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You might be able to drift through life simply knowing how to get a job or how to drive a car, but… will that make you truly happy and fulfilled?
The TRUTH is, if you don't ‘work on yourself' from the inside out, life can be a pretty dismal existence.
Doing nothing noteworthy in your life is a horrible mistake. It only leads to a hum-drum, tedious, day-to-day way of being. Especially when changing the way you behave, and how you think of yourself, is incredibly easy to do – it simply takes practice.
We invite you to open your mind to possibility, opportunity, and ability. Because most humans are intelligent, adaptive, and willing to be lifetime learners. Agreed?
So we’ve put together a handy reference list of our top 10 books to transform your life, business and happiness. These books have helped transform us from super high paid corporates to laptop lifestylers. Which means we earn income passively while travelling the world 9 months of each year. NOTE: there’s nothing remarkable about us. We’re ordinary, everyday people – we've simply learned how to believe, achieve and succeed.
What follows our top 10 highly recommended, transformational, personal growth books. You must read all 10 books in order to be truly happy, self-fulfilled, and live life on your terms.
Happiness is not something ready-made.
It comes from your own actions.Dalai Lama
These top 10 books have helped us totally transform our lifestyle, business and relationships in two short years:
In our humble opinion, they’re essential reading whether in paperback in or in digital form. (We won’t get into that argument as Greg loves Kindle books and Fiona loves paperbacks). The books are ranked in a progressive order to build your entrepreneurial knowledge, understanding and belief 🙂
1. Think and Grow Rich
by Napoleon Hill
Number one recommended read of our top 10 books, holds the #1 spot not only because it’s a revolutionary best seller of all time, but because it's the first book we read to change our belief about the accessibility of success. And millions of others have also become ultra-successful after reading this pivotal book. It's an influence book and also a personal growth book.
Back in the 1930’s Napoleon Hill interviewed the world’s most successful achievers and analysed the common characteristics which lead to their success. The book is dubbed the “Granddaddy of All Motivational Literature” and is updated for the 21st century so is totally relevant for today.
Why you need to read this book:
Think And Grow Rich lays out your journey to wealth by leveraging the power of personal beliefs, and the role they play in personal success. It instils the mindset required to succeed in everything you do.
You're encouraged to seek the secret to success, which is progressively revealed in each chapter. You’ll learn how achievement actually occurs, plus a formula for it, which allows an average person to attain success in whatever they put their mind to.
“Anything the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can be achieved” Napoleon Hill
2. Rich Dad, Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money – That the Poor and the Middle Class Do Not!
By Robert T. Kiyosaki and Sharon L. Lechter
Kiyosaki shares what he learned from the two key men who impacted his formative years. His real father, a highly educated man who earned a good salary, was financially bereft. Kiyosaki's other ‘Dad’, his best friend’s father, was a high school drop-out, turned self-made multi-millionaire. His poor dad’s lifelong monetary problems contrasted with the abundant life lead by his rich dad.
This book is timeless and is essential reading for anyone who harbours private or negative attitudes about money. The issues tackled sound complicated, but they’re explained in a way a teenager can understand.
Why you need to read this top 10 book:
Sadly, most people don’t know the difference between money and wealth. Or the difference between an asset and a liability. And what those differences mean to you. All is revealed when you invest a few short hours to read this book.
In a nutshell, wealth doesn't come from the supposed security of a job with a pay packet where you exchange your time for an hourly rate that's set by someone else. We learned that lesson the HARD WAY when we were laid off from seemingly secure 6 figure jobs. Wealth comes from something that generates money passively, which'll continue to do so even when you’re not around. So:
- an online business with high revenues and low costs
- a property with rent higher than a mortgage and maintenance costs
- a creative work that brings in royalties
Wealthy people know the difference between an asset and a liability. An asset is anything that generates money and puts money in your pocket, like an online business. A liability is anything that takes money out of your pocket. So things you might think are assets (your home, your car, your expensive sport or hobby kit) are most likely liabilities. The co-authors provide this necessary financial education in a story-like, straight-talking, easy-to-read manner. Please read it TODAY. It truly deserves to be #2 in our top ten books to read.
