20 Best Self Growth Books That Will Change Your Life
Read these self growth books to improve your life and gain better understanding of wealth, success principles and health.
1. “The 4-Hour Work Week
” by Tim Ferris
This is by far the best self growth book I have ever read. It taught me how to:
1. Minimise the workload to the most essential tasks and become effective at everything I do.
2. Think outside-the-box
3. Understand why common thinking is wrong.
4. Start profitable business without large investment.
5. Avoid costly mistakes in business.
Timothy Ferris explains step by step how to establish profitable business and create plenty of free time so that you could pursue life of your dreams. He really goes into detail of how to make enough income and put your income making sources on autopilot.
He has a very funny and uncommon way of telling his story. I love his writing style which is very simple yet sharp and insightful. He genuinely wants to help others quit their unsatisfying jobs and start living exciting life.
Tim tells his story in a very entertaining way and explains how from an underpaid office worker he became a member of the NR (New Rich). He refuses to follow the accepted common lifestyle standards and always thinks outside-the-box.
You will benefit from this book if you are looking to free yourself from employment or long self-employment hours and start creating life of your dreams.
2. “Think and Grow Rich
“ by Napoleon Hill
Millions of people became ultra-successful after reading this self growth book. This sentence alone should convince you to read it!
You only need to have this self growth book and blindly follow everything it teaches to succeed in everything you do. I recommend this book for everyone who wants to attain abundance mindset.
This book explains what you will encounter in your journey to wealth, what to be aware of and what steps to take to attain abundance.
It goes on to say that if you are ready for abundance, the secret of this book may pop up at any time, in any page. That will surely keep you intrigued to read the whole book! Click here to read “Think and Grow Rich” book for free.
3. “The Science of Getting Rich
” by Wallace D. Wattles
This is a very old, yet one of the most influential self growth books ever written. Wallace D. Wattles teaches how to acquire health, wealth and happiness by following established laws of nature. His writing style is simple to follow and very inspiring.
Wallace D. Wattles guarantees that if you follow his teachings it will be impossible for your to fail. I know personally many people who created wealth and success by following his teachings.
I succeeded by reading his self growth book, among other books. I am not sure which particular book impacted my life most, because I read so many of them!
This book will definitely make you successful if you apply everything it teaches. Don’t worry, it is quite a short so it will be easy to apply his teachings. Click here to get this book for free.
4. “The Master Key System
” by Charles F. Haanel
This is one of the first self growth books written about the law of attraction. Some sources claim that this book gave birth to “Think and Grow Rich” best-seller of all times. As I love to go to the source for everything I am interested in, I read this book with great interest.
I must say that you may find some of his sentences hard to understand because it was written in old English. Sentences are long and full of information, so you might need to re-read the same sentence several times to really grasp the meaning.
This book explains in detail how the law of attraction works and if you take time to read it, you will benefit greatly.
The Master Key System should be read weekly because it gives weekly lessons with exercises. You should do exercises for a week, and when you completely master given exercises, you should move on to another chapter. This way you will completely master universal laws. Click here to read this book for free.
5.”Thought Vibration” by Walter Atkinson
This self growth book was written by Walter Atkinson, a very controversial and secretive man whom I feel deep gratitude for.
His writing style is so simple yet contains plenty of important information. He easily explains most complicated subjects.
In the first chapter he explains in detail how the law of vibration works.
Then he goes on to fully explain how to get into the proper vibration to attract your desires. Click here to read this book for free.
6. “You Can Change Your Life… Any Time You Want: An Inspirational Guide to Success” by Robin Sieger
Robin Sieger is an amazing person that has gone through a total transformation of his life. He conquered all the challenges life had thrown at him and achieved everything he wished for.
In his self growth book, You Can Change Your Life Any Time You Want, he completely discloses everything he learnt from his experiences. He has a very authoritative way of encouraging you to take action towards your goals.
This author was the first one who inspired me to make a very big change in my life. I have shifted comfort zones because of his book. Very, very inspiring self growth book that will make you become pro-active and conquer the fear.
I am very grateful for Robin Sieger’s teachings. Who knows where I would be now if I didn’t read his book…
7. “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki
I am grateful for Robert Kiyosaki, the author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad, for starting my self improvement journey. It was the first book that opened my eyes to the world full of opportunities. The previous author (Robin Sieger) made me conquer fear and change my comfort zones. Robert Kiyosaki, on the other hand, made me spot plenty of opportunities that others missed.
For example, he teaches how to spot money making opportunities in bad economy. He explains that many people miss great opportunities that present themselves right before the their eyes.
Because of this book I started attending ‘Cash flow’ meetings. These are the meetings that Robert Kiyosaki started but now are organised by independent groups in various parts of the world. I went to London Cash flow group meeting and made plenty of friends there.
If you cannot find like-minded people (e.g. if you want to get into an abundance mindset, but people with scarcity mindset surround you) I highly recommend meeting with such group. If there is no such group in your area, you can start one!
