Books you need to read today to build good habits and get rid of bad ones.
“All our life, so far as it has definite form, is but a mass of habits.” — William James
The things we do in life, the heights we achieve, the goals we accomplish — all of them are a culmination of habits. What we choose to do every day will determine what we will eventually accomplish. That’s why it’s so important to build good habits and get rid of bad ones.
This post lists six of the best books on habit-building that will help you build habits that stick. The writers are experts, and their insights will help you make better decisions every day and welcome lasting change in your life.
Note: The descriptions are taken from the book blurb on Goodreads.
1. The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
In The Power of Habit, award-winning New York Times business reporter Charles Duhigg takes us to the thrilling edge of scientific discoveries that explain why habits exist and how they can be changed. With penetrating intelligence and an ability to distill vast amounts of information into engrossing narratives, Duhigg brings to life a whole new understanding of human nature and its potential for transformation.
Along the way we learn why some people and companies struggle to change, despite years of trying, while others seem to remake themselves overnight. We visit laboratories where neuroscientists explore how habits work and where, exactly, they reside in our brains. We discover how the right habits were crucial to the success of Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, and civil-rights hero Martin Luther King, Jr. We go inside Procter & Gamble, Target superstores, Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church, NFL locker rooms, and the nation’s largest hospitals and see how implementing so-called keystone habits can earn billions and mean the difference between failure and success, life and death.
At its core, The Power of Habit contains an exhilarating argument: The key to exercising regularly, losing weight, raising exceptional children, becoming more productive, building revolutionary companies and social movements, and achieving success is understanding how habits work.
Habits aren’t destiny. As Charles Duhigg shows, by harnessing this new science, we can transform our businesses, our communities, and our lives.
2. Make It Stick by Peter C. Brown, Henry Roediger, Mark McDaniel
Many common study habits and practice routines turn out to be counterproductive. Underlining and highlighting, rereading, cramming, and single-minded repetition of new skills create the illusion of mastery, but gains fade quickly.
More complex and durable learning comes from self-testing, introducing certain difficulties in practice, waiting to re-study new material until a little forgetting has set in, and interleaving the practice of one skill or topic with another. Speaking most urgently to students, teachers, trainers, and athletes Make It Stick will appeal to all those interested in the challenge of lifelong learning and self-improvement.
3. Atomic Habits by James Clear
If you’re having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn’t you. The problem is your system. Bad habits repeat themselves again and again not because you don’t want to change, but because you have the wrong system for change. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. Here, you’ll get a proven system that can take you to new heights.
Clear is known for his ability to distill complex topics into simple behaviors that can be easily applied to daily life and work. Here, he draws on the most proven ideas from biology, psychology, and neuroscience to create an easy-to-understand guide for making good habits inevitable and bad habits impossible. Along the way, readers will be inspired and entertained with true stories from Olympic gold medalists, award-winning artists, business leaders, life-saving physicians, and star comedians who have used the science of small habits to master their craft and vault to the top of their field.
4. 30 Days By Marc Reklau
In this simple, fast-paced book you will be learning what it takes to create the life you want.
30 Days is for people who are struggling, wanting to change their life, but they feel powerless and think change comes from the outside. They also keep doing the same things over and over expecting a different result, which Albert Einstein considered to be the purest form of insanity.
If you want to change your life, you have to change your habits and start doing small things differently every day.
Discover your enormous potential and…
- Stop being a victim of the circumstances
- Stop waiting for the miracle to happen and become one
- Stop suffering and start creating the life you want
- Improve your self-confidence
- Improve your relationship with your spouse, colleagues, boss, etc.
30 Days is based on science, neuroscience, positive psychology, and real-life examples
5. Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg
The world’s leading expert on habit formation shows how you can have a happier, healthier life: by starting small.
When it comes to change, tiny is mighty. Start with two pushups a day, not a two-hour workout; or five deep breaths each morning rather than an hour of meditation. In Tiny Habits, B.J. Fogg brings his experience coaching more than 40,000 people to help you lose weight, de-stress, sleep better, or achieve any goal of your choice. You just need Fogg’s behavior formula: make it easy, make it fit your life, and make it rewarding. Whenever you get in your car, take one yoga breath. Smile. Whenever you get in bed, turn off your phone. Give yourself a high five.
Change can be easy — once it starts, it grows. Let B.J. Fogg show you exactly how.
6. Drive by Daniel Pink
Most people believe that the best way to motivate is with rewards like money — the carrot-and-stick approach. That’s a mistake, says Daniel H. Pink (author of To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Motivating Others). In this provocative and persuasive new book, he asserts that the secret to high performance and satisfaction at work, at school, and at home — is the deeply human need to direct our own lives, to learn and create new things, and to do better by ourselves and our world.
Drawing on four decades of scientific research on human motivation, Pink exposes the mismatch between what science knows and what business does — and how that affects every aspect of life. He examines the three elements of true motivation — autonomy, mastery, and purpose — and offers smart and surprising techniques for putting these into action in a unique book that will change how we think and transform how we live.
So, what are you waiting for? Find a life coach to unlock the next level in your life today!