100 books like My Brilliant Year Life Goals Workbook

By Leonie Dawson,

Here are 100 books that My Brilliant Year Life Goals Workbook fans have personally recommended if you like My Brilliant Year Life Goals Workbook. Shepherd is a community of 10,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles

Dr. Caroline Brookfield Author Of The Reluctant Creative: 5 Effortless Habits to Expand Your Comfort Zone

From my list on trying new things even if you are scared.

Why am I passionate about this?

I was driven to become a veterinarian for as long as I could remember. Then, in high school, I developed a love of performance. I felt stuck. Should I choose art or science? I chose science, and despite a great career, I felt like something was missing. When I reconnected with my creativity through stand-up comedy, entrepreneurship and other non-artistic creative outlets, I found out what I had been missing. Why do we drop creativity for science? It was a common story. I dove into the research on creativity, and was blown away by how a bit of creativity can make us happier, more resilient, and make workplaces more effective.

Dr.'s book list on trying new things even if you are scared

Dr. Caroline Brookfield Why did Dr. love this book?

As I read this book, I felt like the author was looking into my soul. I loved the short, punchy observations and challenges to anyone seeking to share their creativity. The Resistance is a force universal to everyone who is trying to share a little piece of themselves, and I love the way that it is broken down in this book.

I realized that when I could see what was holding me back from expressing myself, I was able to find strategies to mitigate that fear. This book was instrumental in my ability to express myself as an author and speaker. 

By Steven Pressfield,

Why should I read it?

22 authors picked The War of Art as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A succinct, engaging, and practical guide forsucceeding in any creative sphere, The War ofArt is nothing less than Sun-Tzu for the soul.

What keeps so many of us from doing what we long to do?

Why is there a naysayer within? How can we avoid theroadblocks of any creative endeavor—be it starting up a dreambusiness venture, writing a novel, or painting a masterpiece?

Bestselling novelist Steven Pressfield identifies the enemy thatevery one of us must face, outlines a battle plan to conquer thisinternal foe, then pinpoints just how to achieve the greatest success.

The War of Art emphasizes the resolve…


Book cover of The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself

Why am I passionate about this?

Fascinated with consciousness, spirituality, and the power of mind, I started reading books by Thich Nhat Hahn, Wayne Dyer, Deepak Chopra, and Alan Watts as early as 5th grade. But I was also infatuated with math and logic, which led to a degree in mathematics at UC Berkeley. Knowing there was more to understanding truth beyond logic, I balanced out my worldview with an M.A. in transpersonal psychology. For more than twenty years, I have passionately devoted myself to the study and practice of transformation. As a certified coach using expertise in interpersonal neurobiology, design thinking, and Conversational Intelligence®, I have provided thousands of transformative experiences for individuals, executives, teams, and organizations. 

Amy's book list on personal growth books that use more logic and science than New Age thinking to overcome self-imposed limitations and flourish

Amy Eliza Wong Why did Amy love this book?

Singer made distinct all the imperceptible knowings I’ve felt throughout my existence about the power of the mind, beliefs, and all the habits we have that hold us back. He made the invisible visible and with that came more choices and possibilities. I felt invigorated, at peace and also empowered while I read this book. I honestly couldn’t put it down!

I reveled in not just the content but the style with which he presents truths about our existence. (And it was just so enjoyable to read!) The last part about death changed me in a profound way and offered me the gift of presence in a way I’ve never been able to achieve through other means. 

By Michael A. Singer,

Why should I read it?

16 authors picked The Untethered Soul as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Who are you? When you start to explore this question, you find out how elusive it really is. Are you a physical body? A collection of experiences and memories? A partner to relationships? Each time you consider aspects of yourself, you realize that there is much more to you than any of these can define. In this book, spiritual teacher Michael Singer explores the question of who we are and arrives at the conclusion that our identity is to be found in our consciousness, the fact of our ability to observe ourselves and the world around us. By tapping into…


Book cover of The Desire Map: A Guide to Creating Goals with Soul

Shari Leid Author Of Ask Yourself This: Ultimate Life Lessons From and For My Girlfriends

From my list on helping you live your most imperfectly perfect life.

Why am I passionate about this?

These are the books that changed my life and were the catalyst for a change in career from litigation attorney to life coach. I am also a Friendship expert who is currently traveling the US, meeting a stranger in every state to share a meal with. These books align with the way I live and the energy and lessons that I hope to share with everyone I meet. These are not just books to entertain but also books that have helped me get through some difficult times in life and have helped me find real purpose and meaning in the way I move through life.

