5 books that will change your mindset

On 9 June this year I quit my job. It was my first day back from a two week holiday in the Umbrian sunshine where I’d done little but soak up the sun, eat delicious home-made pasta and read voraciously.

Every moment I had to myself I read and absorbed the teachings of books that showed me a different way to live.

Before leaving on holiday I had asked successful freelancers and solopreneurs in a couple of the Facebook groups I’m in to recommend books that I should read to learn how to successfully make the leap myself.

I knew I wanted to escape the restrictions of my corporate job, but as a single parent I was afraid that, as the only bread winner, kissing goodbye to a regular income was too big a risk to take.

I credit these books – and surrounding myself by people who live and breathe the life they inspire – with giving me the confidence to drop the excuses and choose myself.

They changed my mindset, and mindset, I’ve discovered, is the key to creating a successful life on your own terms, nobody else’s.

Do you have goals you keep putting off because they seem to risky? Do you want to write that novel/start that business/launch that programme? Is fear of failure/financial ruin/professional suicide holding you back?

If you are looking for the kind of inspiration that could help you step beyond self-limiting beliefs, read these books. Or don’t. It’s up to you.

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Choose Yourself! – James Altucher

My bible. I read James Altucher’s emails every day, went to see him talk in London in July, and have read both this book and the follow up, the Choose Yourself Guide to Wealth.

His main ethos is that in the internet age we no longer need the ‘middle men’ who once had the power to make or break us. Big corporations, book publishers, record companies – we don’t need them anymore to be successful in our chosen field.

We can create our own online business, build a fanbase on Youtube and self-publish via Amazon. We don’t need them to choose us, because can choose ourselves.

Uncertainty: Turning Fear and Doubt into Fuel for Brilliance – Jonathan Fields

This book will taught me how to keep fear and doubt at bay by creating a daily routine that provides some semblance of certainty amidst the uncertainty I have stirred up in my life.

There are great examples in the book of people of achieved greatness by letting go of fear. Great for those of us committing to a creative endeavour or travelling a path less travelled.

Lucky Bitch: A Guide for Exceptional Women to Create Outrageous Success – Denise Duffield-Thomas

Denise is an advocate of manifesting your ideal life – she has done it herself. Her fundamental belief is that you are what you think and do.

The book walks you through the various practices she believes can help you get the life you want. It’s an overwhelmingly positive read that will leave you feeling like anything is possible.

Be a Free Range Human: Escape the 9-5, Create a Life You Love and Still Pay the Bills – Marianne Cantwell

A step by step guide that provides all the information you need – and the mindset shifts to go with them – to create an amazing lifestyle and a great income, doing what you love, on your own terms.

The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles – Steven Pressfield

The biggest barrier to our success is within ourselves. This book explores the resistance within each of us to creating our best work, the excuses we make for not being able to start our own business, write that novel or reach the potential we know is deep within us.

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What books have changed your mindset? Or have inspired you to reach beyond self-limiting beliefs?

Please share your recommendations in the comments as I’m sure I’m not the only one always on the look out for new books to add to my Kindle reading list. Especially books as powerful as these.

Here’s to moving beyond your excuses!