3. Three Feet from Gold: Turn Your Obstacles Into Opportunities!
by Sharon L. Lechter and Greg Reid
Sharon Lechter, the co-author of bestselling Rich Dad Poor Dad, is a very successful accountant in America. She's motivated to make children financially aware, which is why the Napoleon Hill Foundation approached her to co-author this book.
It was our privilege to meet Sharon in London in 2013. We loved her infectious passion and admired her ability to keep explanations simple. So, we bought this book, plus another of her books, ‘Outwitting The Devil', both of which ought to be in our top 10 books list, but we had to choose one – and this one wins due to the impact it had on us.
Why you need to read this book:
Three Feet from Gold tells a compelling modern-day story of a young writer. He's tasked to interview high achievers, business leaders, and other influential figures, about the importance of persistently keeping at it to attain your goals.
The story uses well-known, inspirational, real-life stories to help you find your own personal Success Formula, to help you choose good counsel, and most importantly, to help you learn about never giving up.
4. The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich
by Timothy Ferriss
Tim Ferris tells an entertaining story about how he transitioned from an underpaid office worker, to be among the New Rich (his term). In his simple, sharp, insightful writing style, he explains how to:
- establish a profitable business step by step
- build residual (passive) income sources in detail
- create heaps of free time to be free to do exactly what you want.
It's one of the most practical business books you can read.
Why you need to read this book:
If you want to escape the 9-5 rat race or want to extricate yourself from the common trap of exchanging your time for money, so you can start to create the life of your dreams, then this book is for you. It provides a fresh approach on how to:
- reduce your workload to the most essential tasks and become effective at everything you do
- think differently from most, and WHY common thinking doesn’t serve you
- start a profitable business (online) without a large investment
- avoid costly mistakes in business
Tim genuinely wants to help you quit your frustrating circumstances and start living life on your terms – that means: work where you want, how often you want, and with who you want.
5. Living A Laptop Lifestyle: Reclaim Your Life By Making Money Online (No Experience Required)
by Greg and Fiona Scott
This book is the pivotal next step, following hot on the heels of The 4-Hour Work Week, which explains how and why the internet is the very best vehicle to leverage to achieve time freedom.
It’s a best seller, is highly rated on Amazon, and is a finalist in three international book awards.
Why you need to read this top 10 book:
Of course, we’re biased – of all the business books out there, ours is the best, so must be included in our top 10 books list ????. We wrote the book to open people’s eyes to the alternatives an online business can provide. If you have a computer, an internet connection, and a passion, you’re already sitting on a mountain of value. We’ve prepared a pragmatic, vital guide on how to leverage all that.
Each chapter is composed to suit the budding entrepreneur in you – to take you from the very basics of getting started, right through to creating your very own website, and generating a sustainable income online.
Here’s what Brian Tracy said about Living A Laptop Lifestyle:
6. Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time
by Brian Tracy
This book is in #7 spot of our top 10 books for three reasons:
- we love Brian Tracy’s stuff (and he endorsed Living A Laptop Lifestyle),
- procrastination is a huge problem for a LOT of people. Successful people get stuff done, so there’s no time for putting off tomorrow what can be done today
- it’s another short, quick read which provides the 21 most effective ways to conquer procrastination and achieve more.
Why you need to read this book:
Do you want to get organized, simplify your life, and have much prized time freedom?
This concise book doesn't cover the psychology of procrastination; instead, it covers stuff like motivation and reasoning for determining your priorities, delegating and/or eliminating some tasks, knowing what things are okay to procrastinate about, and which ‘frog’ (your biggest, ugliest task that'll get you the greatest results) to tackle first each morning.
This is one of the best business books that'll help you develop habits and skills of accomplishing more than the average person, and in less time too – which is part and parcel of living a laptop lifestyle.
7. Ask and It Is Given: Learning to Manifest Your Desires
by Esther and Jerry Hicks
In progressing your personal development, we recommend you read Ask And It Is Given. It’s a philosophical book which offers an explanation of the connection between the power of thought and reality, and how we’re all in control of what we have, are and do. In other words, there’s no such thing as ‘fate’ or ‘the gods’ directing your life, as it’s all in your hands to live exactly as you wish.
