We are all looking for some form of motivation in our daily lives, whether that be for personal development, productivity, anxiety management, creativity, or a number of other things. However, it can be cumbersome to find an authentically motivating book in a genre that seems so saturated with formulaic guides and cookie cutter exercises.
While it’s certainly positive that readers have a wide assortment of motivational books to choose between, it can become difficult to determine where the quality self-help truly resides. For that reason, we assembled a list of the 21 best motivational books to get you excited and prepared for your journey to self-improvement and help you get motivated.
Best Motivational Books for Personal Development
Whether you need to stop doubting yourself or you’re just looking for something inspiring, these books will help you develop a full inner life and build confidence and motivation.
1. Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance
Psychologist Angela Duckworth, the founder and CEO of Character Lab, writes that the secret to success is something she calls “grit.” Throughout the book she describes her relationship with a parent who didn’t appreciate her brand of intelligence.
Now, as a successful professor and researcher, Duckworth wants readers to understand that true intelligence is not driven by talent or genius, but by a combination of passion and perseverance. She takes them around the world, exploring adversity in its many forms, and how people in all walks of life recover from their worst days.
2. You are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life
This is a great self-help book for the people who may be uncomfortable with the idea of self-help. It serves as a highly accessible, entertaining, and inspirational guide to personal transformation that makes you forget you’re on the path to personal development. Author and success coach Jen Sincero combines her unique humor with sage wisdom (and a few swear words) to help readers create a life they’re excited to live.
3. How to Win Friends & Influence People
In this classic bestseller, readers will learn six methods of making people like them, twelve ways to win people over, and nine tips to encourage healthy change in others. While it may sound vain or trivial to some, the urge to be well-liked, it gets down to a basic need that exists in all of us, addressing it with the utmost professionalism.
Essentially, author Dale Carnegie breaks down all the ways to make life go your way. It suggests that almost anything is possible if you can change the way you think, take the reins on a tough situation, and forge a pathway forward.
4. The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work
In The Happiness Advantage, author Shawn Achor draws on years of research and time spent teaching at Harvard University to crack the code on happiness. He claims that as opposed to traditional thinking, which believes success is key, happiness is borne out of hard work and positivity. In other words, happiness leads to success, not the other way around.
Following the philosophies of positive psychology, Anchor breaks down seven actionable steps that increase our potential of achieving and maintaining happiness.
5. The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living
Whether you consider yourself a practicing stoic or not, ancient stoic philosophers have a lot to offer in the human effort to make better choices, act courageously, overcome negative thoughts, and act according to truth.
The Daily Stoic gives insight for every day of the year, featuring translations from the great philosophers like Marcus Aerelius and Epictetus alongside wisdom, helpful metaphors, and references from authors Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman. It teaches serenity, self-knowledge, and mental resilience, and it includes a glossary of Greek terms to guide readers along.
6. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
There’s a reason people keep coming back to this book: Thirty years later, it’s still a staple in the self-help world for both business and personal use. You’ve probably heard or read most of these habits already, but this updated edition includes modern additions from successful executive and entrepreneur Sean Covey. These additions recognize the changing face of the world we live in today and contextualize the classic lessons for a modern world.
Best Motivational Books for Overcoming Fear and Anxiety
If you are struggling with fear or anxiety, these books may help you get out of that rut and move into freedom.
7. The Confidence Gap: A Guide to Overcoming Fear and Self-Doubt
According to this book by Russ Harris, self-confidence is an underutilized skill that, when mastered, equips us to handle any challenge life throws our way. Harris believes that while we cannot get rid of our fear, we can form a healthier relationship with it. Like quicksand, if you stop fighting, you have a real chance at escape.
Using techniques from acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), a form of cognitive behavioral therapy, The Confidence Gap covers common misconceptions about self-love, mindfulness techniques to handle negative thoughts, and a guide to using your values as inspiration.
8. 100 Days to Brave: Devotions for Unlocking Your Most Courageous Self
We all grew up reading stories about superheroes and white knights, and we learned quickly that bravery always saved the day. But as we got older, fear crept in, until one day, asking for a promotion seemed like too big of a task. 100 Days to Brave is a devotional that helps readers work their way up to confidence and courage and be the hero you need.
Author Annie F. Downs draws on her own faith and spirituality to encourage you to establish daily habits that banish fear and loneliness.
9. Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parents, and Lead
From renowned author, speaker, and researcher, Brené Brown, Daring Greatly rejects the myth that vulnerability is a weakness, and instead, argues that it is our best measurement of courage. She says, “When we shut ourselves off from vulnerability, we distance ourselves from the experiences that bring purpose and meaning to our lives.”
Although it can be uncomfortable, the courage of putting ourselves out there is a powerful tool in the effort to be seen, understood, and fulfilled. Brown wants her readers to take risks and dare greatly.
10. A Year of Positive Thinking: Daily Inspiration, Wisdom, and Courage
If you’re tired of people telling you “thinking positive” will solve all your problems, you’re right: Positive thinking alone will not magically make your life better.