Shari's book list on helping you live your most imperfectly perfect life

Shari Leid Why did Shari love this book?

This book changed my life. This is the book that taught me the power of journaling.

I found the journal prompts that the book offers to be useful and appreciate that they provided a guide that helped me define my core beliefs and taught me to listen to my inner voice in a way that brought about an easy method to figure out not only what is truly important to me but this method also helped me to define my goals and purpose in a no-fuss bare bones way.

This book was the catalyst that eventually led me to my career as a life coach. 

By Danielle LaPorte,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked The Desire Map as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Your bucket list. Quarterly objectives. Strategic plans. Big dreams. Goals. Lots of goals and plans to achieve those goals-no matter what. Except ...

You're not chasing the goal itself, you're actually chasing the feeling that you hope achieving that goal will give you.

Which means we have the procedures of achievement upside down. We go after the stuff we want to have, get, or accomplish, and we hope that we'll be fulfilled when we get there. It's backwards. And it's burning us out.

So what if you first got clear on how you actually wanted to feel in your life,…


Book cover of Choosing Easy World: A Guide to Opting Out of Struggle and Strife and Living in the Amazing Realm Where Everything is Easy

Summer McStravick Author Of Stuff Nobody Taught You: 40 Lessons from M.E.School® to Help You Stop Being Miserable and Start Feeling Amazing

From my list on making you want to plunge joyfully forward in life.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m always on the hunt for unique, thought-provoking voices among the endless thicket of personal growth titles out there. I look for thought leaders who can help me truly understand myself or the Universe, and help me reach some next-level breakthroughs in my heart. In my prior role as podcast producer for the likes of Dr. Wayne Dyer, Louise Hay, and the like, I’ve been able to really understand what does (and doesn’t) trigger true change within ourselves. I’ve compiled this short list of people who know their sh*t and both challenge me and make me feel blessed to have encountered their wild, gorgeous minds in the pages of their books. 

Summer's book list on making you want to plunge joyfully forward in life

Summer McStravick Why did Summer love this book?

The simplicity of this book is breathtaking—there’s just one central idea: life should feel easy.

And yet we all instinctively answer, “No, it’s not. It never will be.” And that’s Hamrick’s genius: she asks you to live, for a moment, in a world that lacks any resistance to your dreams or goals. A world where life fully and effectively supports you.

And then she unravels all your own resistance to this idea. 

By Julia Rogers Hamrick,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Choosing Easy World as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Contrary to what we've believed, life does not have to be hard. And it was never intended to be! "Choosing Easy World" explores the concept that we can access a place where everything works out effortlessly, harmoniously, and in support of our highest possibilities for well-being. As its title implies, "Choosing Easy World" reveals that the key to being in this reality - in "Easy World" - is as simple and easy as choosing to be. Woven throughout with powerful personal stories of opting into Easy World with remarkable results, "Choosing Easy World" provides readers with inspiration, instructions, and support…


Book cover of The Making of the Mosaic: A History of Canadian Immigration Policy

Valerie Knowles Author Of Strangers at Our Gates: Canadian Immigration and Immigration Policy, 1540-2015

From my list on capturing Canada’s colourful immigration history.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a Canadian freelance writer, who has a BA in honours history from Smith College, an MA in history from McGill University, and a Bachelor in Journalism from Carleton University. As I have a special interest in Canadian history and Canadian biography, I have authored books in these subject areas. These include an award-winning biography of Sir William Van Horne, a polymath and railway general who pushed through the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and Cairine Wilson. Canada’s first woman senator, who was celebrated for her work with refugees in the 1930s and 1940s, and a best-selling survey of Canadian immigration and immigration policy, Strangers At Our Gates.

Valerie's book list on capturing Canada’s colourful immigration history

Valerie Knowles Why did Valerie love this book?

Canadian immigration policy has always been a subject of fierce political and public debate and in this authoritative work Ninette Kelley and Michael Trebilcock examine the interests, ideas, institutions, and rhetoric that have shaped it. The authors begin their study in the pre-Confederation period and interpret major developments in the evolution of Canadian immigration policy. Among the shameful episodes they describe are the deportations of the First World War and Great Depression and the uprooting and internment of Japanese Canadians after Pearl Harbour.