Check this website to find out more about the “Cash flow” group in your area.
Back to the book. Rich Dad, Poor Dad is a great transition point from common you to a greater you. It is ideal for people who still don’t realise that it’s possible to live a completely fulfilling life. It is for those that still didn’t wake up to the world full of opportunities.
I love Robert Kiyosaki’s simple way of explaining the economy and the money game. There are no scientific or business terms, yet you gain so much financial education from this book that no university can teach you. This book explains the mistakes of the masses and how to rise above the common thinking.
I recommend not only this self growth book, but other books he has written too. I have included one more book written by this author in this list.
8. “The Millionaire Mindset
” by Gerry Robert
This book was written by the student of Bob Proctor. He, after being coached by Bob, acquired large wealth in short period of time. In his book he teaches the techniques of how to acquire abundance mindset. He gives steps how to form good habits, what habits to form and he even gives worksheets to fill to check your progress.
I must say that this self growth book is not for everyone. I loved the book, but to be perfectly honest, I did not fill any of the worksheets he included in the book. It is too time consuming for me. I know that if I find something useful, I will apply it anyway. But for those that struggle to accomplish their goals I highly recommend completing all the tasks he gives.
9. “Life Was Never Meant to Be a Struggle”
by Stuart Wilde
The author of this self growth book, Stuart Wilde, is a very interesting person. He came to America as an immigrant and accumulated a huge debt. Through applying universal laws and metaphysical studies he managed to not only get out of debt, but also to become very successful person.
He teaches how to acquire success in quite unconventional ways. His studies of metaphysics are really visible from his teachings.
In his book Stuart Wilde explains that it is very easy to acquire everything we want, but our limited beliefs prevent us from achieving goals by constantly sabotaging our steps to success.
His ideas and teachings are very useful and interesting, but it may leave you questioning even more. This is good for some, but bad for others… Because of his teachings I started searching for exact questions to my answers. This lead me to pursue personal development and teach people about it. Where will it lead you?
10. “Miracles” by Stuart Wilde
In the ‘Miracles’ self growth book Stuart Wilde goes deeper into universal laws and explains how we manifest things in life. Although his book is called ‘Miracles’, the author explains that there are no things happening by chance, everything is precise and governed by laws.
Stuart Wilde’s amazing personality can be understood by watching this video of his seminar called The Mastery of Money. After watching this video you will have better idea what his teaching style is and if you would like to read some of his books. By the way, this video can be the trigger that will raise your consciousness!
11. “The Power of Your Spoken Word“ by Louise Hay
Louise Hay is an amazing person who overcame cancer by her positive thinking and devoted her life teaching others how to heal themselves, achieve goals and become successful. She is also the founder of Hay House publishing company.
The Power of Your Spoken Word is an audio self growth book of her recorded seminar. She teaches that what you talk about every day forms your life and who you are. It is very important to only speak positively and about things you want to see manifest in your life.
Her funny and warm personality really shines through her recordings. She also has many other recorded seminars about heeling yourself, positive thinking, affirmations and emotional power.
12. “Awaken the Giant Within“ by Anthony Robbins
This book is full of great advice about instant change in all areas of your life, be it finances, relationships or health.
It offers many NLP and emotional intelligence techniques to take control of your life immediately. It also contains techniques that Anthony Robbins Himself invented. Most of them can produce instant changes.
This is not a thin book. It has around 650 pages (as far as I remember). It is like a manual for life.
This book should be purchased by anyone who is just starting in their personal development or who don’t know where to start from.
13. “Your Invisible Power“ by Genevieve Behrend
This is a very old self growth book that was written by a lady that had an opportunity to meet Thomas Troward. I am not sure if you’ve heard of T. Troward, but he was an amazing person. I describe one of his books in this list too, so more on him later on.
Genevieve Behrend explains in her self growth book Your Invisible Power how she applied the universal laws and achieved all her desires. She explained the process of visualisation and how to acquire sixth sense. She completely listened to her intuition which led her to achieve everything she wished.
This is a really amazing story explained in simple words. It is a very inspirational and awakening book. It proves that you can become everything you want starting from scratch.
14. “The Hidden Power” by Thomas Troward
I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but I love reading old books:-) Most of them are very original and are the sources of all today’s writings. I love going to the source, and this book is one of the most comprehensive original self growth books written about the power of universal laws.
I must admit, it is NOT an easily digestible book. Prepare to be faced by very long old English sentences full of dense information. I had to reread some sentences many times to really get what the author was trying to explain. But once you understand what he wants to say, you can raise your awareness to a great degree.
So it’s not an easy read, but if you take time to understand it, you will be highly rewarded.
He also talks a lot about religion, and some of his thoughts might be off the mainstream. Prepare to meet with a lot of controversial information that will make you think long and hard.
Click here to get this book for free.
