5 Best Motivational Books That Push You to Take Action

When the going gets tough, the tough get reading.

There’s no better way to instantly lift your spirits up, change your chain of thought and escape to a whole new world, than reading.  Reading a good book is akin to living in the author’s world and learning from their treasure of experience.

There are some people who lived incredible lives, fought all kinds of challenges and emerged winners. Fortunately, a lot of these people penned books for the world to know of their journey and be inspired by it.

Every time you are feeling lost and need a healthy dose of motivation to get you back on track with renewed vigor, just pick up one of the following books. We’ve handpicked five of the best motivational books for your perusals.

1. Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

There is a reason this particular book features at the very top of all self-help books. If you don’t understand why it is so, then you need to read it right now to see for yourself.

Published way back in 1937, the book is still relevant today as it draws from the life experience of over 500 hundred successful men, spanning the likes of Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and John D Rockefeller.

Napoleon Hill distils the very best of all the knowledge gathered from these eminent men in his 20 years of research and serves you just the elixir you need. It gives you thirteen completely practical, actionable steps to achieve your goal, whatever it is.

“Opinions are the cheapest commodities on earth. Everyone has a flock of opinions ready to be wished upon anyone who will accept them. If you are influenced by “opinions” when you reach DECISIONS, you will not succeed in any undertaking.”
– Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich

2. See You at the Top by Zig Ziglar

See You at the Top is the extract of Zig Ziglar’s three decades worth of traveling the world and motivating people across continents. The founding thought of the book is that you can get everything you want in life if you help other people get what they want.

The book reinforces on the significance of the basic human values we all must preserve and practice, such as faith, loyalty, honesty, and integrity. The book truly inspires you to become a good human being and assure that as long as you believe in yourself and be good unto others around you, good things will happen to you.

The book is structured like a staircase to success, saying if you build the foundation of each step firmly, you will certainly reach the top.

“The story of life repeatedly assures you that if you will use what you have, you will be given more to use.”
– Zig Ziglar, See You at the Top

3. The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

In The Power of Habit, award-winning New York Times business reporter Charles Duhigg takes you into the depths of human mind and backed by scientific principles, tells you how good habits can be (and must be) developed and kept. He emphasizes that even the most adamant of bad habits can be defeated by ardent practice and will.

He presents a plethora of real life examples of people who transformed their lives by harnessing the power of habit. A woman who quit smoking and ran a marathon, a CEO who modified one common pattern among his employees and turned his firm into a top performing business, and even a marketer who, with one small change in advertising strategy makes his product go on to make a billion dollars a year.

Read The Power of Habit to see just how you too can transform your life for real, just by understanding how habits work.

“Champions don’t do extraordinary things. They do ordinary things, but they do them without thinking, too fast for the other team to react. They follow the habits they’ve learned.”
– Charles Duhigg, The Power of Habit

4. The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale

With so much negativity floating out and about in the world today, preserving and exercising a positive mindset is the hardest thing and yet, the only way.

In this book that has stood the test of time, Norman Vincent Peale gives you some truly practical advice on how to stay positive and not get bogged down by the stress, anxiety, and depression that shrouds our lives.

Read this book to free your mind of its self-limiting habits and spread its wings to happiness.

“The trouble with most of us is that we would rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism.”
-Norman Vincent Peale, The Power of Positive Thinking

5. Just Start by Leonard A. Schlesinger

How often have you struggled to do something, and felt – if only you could get the right start? You don’t know what’s going to happen, you don’t know how things will shape out in the future. Then how can you succeed?

Don’t try to predict, don’t theorize; don’t waste time mulling over results. Just start. That’s what Schlesinger and his two equally successful businessman friends try to tell you in this masterpiece of practical life advice.

The book is so motivational, you will be eager to get up and get started on something spectacular right away.

Enrollment is not about getting somebody to do something that you want them to do. It’s about offering them the chance to do something they might want to do.”
– Leonard A. Schlesinger, Just Start

Wrapping Up

When life is just too hard to win over and you are feeling totally lost, even when you know you have the power in you, you need someone to stoke the fire and nudge you into action. Motivation is something we all need, at some times more than others, and the above books give you just that.

Every time you feel you need a friend who can take your hand and pull you out of the slump, reach out to one of these motivational books and see just how much power you have in you, waiting to be utilized. These books will give you not just motivation but real, actionable advice on how you can change things for yourself starting today.

– About the Writer –

Rose Martin is an editor at Book Siren. Her main interest in blogging is for self-improvement, business, start-ups and lifestyle. When she’s not working, she enjoys cooking, sipping a cold beer and spending time with family.

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7 Comments

  1. Great resource… both helpful an motivational every email. Thank you so much.

  2. Currently listening to Think and Grow Rich on Audible and realized I really need the physical copy. Ordered it today and planning to really study it like crazy.

    Og Mandino, one of my favorite authors, recommends Think and Grow Rich, along with so many other authors I read. Really don’t know why it took me so long to read/listen to it.

    The other four on your list are on my list, as well, but I haven’t gotten to them yet.

  3. Great list here, Donald. I hadn’t heard of number 5 but I’m going to check it out. Thanks for that.

    One book that always sticks out in my mind as really actionable is The Compound Effect, by Darren Hardy. The combination of motivational writing, real-life examples, and activities push the reader to implement the advice immediately.

  4. Great collection of books, Donald. Thanks for sharing. The Power of Habit is one of my personal favorites. It have learned many great ideas from this book and have implemented them in my life. It has helped me to become a better person.

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