By Ninette Kelley, Michael Trebilcock,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Making of the Mosaic as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Immigration policy is a subject of intense political and public debate. In this second edition of the widely recognized and authoritative work The Making of the Mosaic, Ninette Kelley and Michael Trebilcock have thoroughly revised and updated their examination of the ideas, interests, institutions, and rhetoric that have shaped Canada's immigration history. Beginning their study in the pre-Confederation period, the authors interpret major episodes in the evolution of Canadian immigration policy, including the massive deportations of the First World War and Depression eras as well as the Japanese-Canadian internment camps during World War Two. New chapters provide perspective on immigration…


Book cover of Broken Ground

Lynne Bowen Author Of Whoever Gives Us Bread: The Story of Italians in British Columbia

From my list on revealing the hidden history of Western Canada.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a young person I loved to read history novels, but each book had to be about either British monarchs or American generals. Then I watched the movie Bye Bye Blues, a Canadian prairie story by Anne Wheeler, and realized for the first time that the story was about me, about us. It was such a heady feeling that I decided to study Western Canadian history at university. Three weeks after I got my M.A. from the University of Victoria I was offered the chance to write about Vancouver Island coal miners and the rest, as they say, is quite literally history.

Lynne's book list on revealing the hidden history of Western Canada

Lynne Bowen Why did Lynne love this book?

Jack Hodgins, Western Canada’s literary wunderkind, put Vancouver Island on the literary map with his short stories and novels which demonstrate the truth in the adage “write about what you know”. As a writer I learned this from Jack and I also learned that if I find a subject fascinating my readers will too. In Broken Ground, his seventh novel, Jack writes about World War One veterans, still haunted by the horror of the trenches, as they struggle to farm amid the massive stumps of a former old growth forest.

By Jack Hodgins,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Broken Ground as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Broken Ground is a riveting exploration of the dark, brooding presence of the First World War in the lives of the inhabitants of a “soldier’s settlement” on Vancouver Island. From out of a stubborn, desolate landscape studded with tree stumps, the settlers of Portuguese Creek have built a new life for themselves. But when an encroaching forest fire threatens this fledgling settlement, it also intensifies the remembered horrors of war. The story of Portuguese Creek is told by several of its citizens, including a boy trying to recover from the sudden loss of his father, and a former teacher haunted…


Book cover of The Feeling of Greatness: The Moe Norman Story

Andrew Stelmack Author Of Send in the Clown

From my list on what sets the greatest golfers apart.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a very successful professional stage actor and visual artist I have learned that perfection is boring. A person or thing without flaws loses my interest very quickly. There's nothing more boring for an actor to play than someone who does no wrong. Since I have so much experience in putting myself in another person’s shoes with my acting and finding different ways to express emotion in my art, I find great pleasure in finding the flawed people in the world and telling their emotional stories. Their challenges, their obstacles and their success and failures – both self-imposed and that which is thrust upon them by society.

Andrew's book list on what sets the greatest golfers apart

Andrew Stelmack Why did Andrew love this book?

The other factual book out there on Moe that provides insight into the man and his world. In addition to the stories of Moe, you also get clippings and photos that add to its delight. A wonderful look at his life and career and most importantly you hopefully walk away having learned something not only about him specifically, but about the complexities of his world.

By Tim O'Connor,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Feeling of Greatness as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From the award-winning journalist and coach: a biography of “the ‘Rain Man’ of golf. It’s a character drama. It’s an underdog story” (Barry Morrow, Academy Award–winning screenwriter).

Documentary now in production!

In The Feeling of Greatness, second edition, golf coach Tim O’Connor updates his previous biography of the late great, Canadian golfer Moe Norman, who was famous for introducing the single plane golf swing. This edition includes new anecdotes about Moe both on and off the course by golfers, journalists, friends, and family, and offers a more in-depth portrait of the man and golfer, especially in the last years of…


Book cover of Good to a Fault

Anne Raeff Author Of Only the River

From my list on looking for and finding refuge.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am the child of refugees from the Holocaust, so displacement and the effects of war and violence have been part of my personal experience. My book, Only the River, is loosely based on my mother’s story. She and her family escaped from Vienna in 1938 and spent the war years in Bolivia, the only country that would give them visas. I am also a high school teacher who works with immigrant students, who have fled violence and poverty. It is my vocation to offer them hospitality and help them find a sense of home here, in an environment that is often hostile. These books bring the stories of the displaced and dispossessed alive. 

