Each book on this list is a book I have personally read and can attest to its value to expand your mindset! These books are impactful and unique and can expand your mindset in 2020!
While each book works on a different aspect of our personality and self, each has the ability to challenge us and make us rethink how we view ourselves and the world around us!
Enjoy these delightful and empowering books!
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Table of Contents
1. Grit: The Power of Passiona and Perseverance – Angela Duckworth
“Enthusiasm is common. Endurance is rare.”
― Angela Duckworth, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance
“Our potential is one thing. What we do with it is quite another.”
― Angela Duckworth, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance
“Enlightening…Grit teaches that life’s high peaks aren’t necessarily conquered by the naturally nimble but, rather, by those willing to endure, wait out the storm, and try again.”
― Ed Viesturs, Seven-Time Climber of Mount Everest and author of No Shortcuts to the Top
“Masterful…Grit offers a truly sane perspective: that true success comes when we devote ourselves to endeavors that give us joy and purpose.”
― Arianna Huffington, author of Thrive
I read Grit after I read Mindset (the next recommended book). It gave me an “Oh!” moment as soon as I started reading it. I learnt that although we may have a talent for something, without grit, there is no way we can succeed.
Additionally, I learnt what grit is. Further still, I was shown how to apply it. Angela Duckworth is an amazing professor of psychology who perfectly combines personal stories to show you not only why grit is important, but how you can develop it!
Spoiler! Everyone can develop grit! Highly recommend Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance!
2. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success – Carol Dweck
“We like to think of our champions and idols as superheroes who were born different from us. We don’t like to think of them as relatively ordinary people who made themselves extraordinary.”
― Carol Dweck, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
“Why waste time proving over and over how great you are, when you could be getting better?…Why look for friends or partners who will just shore up your self-esteem instead of ones who will also challenge you to grow? And why seek out the tried and true, instead of experiences that will stretch you? The passion for stretching yourself and sticking to it, even (or especially) when it’s not going well, is the hallmark of the growth mindset. This is the mindset that allows people to thrive during some of the most challenging times in their lives.”
― Carol S. Dweck, Mindset: The New Psychology Of Success
“A good book is one whose advice you believe. A great book is one whose advice you follow. This is a book that can change your life, as its ideas have changed mine.”
— Robert J. Sternberg, co-author of Teaching for Wisdom, Intelligence, Creativity, and Success
This book completely changed the way I look at myself and how I now look towards success and failure. Not only this, it allowed me to understand many of my perspectives of myself from the past. Further, it allowed me to forgive myself for past “failures.” I believe it can do this for you as well.
World-renowned psychologist Carol Dweck is amazing! An absolute must read! If you decide to read any book from this list of impactful and unique books to expand your mindset in 2020, make it Mindset: The Psychology of Success!
3. Oh, The Places You’ll Go! – Dr. Seuss
“Kid, you’ll move mountains! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So get on your way! – Oh, The Places You Will Go!
What must-read book list to expand your mindset, would be complete without Dr. Seuss. I read this book for the first time as I was about to graduate from high school – terrified, with a vast void of opportunities in front of me, with the possibilities of failure staring at me in the face.
You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.
Oh, The Places You Will Go!
Reading this book is not only fun and enlightening, but makes you believe that you can do it. By pushing through, keeping moving and never giving up you will succeed, “98 and ¾ percent guaranteed.”
Later, when I moved away for medical school, it stayed upright on my bookshelf in a place of honour, giving me courage through the hardest of times!
So, for an uplifting and encouraging book, check out Oh, The Places You’ll Go!
4. How to Win Friends and Influence People – Dale Carnegie
“You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.”
― Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People
I’ve read this book multiple times. In fact, so many times that the book is rather falling apart!
A rather quick read, it is not about tricking people into liking you. Instead, it is about crucial social skills that are perhaps not always intuitive, but are always invaluable!
Incredibly simple, it’s surprising how many of his tips we can implement in our lives. Some will seem obvious, some you might already do, and others will seem so obvious yet something you never thought of!
Truly, for anyone that wants to succeed, be a better communicator, How to Win Friends and Influence People is a must-read!
5. The Age of Innocence – Edith Wharton
“I couldn’t have spoken like this yesterday, because when we’ve been apart, and I’m looking forward to seeing you, every thought is burnt up in a great flame. But then you come; and you’re so much more than I remembered, and what I want of you is so much more than an hour or two every now and then, with wastes of thirsty waiting between, that I can sit perfectly still beside you, like this, with that other vision in my mind, just quietly trusting it to come true.”
― Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence
“In reality they all lived in a kind of hieroglyphic world, where the real thing was never said or done or even thought, but only represented by a set of arbitrary signs;”
― Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence
It was a perfect summer on the island Paros just off the Greek mainland. Sitting on the beach, reading this book, made the vacation more magical, as this book is not only beautiful but deeply touching.
For a beautiful, kind, and poignantly tragic book, read The Age of Innocence.
6. New Ideas From Old CEOs: Lasting Ideas from the Corner Office – Todd G. Buchholz
“Inspirational stories from the greatest business minds in history. Anyone can learn from their struggles, setbacks and, ultimately, successes.”
― Entrepreneur.com
“Fascinating…shows the power of ideas and persistence…a valuable guide to understanding what makes an economy grow.”
― New York Sun
A compilation of some of the most successful CEOs of all time and the struggles they had to go through to develop their company. From the development of Mary Kay to Nike to McDonald’s, reading about the journey each of its founders went through was not only inspiring, but eye-opening!
Reading this book really shows you the dedication, sacrifice, and perseverance each had to go through. And even more, all the failures they had to overcome!
For a new outlook at what it takes to succeed, read New Ideas From Old CEOs: Lasting Ideas from the Corner Office.
7. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind – Yuval Noah Harari
“Each year the US population spends more money on diets than the amount needed to feed all the hungry people in the rest of the world.”
― Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
“Large numbers of strangers can cooperate successfully by believing in common myths. Any large-scale human cooperation – whether a modern state, a medieval church, an ancient city or an archaic tribe – is rooted in common myths that exist only in people’s collective imagination.”
― Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
“Sapiens is the sort of book that sweeps the cobwebs out of your brain. Its author, Yuval Noah Harari, is a young Israeli academic and an intellectual acrobat whose logical leaps have you gasping with admiration…Harari’s writing radiates power and clarity.”
—The Sunday Times
“Sapiens is packed with heretical thinking and surprising facts. This riveting, myth-busting book cannot be summarised in any detail; you will simply have to read it.”
—Financial Times
Sapiens is a book you cannot read in one sitting. In fact, it took me many months to finish it.
Is it because it is incredibly difficult? No.
Instead, it is because it shakes you to your very core. It takes things you believe to be absolute truths, and turns them on their head. Things like human rights, religion, economy, and women’s rights.
As a truly outstanding book, I truly cannot recommend it highly enough.
Out of all the books on this list of impactful and unique books to expand your mindset in 2020, I believe it is the one that forces you to grow the most, question yourself and everything around you.
As a definite must-read for anyone wanting to know the truth about our social order, Sapiens is a must!
Conclusion
I hope you’ve enjoyed this list of Impactful and Unique Books to Expand Your Mindset in 2020!
Don’t forget, these books can be read in any order of course and as you read them, let me know what you think!
Which book are you most excited to read?
Share in the comments below!
