worthy by Nancy Levin
Once we’ve healed our internal wounds around worth, and we finally know we deserve good things, we open up to receiving more of what the universe has in store for us.Nancy Levin
There are certain emotions we like to feel—like happiness, gratitude, love, and excitement. Other feelings? Not so much. Whatever it is we’re not looking at, you can bet it’s associated with those “let’s just pretend we don’t feel that” emotions.Nancy Levin
One of the reasons beliefs are so effective in dictating our reality is that they act as magnets. They cause us to draw toward us the people and circumstances that seem to confirm them as truth.Nancy Levin
If you’re in a position to help out a member of your family or a friend because it feels balanced and heartfelt to do so, by all means, give. Just ask whether you’re giving out of a sense of guilt or obligation.Nancy Levin
So many of our excuses are based on what we experienced in the past. Maybe we had a failure at some point, so we want to avoid that kind of hurt ever again.Nancy Levin
9. Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins
Genre: Autobiography
Vibe: Intense, empowering, transformative
Read It If You…
Seek inspiration for overcoming adversity
Seek transformative insights to push you further
Want to cultivate mental resilience
Can't Hurt Me details David Goggins' journey from Navy SEAL to ultramarathon runner, showcasing his triumph over adversity and mental barriers. Goggins' story offers valuable insights into pushing the boundaries of human potential and turning adversity into strength.
Quotes from Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins
What are the current factors limiting your growth and success? Is someone standing in your way at work or school? Are you underappreciated and overlooked for opportunities?David Goggins
Nobody likes to hear the hard truth. Individually and as a culture, we avoid what we need to hear most.David Goggins
There is no more time to waste. Hours and days evaporate like creeks in the desert.David Goggins
Whatever your goal, you’ll need to hold yourself accountable for the small steps it will take to get there. Self-improvement takes dedication and self- discipline.David Goggins
Most of us sweep our failures and evil secrets under the rug, but when we run into problems, that rug gets lifted up, and our darkness re-emerges, floods our soul, and influences the decisions which determine our character.David Goggins