100 best books to read to be a better coach ( and human)
No matter where you are on your life path, there's always room for improvement. Here's Sharon Pearson's top picks to find pathways and wise friends in inspirational books.
This list is hardly complete—it's an ever changing intellectual feast—but here's what I think of as some of the 100 best books to read to be a better coach (and human.)
I don't know what I'd do without books. They surround me at my home, at my beach house, in the office. I'm never without a few new intriguing titles next to the bed, and when I can I haunt bookshops—yes, I am that person who can spend an hour or two in a store corner breathing in the shelves' possibilities.
My library of books serves as a great model and has influenced my life in so many ways. It's like picking my favourite person's brains whenever I want, wherever I want, without an appointment.
From getting unstuck to trying out new ideas to upskilling myself when it comes to coaching, business, and life itself, books have been there through the journey and challenged my internal status quo for the better.
The following list of 100 best books is a medley of personal development, coaching, positive psychology, leadership and human behaviour from a business (and personal) perspective.
Of course, you'll find many of these books are an overlap in the categories, and they provide you a basic framework to navigate your own path.
If you haven't read them yet, I highly encourage you to start doing so now. It will be time well spent.
Books on Personal Development
1. Ultimate You By Sharon Pearson
2. The Power of Now: A Guide Spiritual Enlightenment By Eckhart Tolle
3. Managing Oneself By Peter F Drucker
4. Life in Half a Second: How to Achieve Success Before It’s Too Late By Mathew Michalewicz
5. Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long By David Rock
6. 80/20 Principle: The Secret to Achieving More with Less By Richard Koch
7. Work Simply: Embracing the Power of Your Personal Productivity By Carson Tate
8. Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ By Daniel Goleman
9. The Power of Intention By Dr Wayne Dyer
10. Feel the Fear… and Do it Anyway By Susan Jeffers
11. Radical Self-Acceptance: Embracing Your Life With the Heart of a Buddha By Tara Brach
12. Think Like A Freak: The Authors of Freakonomics Offer to Retrain Your Brain By Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner
13. The Tao of Seneca: Practical Letters from a Stoic Master, Volume 1 By Seneca
14. We Learn Nothing: Essays By Tim Kreider
15. Daily Rituals: How Artists Work By Mason Currey
16. The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level By Gay Hendricks
17. Talk like TED: The 9 Public-Speaking Secrets of the World's Top MindsBy Carmine Gallo
18. The Fish That Ate The Whale: The Life and Times of America's Banana King By Rich Cohen
19. The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing By Al Ries and Jack Trout
20. The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference By Malcom Gladwell
21. The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battlesd By Steven Pressfield
22. Good to Great By Jim Collins
23. A Short Story of Everything By Bill Bryson
24. Tao Te Ching By Lao Tsu
25. Awaken The Giant Within By Anthony Robbins
26. Eat That Frog!: Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Timey By Brian Trac
27. Civilization and Its Discontents By Sigmund Freud
28. Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff At Work By Richard Carlson
29. Predictably Irrational, Revised and Expanded Edition: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions By Dan Ariely
30. The 4-Hour Work Week By Tim Ferris
Books on Coaching
31. The Power of Vulnerability: Teachings on Authenticity, Connection and Courage By Brene Brown
32. Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration By Ed Catmull and Amy Wallace
33. Instant Rapport By Michael Brooks
34. Thinking Fast and Slow By Daniel Kahneman
35. Meta Dynamics Platinum Pack By Sharon Pearson
36. Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust By Chris Brogan
37. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens By Steven Covey
38. Start With Why By Simon Sinek
39. Co-Active Coaching: Changing Business, Transforming Lives By Henry Kimsey-House and Karen Kimsey-House
40. 50 Top Tools for Coaching: A Complete Toolkit for Developing and Empowering People By Gillian Jones and Ro Gorell
41. Coaching for Leadership: The Practice of Leadership Coaching from the World's Greatest Coaches By Marshall Goldsmith and Laurence Lyons