This top 10 book teaches you to manifest your desires, which we first thought was ‘a bit woo woo’ but that’s simply because we didn’t really and truly understand anything about the universal laws of energy back then. But, to be honest, we were probably manifesting anyway – we simply didn’t put that label to it!
Why you need to read this book:
Wouldn’t you like to ask, and it's handed to you on a plate?
Because success in whatever you’re doing starts from within you – it’s in your hands (or your positive thinking mind) – and that’s exactly what the influence book ‘Ask and It is Given’ will help you achieve. Success!
It helps you to change the way you think and the way you view the world so you get what you want, and have the success you deserve.
The best part – are the 22 Processes that makeup half the book!
8. How To Get Lots Of Money For Anything Fast
by Stuart Lichtman and Joe Vitale
PLEASE don’t judge this book by it's cover – it’s not as it seems! It’s way more powerful than you can ever imagine!
Consider this introduction from Stuart Lichtman himself:
We’ve never met, but I know a couple of things about you:
[1] No matter how much money you have now, you also have powerful abilities inside yourself that you are not taking full advantage of (yet)… and…
[2] If someone told you about a new way to bring in a lot of money quickly – and it was legal and easy to do – you’d want to know more about it.
How do I know these things about you? This knowledge comes from years of experience with tens of thousands of people around the world. All kinds of people. And every one of them had hidden skills and talents they weren’t using nearly as powerfully as they could. What is more, once they knew about a secret (that I will tell you about today), their lives and their fortunes changed for the better – quickly and forever!
Stuart Lichtman has impressive credentials and delivers a tried and tested, practical, three-step process which can transform your world and bring you all the riches you’ve ever dreamed of (this triggered our spam filters a bit, but also spurred on our reading).
He says:
Why you need to read this book:
Seriously – it's in our top 10 books because you simply MUST read it. Read this blog post of how it worked for us.
9. DotCom Secrets: The Underground Playbook for Growing Your Company Online
by Russell Brunson
This book is actually our #1 marketing bible, but it's only in this #9 spot because budding affiliate marketers need a progressive learning track to build-up to the marketing stage. We believe Dotcom Secrets is one of the best books ever written about online marketing and sales. It contains loads of actionable advice on how to become a successful online marketer, it's easy to understand, and it's stocked with loads of examples.
We covet this book so much, we've got a well-thumbed paperback version, the audio version from Audible, and the kindle version for when we're travelling, simply because it's helped us earn thousands in affiliate marketing know-how.
Why you need to read this book:
To run an online business, you must understand:
- how to market or promote any product or service, whether physical or digital,
- the psychology of why people buy, and
- how to provide solutions for people in a meaningful way…
Russell's answers are set out in easy to read, down to earth, no fluff manner. He provides a ton of value for entrepreneurs by way of masterful storytelling.
10. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
by Robert B. Cialdini
Cialdini studied persuasion and social influence at the graduate and postgraduate level at the University of North Carolina and at Columbia University, then spent thirty-five years rigorously undertaking evidence-based research, across many industries, to study what moves people to change behaviour. The resulting influence book explains the psychology of why people buy and why they say “yes”, but more importantly how to apply such knowledge legitimately in your marketing.
Cialdini found most human behaviour is automatic, which allowed him to come up with Six Principles of Influence or six “rules of thumb” of persuasion, then discusses how each principle can be used to persuade and influence others. It’s jam-packed with real-world examples making it easy to appreciate, understand, and learn from.
Why you need to read this book:
This is a top 10 book because you'll learn the six universal principles of influence, and how to use them to become a skilled persuader – which is a must-have skill for any entrepreneur. Also, you’ll understand how to defend yourself against other influencers – which is vitally important when starting out if you want to avoid going down a lot of rabbit holes!!! (speaking from experience here!)
So, there you have our top 10 books
. . . that'll change your life forever, giving you the ability to control your time, finances and freedom.
Start reading, learning and achieving.
To purchase any of our top 10 books – simply click on the images or links above
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Hi Greg and Fiona,
I have actually only red two of these titles but thank you for this list though.
You’re most welcome Debbie 🙂