Every single page of the book can open your eyes to a better world. Thomas Troward explains that you have to only give power to yourself. If you give at least some power to the things outside you, you will start fearing the unknown. That is so true. And this is only one of his paragraphs!
15. “Rich Dad’s Increase Your Financial IQ” by Robert Kiyosaki
This R. Kiyosaki’s self growth book is going more into detail of how to attain financial IQ. This book explains how to use OPT (other people’s time) and OPM (other people’s money) to get what you want. He goes into the core problem of people getting paid for the amount of time they spend earning money.
He explains how to spend less time, yet make more money.
Robert Kiyosaki explains why employees and self-employed never achieve financial freedom whereas business owners and investors are getting increasingly richer.
I recommend this self growth book to people that find it hard to apply/believe in universal laws. Although by following universal laws it’s much easier to acquire abundance mindset, not everyone can blindly follow them. Financial IQ offers ideas how to get financial education and become wealthy in a more practical manner.
16. “A Course in Miracles“
This book is told to be written by the person who channelled Jesus. There is no author mentioned on the cover of the book but inside the book you will find the explanation how it got created. Basically, Helen Schucman started channelling Jesus and that’s how this material appeared.
This book is spiritual and not an easy read. It contains spiritual development lessons. It talks about how to get rid of your ego and how the Bible was misinterpreted.
You will benefit from reading this book if you are depressed, do not see the purpose in life, want to find the peace of mind or seek to be more spiritual.
It is a very eye-opening book and it truly raises your awareness, but it may take some time to really understand all the messages in the book.
17. “The Millionaire Maker“ by Loral Langemeier
Loral Langemeier is another student of Bob Proctor. She was raised in a farm by parents that taught that life is hard. She was from a very typical middle class family. In a short period of time she became super successful and completely mastered the laws governing wealth.
In her self growth book “The Millionaire Maker” she gives very practical tips how to achieve success no matter what your circumstances are. She gives case studies of people from different backgrounds and financial situations and tells how to transform that particular situation into success.
She gives examples what to do if you are deeply in debt, how to change habits of overspending, how to quit your day job and pursue the life of your dreams.
If you like down-to-earth practical tips, this book is for you.
If you believe in universal laws and know that you can change your circumstances by thinking, this book is not for you. Millionaire Maker is concentrating on taking action rather than firstly thinking about your desired circumstances.
18.”NLP (Collins Need to Know?)“ by Carolyn Boyes
NLP is a very interesting method to completely change your results in life. This book is one of the best books explaining NLP and putting learnt information to use. It goes into the detailed process of how to change your mindset, achieve goals and think outside-the-box.
This self growth book teaches how to change your results by changing action. When you change action, your results change causing shift in your thinking process. Whereas in using universal laws, you change your thinking, thus your actions change causing you to get different results.
Here is a very simple explanation:
NLP
Different action = different results = changed thinking
LOA (and other universal laws)
Changed thinking = different action = different results
It depends which method you prefer using. If the NLP method appeals to you more, this book will help you apply this process to accomplish your goals and change mindset.
19. “You Were Born Rich
“ by Bob Proctor
Bob Proctor is a widely known prosperity coach. His book is full of uncommon advice on how to create abundance mindset. Some of the advice will challenge you, and will make you shift your comfort zone if you decide to act on his teachings.
You will benefit from this book if you want to attain abundance mindset, be healthy and successful. You are almost guaranteed to succeed by following his teachings as Bob Proctor made hundreds of people very successful.
You can get his book for free by clicking here. Look at the top of the website and you should spot Get Bob’s book for FREE notice and the picture of the book. Just click there to download the book.
20.”Feel the Fear . . . and Do It Anyway ” by Susan Jeffers
This book will benefit you if you still have fear inside you. I have got rid of fear long time ago and I read this book only because I heard that it changed many lives.
Susan Jeffers was living in fear for a long time, and one day she had enough of self-pity. She realised that she needed to make radical changes in her life because she couldn’t bear self-denial and unsatisfying life.
She started searching for answers of how to get rid of fear, read many self growth books, attended seminars and spoke to people that attained courage. This way she got rid of fear and started to live life of her dreams.
In her self growth book she goes into detail explaining why you fear, what types of fear there are and how to overcome it.
It is quite small and easy to read book. Yet it is probably the best book ever written about the subject of fear.
Basically, you can get rid of fear by understanding that everything is in your control and you should trust the universal laws. If you don’t believe that universal laws work, then you should read this book.
As always, I find it much easier to sort any problem from the universal laws’ side, but I know that some people don’t believe that they work.
Further reading: 50 Best Personal Development Books, Self-Help Book Reviews.
Go back to the homepage from the Self Growth Books page.
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My name is Simona Rich and I help people improve themselves through the articles and products of this website. Although I have found my life's purpose and now I spend my time traveling throughout India and sharing my knowledge, my life used to be completely different. 


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