42. Coaching Questions: A Coach's Guide to Powerful Asking Skills By Tony Stoltzfus
43. Challenging Coaching: Going beyond traditional coaching to face the FACTS By John Blakey
44. The Five Minute Coach: Improve Performance Rapidly By Lynne Cooper and Mariette Castellino
45. Transformational Executive CoachingBy Ted Middleberg
46. Vision Board By The Coaching Institute
47. Guerrilla Marketing for Coaches: Six Steps to Building Your Million-Dollar Coaching Practice By Jay Levinson and Andrew Neitlich
48.The Prosperous Coach: Increase Income and Impact for You and Your Clients By Steve Chandler
Books on Positive Psychology
49. You Can Heal Your Life By Louise Hay
50. Meditations By Marcus Aurelius
51. Positive Psychology: A Practical Guide to Personal Transformation: Motivational Psychology: Gain Confidence in Every Area of Your Life (Applied Psychology) By Nathan Bellow and Johnny Bell
52. The Four Agreements Companion Book: Using the Four Agreements to Master the Dream of Your Life By Don Ruiz and Janet Mills
53. Mindset: The Psychology of Success By Carol S Dweck
54. A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose By Eckhart Tole
55. The Alchemist By Paulo Coelho
56. David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits and Art of Battling Giants By Malcom Gladwell
57. The Art of Exceptional Living By Jim Rohn
58. The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work By Shawn Achor
59. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experiencei By Mihaly Csikszentmihaly
60. The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science By Norman Doidge
61. Learned Optimism: How To Change Your Mind and Your Life By Martin Seligman
62. Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking By Malcom Gladwell
63. Your Success: 10 Steps to an Extraordinary Life By Sharon Pearson
64. Turning Pro: Tap Your Inner Power and Create Your Life's Work By Steven Pressfield
65. Outliers: The Story of Success By Malcom Gladwell
66. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion By Robert B Cialdini
67. Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear By Elizabeth Gilbert
68. 48 Laws of Power By Robert Greene
69. The Art of War By Sun Tzu
Books on Leadership
70. How To Win Friends And Influence People By Dale Carnegie
71. Tribes: We Need You To Lead Us By Seth Godin
72. Long Walk to Freedom By Nelson Mandela
73. Steve Jobs By Walter Isaacson
74. Contagious: Why Things Catch on By Jonah Berger
75. Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Don't By Jim Collins
76. Mindset: How You Can Fulfil Your Potential By Carol Dweck
77. Practice Perfect: 42 Rules for Getting Better at Getting Better By Doug Lemov
78. Disruptive Leadership By Sharon Pearson
79. The Greatest Minds and Ideas of All Time By Will Durant
80. The Extraordinary Coach: How the Best Leaders Help Others Grow By John Zenger and Kathleen Stinnett
81. The Mentor's Guide: Facilitating Effective Learning Relationships By Lois Zachary
82. The Hero’s Journey: Joseph Campbell on His Life and Work By Joseph Campbell
83. Resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences By Nancy Duarte
Books on Sales & Human Behaviour
84. Trust Me, I’m Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator By Ryan Holiday
85. Think and Grow Rich By Napoleon Hill
86. The Richest Man in Babylon: Blueprint for Financial Success By George S. Clason
87. Losing My Virginity: How I Survived, Had Fun, and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way By Richard Branson
88. Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy By Martin Lindstrom
89. Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion By Gary Vaynerchuk
91. The Psychology of Selling: Increase Your Sales Faster and Easier Than You Ever Thought Possible By Brian TrayBy Eric Reic
92. The Intelligent Investor By Benjamin Graham
93. Master Your Goals: Success Legacy Library By Zig Ziglar
94. Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future By Peter Thiel
95. The Personal MBA: Master the Art Of Business By Josh Kaufman
96. Money Master the Game: 7 Simple Steps to Financial Freedom By Tony Robbins
97. Rising Strong By Brene Brown
98. Simple Strategies for Business Success By Sharon Pearson
99. HBR on Communication By Harvard Business Review
100. Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die By Chip Health
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Your Turn Now!
What are your personal favourites? What impact have they had on your life? Leave us a comment below and let us know!