Anne's book list on looking for and finding refuge

Anne Raeff Why did Anne love this book?

This book by Canadian writer Marina Endicott is quirky in all the best ways—smart, tender, heart-wrenching, and quietly hopeful. It is about a lonely, divorced accountant who takes in a homeless family after crashing into their car. The book is gorgeous on the sentence level and the way Endicott writes about the connections and lack of connections between the characters in the book is full of wisdom and pathos. Though the premise is quite simple, the book is full of surprises. 

By Marina Endicott,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Good to a Fault as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Absorbed in her own failings, 43-year-old Clara Purdy crashes her life into a sharp left turn, taking the young family in the other car along with her. When bruises on the mother, Lorraine, prove to be late-stage cancer, Clara moves the three children and their terrible grandmother into her own house while Lorraine undergoes treatment at the local hospital.

We know what is good, but we don't do it. In Good to a Fault, Clara decides to give it a try, and then has to cope with the consequences : exhaustion, fury, hilarity, and unexpected love. But she questions her…


Book cover of Historic Yarmouth: Town & County

Bruce Bishop Author Of Unconventional Daughters: An Engrossing Family Saga on Two Continents

From my list on Nova Scotia, Canada.

Why am I passionate about this?

I developed a love for James A. Michener’s sweeping novels as a young man, which coincided with an early stage of my career as a travel journalist. I was fortunate to find myself in places all over the globe that he had written about, and these countries were somehow made more vivid to me because of his words. It wasn’t until the onset of Covid-19 in 2020 that I switched from writing non-fiction to fiction. In doing so, I realized that the small part of the world in which I had been born and raised – Nova Scotia, Canadawas as fascinating and interesting as any place I had visited. 

Bruce's book list on Nova Scotia, Canada

Bruce Bishop Why did Bruce love this book?

This was my go-to resource on several occasions when I was researching for my book.

While it concentrates on the work of 19th-century photographers based in southwestern Nova Scotia, the wealth of information gleaned from the captions and the photos themselves made this paperback invaluable to me. Indeed, anyone interested in streetscapes, domestic and public architecture, shipping, transportation, and so much more in Yarmouth town and county, will certainly appreciate this compendium.

By Eric Ruff,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Historic Yarmouth as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Hard to Find book


Book cover of Burden of Desire

Bruce Bishop Author Of Unconventional Daughters: An Engrossing Family Saga on Two Continents

From my list on Nova Scotia, Canada.

Why am I passionate about this?

I developed a love for James A. Michener’s sweeping novels as a young man, which coincided with an early stage of my career as a travel journalist. I was fortunate to find myself in places all over the globe that he had written about, and these countries were somehow made more vivid to me because of his words. It wasn’t until the onset of Covid-19 in 2020 that I switched from writing non-fiction to fiction. In doing so, I realized that the small part of the world in which I had been born and raised – Nova Scotia, Canadawas as fascinating and interesting as any place I had visited. 

Bruce's book list on Nova Scotia, Canada

Bruce Bishop Why did Bruce love this book?

When Robert MacNeil’s debut novel Burden of Desire was published in 1992, it stood out to me because it offered a fresh take on the Halifax (Nova Scotia) Explosion of 1917 as a backdrop to his compelling love-triangle storyline.

The Explosion was the largest man-made disaster in the world prior to World War II, and every school child in Nova Scotia, including myself, traditionally learns of the Explosion by reading Barometer Rising, Hugh MacLennan’s iconic novel that was published in 1941.

But MacNeil’s novel proves that historical fiction can be spicy and entertaining as well as truthful to its time period and setting. He is well-remembered as a television journalist for his long-running PBS show, the MacNeil Lehrer Report. Mr. MacNeil is now 92 years young.

By Robert MacNeil,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Burden of Desire as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Set against a vived backdrop of a world at war, Burden of Desire opens with a cataclysmic explosions that provides the novel's extraordinary central metaphor. The blast and its aftermath, which devastates Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1917, rocks the lives of the three major characters, and ensures that the world as they know it will never be the same again.

Brilliantly blending suspense and eroticism with rich historical detail, Robert MacNeil sets the stage for one of the most provocative tales of desire and obsession to be found in recent fiction. Magnificent in scope, Burden of Desire is work of…


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