1. Your Favorite Here
OK, I've provided you with nine incredibly motivating books, any one of which could literally change your life.
Now it's your turn.
What book ought to be on this list? What book has motivated you? What motivational book do you recommend to your friends?
2. The Power of Positive Thinking
When it was first published, both psychologists and theologians attacked this book as heretical, and accused author Norman Vincent Peale of being a crank. Today, science has verified the book's basic concept--that being optimistic makes you healthier and happier and thus more likely to succeed.
Best quote: "Action is a great restorer and builder of confidence. Inaction is not only the result, but the cause, of fear. Perhaps the action you take will be successful; perhaps different action or adjustments will have to follow. But any action is better than no action at all."
3. Don't Sweat the Small Stuff
A big part of motivation is clearing your mind of the clutter that weighs it down. Richard Carlson helps you differentiate between what's really important--and deserving of your attention--and what's just "noise in the system."
Best quote: "Stress is nothing more than a socially acceptable form of mental illness."
4. As a Man Thinketh
Motivational books are usually about taking immediate action. By contrast, this 1902 classic by James Allen is a bit more, well, thoughtful. It explains how your thoughts mold your personality, and how that personality drives you to take action and determines the type of action you'll take.
Best quote: "The dreamers are the saviors of the world. As the visible world is sustained by the invisible, so men, through all their trials and sins and sordid vocations, are nourished by the beautiful visions of their solitary dreamers."
5. The Greatest Salesman in the World
Far more than just a sales book, Og Mandino's faux-biblical parable encourages you to live your life to the fullest by believing in yourself and your ability to help others. Required reading for anybody who sells. Which is just about everybody.
Best quote: "I will live this day as if it is my last. This day is all I have and these hours are now my eternity. I greet this sunrise with cries of joy as a prisoner who is reprieved from death. I lift mine arms with thanks for this priceless gift of a new day."
