Here are 100 books that Master of Change fans have personally recommended if you like
Master of Change.
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Though I’ve coached endurance athletes to world championships, I’m an expert on not working out. It’s what you do when you’re not training that matters most! All the books on this list teach habits that help you relax about things that don’t matter while guiding you to define what does matter and explaining ways to most efficiently focus your energies there. This jibes with my work as a yoga teacher: we seek to find the right application of effort, and to layer in ease wherever possible. I don’t think it’s stretching too much to call each book on the list both a work of philosophy and also a deeply practical life manual.
I think about this book every day, even though it was written almost 25 years ago, and the edition I read explained how to manage your paper file folders! (One of my most-used apps, the to-do manager Things, is built on this system.)
I love how much time this book has saved me as I juggle running several businesses, staying active in my hobbies, and running a household. Allen’s approach to capturing your ideas and then deciding how to organize them so that you can keep track of what needs your attention is both simple and really profound.
For athletes who need to be as efficient as possible to reserve time and energy for training, this book is a lifesaver.
The book Lifehack calls "The Bible of business and personal productivity."
"A completely revised and updated edition of the blockbuster bestseller from 'the personal productivity guru'"-Fast Company
Since it was first published almost fifteen years ago, David Allen's Getting Things Done has become one of the most influential business books of its era, and the ultimate book on personal organization. "GTD" is now shorthand for an entire way of approaching professional and personal tasks, and has spawned an entire culture of websites, organizational tools, seminars, and offshoots.
Allen has rewritten the book from start to finish, tweaking his classic text…
I was a finance major who worked in banking, so I knew what I needed to do with money, but I found it challenging to follow through. The books I previously read were money books written by financial gurus who always used yelling and shaming as their teaching method. It never aligned with me. I started writing books with more compassion and an understanding that there are other variables affecting your financial health. I continue to read and recommend books written by people who aspire to help others by giving them knowledge and the space and grace to grow without the guilt trip.
This was one of the first money books I read because it was recommended by a friend. I liked how easy it was to read, and I learned a great deal.
Although, at first, it read a bit “bro-ey,” his humor grew on me. I like its direct approach to money without the jargon and confusion. I also learned that the updated version has changed a bit to reflect less in-your-face and more about giving us space.
The groundbreaking NEW YORK TIMES and WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER that taught a generation how to earn more, save more, and live a rich life—now in a revised 2nd edition.
Buy as many lattes as you want. Choose the right accounts and investments so your money grows for you—automatically. Best of all, spend guilt-free on the things you love.
Personal finance expert Ramit Sethi has been called a “wealth wizard” by Forbes and the “new guru on the block” by Fortune. Now he’s updated and expanded his modern money classic for a new age, delivering a simple, powerful, no-BS 6-week…
Though I’ve coached endurance athletes to world championships, I’m an expert on not working out. It’s what you do when you’re not training that matters most! All the books on this list teach habits that help you relax about things that don’t matter while guiding you to define what does matter and explaining ways to most efficiently focus your energies there. This jibes with my work as a yoga teacher: we seek to find the right application of effort, and to layer in ease wherever possible. I don’t think it’s stretching too much to call each book on the list both a work of philosophy and also a deeply practical life manual.
I think Matt Fitzgerald is the GOAT in the space of nonfiction books for endurance athletes. He’s not only prolific, but he’s also in tune with exactly what people want and need to hear. This book is one of his best.
I love that it validates my urge to do less and to focus on quality over quantity. This applies not only in sports but in all aspects of life! This book gives me permission to go easy most of the time and, when I don’t, to focus on exactly why I am doing hard things.
This revolutionary training method has been embraced by elite runners - with extraordinary results - and now you can do it too.
Respected running and fitness expert Matt Fitzgerald explains how the 80/20 running program - in which you do 80 per cent of runs at a lower intensity and just 20 per cent at a higher intensity - is the best change runners of all abilities can make to improve their performance. With a thorough examination of the science and research behind this training method, 80/20 Running is a hands-on guide for runners of all levels with training programs…
Though I’ve coached endurance athletes to world championships, I’m an expert on not working out. It’s what you do when you’re not training that matters most! All the books on this list teach habits that help you relax about things that don’t matter while guiding you to define what does matter and explaining ways to most efficiently focus your energies there. This jibes with my work as a yoga teacher: we seek to find the right application of effort, and to layer in ease wherever possible. I don’t think it’s stretching too much to call each book on the list both a work of philosophy and also a deeply practical life manual.
Speaking of doing hard things, this excellent book contextualizes peak performance in sports and life. It straddles and bridges these two worlds, helping me understand why my training is a chance to develop life skills that work in any arena. And it uses plenty of evidence-based science to do that!
