Are you looking for good, life-changing books that can truly make a difference for you? If so, we’ve got a list you’ll love. We’ve put together a list of some of the best books about reaching your next level and entrepreneurship that will lead to a better life. These are some of Dean Graziosi’s favorite books that he regularly recommends.
These life-changing books present different perspectives and worldviews. Most of these great books are nonfiction, but there is one fiction book thrown in as well. We encourage you to work your way through this list, and hopefully one or more of these inspiring books will change your life.
Change Your Life With These Inspiring Books
The following are 25 of the most life-changing books. These books are not in any kind of order, so read through the entire list to see which one appeals to you the most. Once you find a book you think you’ll enjoy, start reading!
1. The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself by Michael A. Singer
The first book on our list looks at the inner world. Michael A. Singer’s The Untethered Soul challenges you to free yourself from your boundaries and limitations. It takes you deep into your inner thoughts and emotions, giving you the tools to examine your habitual feelings.
Are these things holding you back or propelling you forward?
This book will help you let go of what’s not serving you, allowing you to live in the present and look toward your future happiness. It also leads you to a new level of freedom and energy that will enrich your life.
2. Rocket Fuel: The One Essential Combination That Will Get You More Of What You Want from Your Business by Gino Wickman and Mark C. Winters
From the same authors who brought you the bestseller Traction, this book takes things a step further. This is a good book for breaking down the essential combination of visionaries and integrators. Visionaries provide the groundbreaking ideas and integrators make those ideas into a reality.
When these two personality types join forces, it’s literally like rocket fuel, and you can achieve anything.
This self-help book is incredibly practical. It even includes assessments to determine whether your employees are visionaries or integrators.
3. Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport
Deep work is the ability to laser focus your attention on an intellectually demanding task. If you do so without distraction, you will achieve the task with higher quality in less time than if you were to multitask or check email and social media periodically.
Newport claims that deep work is like a superpower in a distracted world, and we couldn’t agree more.
His four rules to train your mind for deep work are excellent. We encourage you to check them out.
4. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
The Alchemist is one of Dean’s favorite books. You may find this one curious, as it’s the only fiction book on our list. But it’s a favorite for one very simple reason: There are many success secrets hidden within this allegorical tale. Actually, Dean talked about this life-changing book on his podcast.
There are so many lessons to take from this short novel! Many of Dean’s “rules for life” are illustrated perfectly in this insightful bestseller.
5. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D.
When it was published, this groundbreaking book changed the whole conversation on success. Carol S. Dweck’s book explains the power of mindset and shows how success in every area of our lives comes down to what we believe about our talents and abilities.
Dweck details the differences between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset, and she shares how to use the latter to accomplish your goals in all areas of your life. If you’re looking to change your life by improving your mindset, this is a great book to read.
6. Awaken the Giant Within: How to Take Immediate Control of Your Mental, Emotional, Physical and Financial Destiny! by Tony Robbins
This bestseller was one of the most life-changing books for Dean. Written by Dean’s good friend Tony Robbins, this great book includes effective and proven strategies for improving your performance in the four crucial areas of life: mental, emotional, physical, and financial.
Awaken the Giant Within is a self-help book that’s all about helping you get into your “peak state.” Tony helps you harness your self-awareness and self-mastery in order to live your best life.
7. How to Win Friends and Influence People: The Only Book You Need to Lead You to Success by Dale Carnegie
This timeless bestseller has proven effective for generations of people seeking a higher level of success, and we wholeheartedly stand by it. Helpful in both personal and professional scenarios, Dale Carnegie walks you through foolproof ways to make people like you, win people over to your way of thinking, and change people without making them resent you.
How to Win Friends and Influence People is one of the best books to help you master persuasive communication skills and get what you want.
8. The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle
This classic spiritual guidebook by Eckhart Tolle is a journey into the self, and a discovery of the higher Being. As a spiritual person, Dean connected deeply with this life-changing book. The Power of Now is not just platitudes about zen. It’s about truth, light and finding your purpose and place within the wider universe. This inspiring book is a must-read! It has impacted millions, and it’s sure to change your life.
9. Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
This New York Times bestseller looks at the reason why some ideas stick while others just can’t seem to take root. Sometimes lies and rumors fly across the world, whereas important ideas can’t even get off the ground. Why is that? Chip and Dan Heath do a deep dive into why that is. What they discovered is relevant to marketers and movers and shakers alike.
They reveal the anatomy of ideas that work, and they use proven methods to explain how to make your own ideas stickier than Velcro. This book will change the way you communicate for the better.
10. 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos by Jordan B. Peterson
Through this self-help book, Jordan B. Peterson conveys 12 rules that modern humans should follow to live a better life. The rules combine ancient wisdom with simple, everyday truths. It may seem like a basic concept, but the potential for these rules to change your life can’t be overstated. This is a good book if you’re looking for an insightful read.
11. Rich Dad, Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money by Robert T. Kiyosaki
Considered the #1 personal finance book of all time, this life-changing book should not be skipped. Robert Kiyosaki tells the story of his two dads: his real dad (aka his poor dad) and the dad of his best friend (aka his rich dad).
This book will challenge the way you think about money, investing, and everything to do with wealth and employment. It’s a masterclass in different perspectives, and it provides a valuable lesson in the different paths to personal finance.
12. Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl
Man’s Search for Meaning is a riveting account of Viktor E. Frankl’s experience in a Nazi concentration camp. It is a powerfully impactful work of nonfiction that continues to touch lives just as much today as it did when it was published in 1946. Frankl’s search for meaning is one we all share, but it plays out in such a dramatic theater that you can’t help but take inspiration and courage from his story.
13. Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown
Essentialism is a form of minimalism. It’s about deciding what matters most and eliminating less important tasks altogether—a skill that truly successful people must master.
Essentialism is not about being wildly productive and getting crazy amounts done. Instead, it’s about discernment.
- What is necessary and crucial to accomplish?
- What will actually make a difference in your goals?
- What is just busy work and unnecessary in the wider scheme of things?
- Which tasks are unimportant and which tasks will change your life?
You will learn how to apply these questions to your life after reading this life-changing book.
14. The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do In Life and Business by Charles Duhigg
This is a revolutionary book on creating good habits. It takes a deep and scientific look at why humans behave the way we do and how we can change our habitual behaviors. This book is about self-help, and it’s a good book to help you change your life.
With a storytelling writing style, Charles Duhigg uses examples to illustrate his points, showing how harnessing simple habits is the key to massive success in all areas of life. With real-life examples in personal and professional spaces, this book is a guide to self-improvement and entrepreneurial success.
15. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach To Living A Good Life by Mark Manson
This is an important book to include on the best books list because it offers a balance to the sometimes toxic positivity that’s seen in a lot of self-help books. Mark Manson examines the positivity movement with a no-holds-barred approach and calls BS on a lot of it (with straight talk and quite a bit of profanity).
He claims that sometimes life sucks, and that’s just the way it is. Learning to accept it is the best you can do. But also, learning to embrace things like fears and limitations is the path to courage and a better future.
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck is the antidote to false positivity. It’s a great book for those who don’t buy into the whole “if life gives you lemons, make lemonade” concept.
16. Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life by Nir Eyal
This national bestseller is viewed as a “must-read” by Mark Manson, author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck. Indistractable is a fascinating formula for becoming “indistractable,” as in, focused and not distracted by technology.
This book was written by the man who literally designed technology to be habit-forming in the first place. After Nir Eyal began building addictive products, he quickly realized he’d created a monster, so he wrote this book as the antidote to screen time, notifications, text messages, and Facebook doomscrolling.
Indistractable contains a step-by-step method for how to fully focus. It’s not about abstinence from devices (which is no longer practical in our modern world). It’s about living in the world but not being controlled by the technology in it. You need to be in control. And this self-help book tells you exactly how to take that control.
17. Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell
In this nonfiction book, Malcolm Gladwell takes a close look at the world’s high achievers and what sets them apart. He examines not only their personalities but their origins and upbringing. He finds out what experiences made them successful, and compiles it into one great book. Outliers is a masterclass in the makings of the greatest minds in the world.
18. The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life by Hal Elrod
Hal Elrod’s book has been called revolutionary. It shows readers how to wake up with more energy, motivation and focus–a very desirable outcome for high-achieving individuals seeking greater levels of success. Diving deep into morning routines and the best morning habits, this self-help book gives precise direction and tips on how to change your life.
19. Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone To Take Action by Simon Sinek
Simon Sinek’s bestseller Start with Why is widely recognized because of his TED Talk with the same name. Sinek presents the idea that being preoccupied and obsessed with your “why” rather than the “how” is what sets great leaders apart. It makes for more innovation, more influence and ultimately more success. This is a good book to help on your entrepreneurial journey.
20. Principles: Life and Work by Ray Dalio
Ray Dalio is one of the world’s most well respected entrepreneurs. This #1 New York Times bestseller reveals the somewhat unorthodox principles he’s used for over forty years to create great results in his personal and professional life. He teaches that adopting these principles will lead to a better life.
Dalio offers precise rules and practical lessons in this life-changing book. Woven throughout Principles are his beliefs in “radical truth” and “radical transparency.” His approach to decision making is particularly practical and useful. We highly recommend picking up this book as you seek to build a better business.
21. Purple Cow: Transform Your Business By Being Remarkable by Seth Godin
This surprising and unique take on marketing says that traditional advertising is basically dead. Today, the only way to succeed is to do something truly extraordinary. You have to literally stand out like a “purple cow.” In this inspiring book, Seth Godin claims that it’s necessary to be unapologetically unique and do it on purpose—that’s the way to establish a brand or a product and find success today.
22. Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by Phil Knight
In this revealing memoir, the rather mysterious Nike founder tells all, sharing the brand’s surprising and tumultuous journey from selling shoes out of the back of his car to becoming a worldwide brand that makes billions of dollars a year.
He describes the challenges, triumphs, setbacks and risks, and he details the important relationships that shaped both him and the Nike brand. He shares the “why” that formed a brand that changed the world. This is a must-read on your path to a successful business and better life.
23. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain
Roughly one-third of the people you know are introverts, according to Susan Cain (including Dean Graziosi). Introverts listen. They create. They work independently. They are also largely undervalued in western society because it favors extroverts.
This book started a sort of revolution of the introvert. It introduces successful introverts to the reader, and it inspires introverted readers to dream bigger and reach higher. This life-changing book inspires introverts to tap into their skills on a deeper level and work with what they’re best at.
If you’re an introvert, read this book to learn how to use your introverted qualities to change your life for the better.
24. Play Bigger: How Pirates, Dreamers, and Innovators Create and Dominate Markets by Al Ramadan, Dave Peterson, Christopher Lochhead & Kevin Maney
This book is brilliant! The four authors are co-founders of a Silicon Valley advisory firm, and they reveal something called “category design” in Play Bigger. It’s the new—and, honestly, best—way to do business in a crowded market.
Too many people in a category? Why not create your own category and be the only one in the niche? Why not show people a need they didn’t even know they had and fill it completely? Like IKEA did, for example.
This life-changing book is groundbreaking and one of the best books on earth for providing inspiration for innovation in your own life.
25. How Will You Measure Your Life? by Clayton M. Christensen, James Allworth & Karen Dillon
This book is a compilation of inspiration and wisdom in the style of The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. It’s designed to help you lead the most fulfilling life possible in whatever path you choose. From life tips to career wisdom, this is a book you can read and again and always find that it speaks to any situation you find yourself in.
Which Life-Changing Book Will You Read?
Wow, now that’s a great list! From nonfiction to fiction books, real-life success stories to allegorical tales—all of these inspiring books are sure to change your life. We hope you found a book or two that you’re interested in. Each of our 25 most life-changing books are easily found on Amazon, Kindle and audiobook. We hope you’ll read one or more of these truly life-changing books and let us know how they impact your own life.