This book, however, is still a good start. Relying on proven psychology and real examples of positivity, this book makes “positive thinking” a little more realistic.
11. Good Vibes, Good Life: How Self-Love Is the Key to Unlocking Your Greatness
For those looking for a healthy splash of good vibes in their life, social influencer and lifestyle entrepreneur Vex King says the secret is self-love. Lean heavily into mindfulness, meditation, and other techniques to establish self-care routines and prioritize your wellbeing.
12. The Mountain Is You: Transforming Self-Sabotage Into Self-Mastery
Self-sabotage can be one of the most powerful inhibitors for anyone trying to live their best life. So why do we do it? And why is it so hard to break free from?
Unprocessed trauma, damaging habits, and lack of emotional intelligence are all symptoms of a larger problem. This book provides you with the groundwork to create a more resilient, emotionally aware state of mind that lets you break free from your past.
Best Motivational Books for Productivity
From organizing your space to creating the best rhythms for focused work, these books will increase your productivity and wellbeing.
13. Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World
Cal Newport’s Deep Work teaches methods on intense cognitive focus, a skill that allows people to do their absolute best in a highly competitive world. Most of us spend our days on the surface level, reading emails, scrolling through social media, and checking things off a basic list, but there is a better way.
Dividing the book into two parts, Newport argues that in any field or profession, deep work can improve your performance. Later, he provides a training plan in the context of four rules to transform your habits and cognitive abilities.
14. Atomic Habits
Sure, you could try to revamp your entire life at once, and you might succeed, but you’d be putting a lot of work ahead of you. A better way to do it? By building better habits one step at a time.
Atomic Habits is a crowd favorite. If you struggle to commit to the habits you want to see in your life, from working out regularly or dedicating more time to reading, it’s more about breaking bad habits than creating new ones. Often, these bad habits are the result of bad systems, and Atomic Habits provides a better framework for the stronger systems you need to create lasting impactful habits.
15. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing
Japanese cleaning consultant Marie Kondo is perhaps most well-known for her Netflix series, Tidying up with Marie Kondo, but this book — the life-changing magic of tidying up — is what started it all. She promises that both productivity and happiness stem from how we manage our environment, namely our homes and living spaces.
In this room-by-room guide, Kondo teaches the KonMari Method of organization, leading to results in the form of productivity, a calm and motivated mindset, and above all else, joy.
16. The Miracle Morning: The 6 Habits that will Transform Your Life Before 8 a.m.
Author Hal Elrod believes that all good things start in the AM, and as such, he’s created a practice that combines early-morning routines based on six personal development activities. Miracle Morning helps its readers reach milestones toward success, make decisive progress, and obtain balance and high levels of health.
Readers call it “perfect for busy people” and “paradigm-shifting,” focusing on building good habits before breakfast like reading, silence, visualization, and exercise.
17. Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life…And Maybe the World
It’s just a little thing – can it really impact so much? Based on the viral commencement speech given at the University of Texas at Austin in 2014, Admiral William H. McRaven shares the simple, yet groundbreaking advice he learned in his years as a naval officer. Told with compassion, optimism, and a healthy dose of humility, this book illustrates the power of the little things, even in the face of impossible difficulty.
Motivational Books for Creativity
We all have the urge to create. If you’re feeling the itch but don’t know how to move forward, these books might get you thinking in new ways and exploring your creative side.
18. Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative
Steal like an Artist lays out ten principles that will help readers get in touch with their creative side, highlighting the importance of embracing influence. Author Austin Kleon wants all artistic types to unlock their creativity in ways that may seem counterintuitive or unrelated at first like steal (like an artist), adopt a side project, be nice, and be boring, to name a few.
Readers and reviewers call it a “quick, easily digestible read that is particularly relevant in today’s digital world.”
19. The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles
In this book, author Steven Pressfield touches love for yourself. Since the date of its original publication in 2002, The War of Art, dubbed a mix between Sun-Tzu’s The Art of War and Julie Cameron’s The Artist’s Way,has been a guide to defeating your own resistance to change, ignoring negativity, channeling creative energy, and achieving success.
While its primary creative audience is writers, anyone can benefit from its contents, including business owners, military service members, filmmakers, dancers, and many more.
20. Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear
From the best-selling author of Eat Pray Love, Big Magic is a deep dive into one woman’s creative life, sharing wisdom, perspective, and details about her generative process. It functions as a celebration of the creative life, and a roadmap to facing down fear and apprehension.
With profound empathy, Gilbert highlights the importance of curiosity and what she calls the “strange jewels” that exist in all of us. Whatever kind of art you’re trying to make, Big Magic infuses the process with mindfulness and passion.
21. The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life
Famed choreographer, Twyla Tharp believes that creativity is the product of hard work and preparation, within the reach of any individual who wants to achieve it. As such, a willingness to be creative and a plan to do so is paramount.
Regardless of what your brand of creative expression is, Tharp can help you out a rut or ease your fear of beginning. She teaches mental games, exercises, meditations, and observations to restore peace and sustain creative magic.