I love that Magness uses basic principles of mindfulness, a world I know well, but in new applications. The book is full of doable exercises that wouldn’t be out of place in a yoga or meditation class.
"In Do Hard Things, Steve Magness beautifully and persuasively reimagines our understanding of toughness. This is a must-read for parents and coaches and anyone else looking to prepare for life's biggest challenges." -- Malcolm Gladwell, author of Outliers and Talking to Strangers and host of the Revisionist History podcast
From beloved performance expert, executive coach, and coauthor of Peak Performance Steve Magness comes a radical rethinking of how we perceive toughness and what it means to achieve our high ambitions in the face of hard things.
Toughness has long been held as the key to overcoming a challenge…
When I lost a baby late in my pregnancy, I was overwhelmed by grief. And then I learned that tens of thousands of babies died every day from preventable causes. I couldn’t save my own baby, but I wanted to know how to help others. I joined the board of World Vision and then other groups, including Opportunity International, MAP International, and International Justice Mission. I took numerous trips to developing countries and eventually headed a foundation dedicated to maternal health. I listened to the stories of women and tried to tell them to the world through a variety of international publications. I'm forever grateful to those who changed the way I see the world.
Whenever anyone tells me they want to change the world but don’t know where to start, I recommend this book.
It’s a step-by-step plan to help find your calling and then focus on the difference you want to make. With very helpful questions and guided exercises, it helps you understand the essentials of your goal and then create a truly actionable plan for moving forward.
The authors include their own experiences and offer very helpful cautions as well.
When you feel that pull to be part of social change, where do you start? How can you ensure that your good intentions create a positive impact? How do you focus your scattered efforts? And how do you sustain yourself throughout?
Impact brings you the answers. Drawing on their network and experience as founders of She's the First, Christen Brandt and Tammy Tibbetts show you how to create your own impact strategy, one that fits into your life and allows you to match what you have with what the world needs.
Their guidance, paired with interactive activities, will lead you…
In 2013, my father–an amazing man who was the picture of health–died suddenly and unexpectedly while at the gym. At the time, I was miserable and unfulfilled. My father’s passing sent me down a path of deep self-exploration, where I realized that life is simply too short and unpredictable to settle for less than what you truly want. As I endeavored to change my life, I became a certified life coach, relationship coach, and happiness trainer, initially to help myself, but soon discovered a passion for helping others. I've been lucky to have incredible mentors like Dr. Robert Glover. My unconventional brand of self-help has been featured in numerous publications.
This book didn’t just change my life; it may have saved it.
Countless men across the world will say the same thing. It is an eye-opener. A game changer. A big stick upside the head. It turned my whole world upside down in the best possible way.
While in the throes of depression and heartbreak, this was the only book that put a name to the beliefs and behaviors that seemed to govern my existence. It gave me the tools to develop more confidence, more resilience, and more self-respect. It also provided a roadmap to a better life.
“One of the best books I’ve ever read on men’s emotional health and development.” Mark Manson, author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck and Models.
“I have read every self-help book out there, but this was the first that put everything together in a way that made perfect sense to me.”
“Every page of my copy of No More Mr. Nice Guy is highlighted in yellow. How did you know me so well?
A Nice Guy, according to Dr. Robert Glover, a pioneering expert on the Nice Guy Syndrome, is a man who believes he is not…
I'm an ordinary person who was able to achieve an extraordinary life for myself. My parents, who currently do not own a home, have always struggled to make ends meet. When I left the US Army at 23 with only $3,000 in savings, I quickly spent it while trying to adjust to civilian life in a foreign country. With a limited college education, I turned to books for inspiration. These books provided me with insights into the details behind success stories and changed my mindset. I was motivated to write my own book, Know Money No Problem, to pay it forward and help others achieve their own version of success.
To truly stay ahead of failure, one must embrace discomfort and avoid becoming stagnant. Life is a constant race, and if you stop running, you cannot win. Who Moved My Cheese? serves as a great example that is easy to read, digest, and a powerful reminder to keep pushing forward in the race of life.
The book highlights the importance of not taking good fortune for granted and avoiding getting too comfortable. It teaches that everything is constantly evolving, and it is essential to remain vigilant and open to new opportunities.
I once used this book to teach a group of high schoolers how to stay alert to opportunities and overcome the fear of discomfort.
Who Moved My Cheese? is a simple parable that reveals profound truths. It is the amusing and enlightening story of four characters who live in a maze and look for cheese to nourish them and make them happy. Cheese is a metaphor for what you want to have in life, for example a good job, a loving relationship, money or possessions, health or spiritual peace of mind. The maze is where you look for what you want, perhaps the organisation you work in, or the family or community you live in. The problem is that the cheese keeps moving.
I am a clinical psychologist with a Ph.D. from Harvard. My personal experience of burnout, when I was a psychologist on a medical team in a hospital setting, led me to specialize in burnout in my private therapy practice. I’ve been doing therapy with adults experiencing chronic stress and burnout for many years since. I’ve also interviewed thought leaders in mental health on my podcast, Psychologists Off the Clock. I understand the complexity of burnout and the reason “quick fixes,” like individual wellness interventions, are often not enough to help with burnout. To really solve the problem, we must “dig deeper” and find both personal and cultural solutions.
Learning to set boundaries – with work and with other people – was essential to helping me to recover from burnout, and this book is a practical how-to guide for how and why to set them.
In my own life, and in my work as a clinical psychologist, I have seen how chronic people-pleasing tendencies, and saying “yes” to everything, can lead to exhaustion and burnout. Having this book as a tool has helped me to be more intentional about saying no, and more assertive about standing up for my own needs.
As the author, Nedra Glover Tawwab, states in the book, “Burnout is overwhelming, and boundaries are the cure.” I couldn’t agree more!
End the struggle, speak up for what you need, and experience the freedom of being truly yourself.
Healthy boundaries. We all know we should have them in order to achieve work/life balance, cope with toxic people, and enjoy rewarding relationships with partners, friends, and family. But what do "healthy boundaries" really mean - and how can we successfully express our needs, say "no," and be assertive without offending others?
Licensed counselor, sought-after relationship expert, and one of the most influential therapists on Instagram Nedra Glover Tawwab demystifies this complex topic for today's world. In a…
Though my two doctorates and experience landed me in the arenas of education and data-sharing, I soon realized that merely sharing information was not the way to get people to embrace fact. My books and speaking (I’ve lectured at Cambridge, Columbia, Oxford, Comic-Con, etc.) now focus on how to persuade people to absorb, remember, care about, and act on new information. I teach everyone from scientists to parents about how to share information in ways that get around people’s mental blockades. I’m also a Mensan and Fulbright Specialist who writes for Psychology Today and was honored by the White House.
Brothers Chip and Dan Heath authored some of my favorite books (likeMade to Stick), so it’s no wonder I love the content of Chip Heath’s one-time mentee Berger, as well. He looks at persuasion from a variety of angles and illustrates how different approaches work when we need someone to act or think a particular way. Berger opens with a hostage standoff where a deadly outcome seems unavoidable, and he breaks down why a particular approach beat the odds. Then he does it again and again (with everything from political advertising to kids willingly eating laundry detergent) to help us understand how minds can be nudged one way or another. Even the table of contents is too irresistible to not keep turning pages.
“Jonah Berger is one of those rare thinkers who blends research-based insights with immensely practical guidance. I am grateful to be one of the many who have learned from this master teacher.”—Jim Collins, author Good to Great, coauthor Built to Last
From the author of New York Times bestsellers Contagious and Invisible Influence comes a revolutionary approach to changing anyone’s mind.
Everyone has something they want to change. Marketers want to change their customers’ minds and leaders want to change organizations. Start-ups want to change industries and nonprofits want to change the world. But change is hard. Often, we persuade…
I am the first in my family to go into business for myself. Now, it took me years of thinking about it before I made the jump. I was scared to take that step, but I did it. My expertise came from 25 years of managing hundreds of clients in numerous industries. I loved how successful people can be with the craziest of ideas. How can you find your passion so you are happy and loving what you are doing in life? How do you overcome the fear of failure, move forward with your desires, and become abundant in doing it?
When we are not feeling well or diagnosed with an illness, the first line of defense is the pharmacy. But it doesn’t have to be. Dr. Joe tells us in detail that we can heal ourselves no matter what we are diagnosed with. In my life, I have had times of working long hours and personal stress. It made me unwell.
In 2018 I started to dive into the holistic world where I could take some control in healing myself. Out of all the books I have read over the years, Dr. Joe helped me the most. He helped me with de-stressing my business and personal life. This put me in the driver's seat of healing my medical issues.
Throughout history up until the present, many cultures have traditionally experienced the effects of verifiable healings, along with hexes, curses, witchcraft, voodoo and other mysterious phenomena. These effects - many of which were elicited by unscientific means - were brought about by the beliefs and lore of the society. Even today, pharmaceutical companies use double- and triple-blind randomised studies in an attempt to exclude of the power of the mind over the body. In You Are the Placebo, Dr. Joe Dispenza explores the history, the science and the practical applications of the so-called placebo effect. Citing many amazing individual cases…
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