Top 10 Personality Development Books Suggested For You

1. Jonathan Livingston Seagull By Richard Bach

   Jonathan Livingston Seagull

This book is about Jonathan Livingston Seagull, one of the varied seagulls from the Breakfast Flock colony. The gulls dodged and fought for food off the fishing boats, aside from Jonathan Livingston, who would practice soaring into the sky, doing various maneuvers not intended for gulls. Jonathan would soar then glide. Though he stalled and fell repeatedly, he picked himself up and practiced some more. He learned from his mistakes and kept on “course correcting.

Key Lessons From this novel

1. Master the basics in your field then repose on that.
2. Experiment until you get “it” right, and “it” depends on your role in life.
3. Know and master yourself – know what you'll and can't do – and work to push beyond your limits one step at-a-time.
4. You have the capacity for far more than you think that, so keep challenging yourself.
5. Learn from your failures.
6. It’s okay to interrupt promises to yourself if they do not serve you.
7. Embrace your passions.
8. Let go of the life that not serves you.
9. Embrace new ideas and ways of doing things.
10. Never stop learning.

2. Think and Grow rich. By Napoleon Hill

This book has been the bestseller for over 70 years which became an honest reason on behalf of me to require it for reading. Whenever I want to google about the books that one should read before they die, this book wont to appear on the highest of the list, and hence I decided to read it as I wanted to see if the book was overrated or it's worth reading it.
This book deals with the facts but not with fiction and its purpose is to convey a universal truth all who can learn. Napoleon explained step by step secret for creating money.

Here’s a quick peek of the 14 "steps" to Think and Grow Rich:

1. Desire
2. Faith
3. Autosuggestion
4. Specialized Knowledge
5. Imagination
6. Organized Planning
7. Decision
8. Persistence
9. Power of the Master Mind
10. The Mystery of Sex Transmutation
11. The Subconscious Mind
12. The Brain
13. The Sixth Sense
14. Thoughts are things

3. The meditations of Marcus Aurelius By Marcus Aurelius

Meditations are probably the sole document of its kind ever made. it's the private thoughts of the world’s most powerful man advising himself on the way to observe on the responsibilities and obligations of his positions. Trained in Stoic philosophy, Antoninus stopped almost nightly to practice a series of spiritual exercises—reminders designed to form him humble, patient, empathetic, generous, and powerful within the face of whatever he was handling. it's imminently readable and perfectly accessible. you can't read this book and not come away with a phrase or a line which will be helpful to you subsequent time you're in trouble. Read it, it's practical philosophy embodied.

So, who was Marcus? A Roman Emperor from 161 to 180 A.D., Marcus practiced Stoicism and wrote about his Stoic practice in his journals. it's worth remembering that Marcus is one among history’s most exemplary leaders and one worth emulating in our own lives. Arnold, the essayist, remarked in 1863, that in Marcus we discover a person who held the very best and most powerful station within the world—and the universal verdict of the people around him was that he proved himself deserve it. Machiavelli considers the time of rule under Marcus's “golden time” and him the last of the “Five Good Emperors.” Machiavelli would also describe Antoninus as “unassuming, a devotee of justice, hater of cruelty, sympathetic and kind”

4. Steve Jobs By Walter Isaacson

Biography of Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs is in some ways another product created from the mind of its subject. Though Jobs was insistent that he wouldn’t interfere with the writing of the book (and actually he seems to not have read any a part of it), he hand-picked Isaacson to get down his legacy for all to ascertain. Why he chose him isn't surprising: Isaacson’s biographies of Franklin and Einstein are engrossing, epic, and readable studies of men who changed history. That Steve Jobs saw himself during this light (and such august company) is neither shocking nor unjustified. And while Isaacson never shies faraway from Jobs’s often vitriolic temper (and indeed he sometimes seems to linger over it to form his point), it's clear that in some respects, Steve Jobs may be a book told through the usually discussed "reality distortion field" of Steve Jobs himself: though other opinions or sides to a story are presented, Steve always has the last, blunt word.

5. Long Walk to Freedom By Nelson Mandela

Since his release in February 1990, Mandela has emerged because of the world's most vital moral leader since Gandhi. As the President of the African National Congress and spiritual figurehead of the anti-apartheid movement, Nelson Mandela was instrumental in moving South Africa towards the black-majority rule. And throughout the planet, he's revered as an important force within the fight for human rights and racial equality.

The foster son of a Tembu chief, Mandela grew up straddling two worlds: the normal culture of his tribe, and therefore the hostile reality of a white-dominated nation. A career in law beckoned, but Mandela's growing political awareness moved him to become more actively engaged, and he played a pivotal role within the formation of the ANC Youth League. within the early 1950s, he initiated the `defiance campaign' against the discriminatory policies of the South African government, and argued for non-violent resistance to apartheid. 

The Bad at the Sharpeville hardened Nelson's 's resolve and Mandela began to advocate a special course of `non-terrorist' action, aimed toward the state but theoretically preventing civilian unrest. In 1964 he was arrested and sentenced to captivity on charges of incitement to sabotage treason and violent conspiracy against the South African regime. Mandela was to spend a complete of twenty-seven years in captivity, most of them within the notorious prison on Robben Island.

Now, following the momentous events of 1994, Mandela vividly recreates the drama of the experiences that helped shape his destiny: the years operating undercover, effectively classed as a `terrorist' by the state; the most surprisingly eventful quarter-century behind the bars, when his dedication to the cause elevated him to a standing of martyr, icon, and inspiration; and therefore the astonishing moves towards the ANC's near-landslide victory within the breakthrough multi-racial elections of April 1994, when Mandela became South Africa's first-ever black President.

6. Stop Acting Rich By Thomas J. stanley

Stop Acting Rich: And Start Living Like A Real Millionaire

Overall, the lesson from this book is extremely almost like that of The Millionaire nearby, but with a small twist. Rather than focusing only on self-made millionaires. The glittering rich have such a lot of money that spending $100k on a car, or $10k on clothes, makes no difference to their overall net worth. Most real millionaires don’t have quite that level of wealth-and know that trying to imitate the ultra-wealthy may be a recipe for bankruptcy. So instead, they live frugally, and wisely spend/invest their money in order that they can meet their future goals.

A big mistake many non-millionaires make is to undertake to imitate the ultra-wealthy homes, cars, clothes, and lifestyle. rather than living sort of a real millionaire, they “act rich” and never achieve their financial goals. Dr. Stanley goes through various sorts of purchases from cars to shoes, watches, alcohol, et al. – showing each step of the way that creating purchases supported what causes you to happy, not showing off or trying to imitate others, maybe a path to wealth.

7. As a man thinketh By James Allen

If you would like a condensed version “Think And you'll Grow Rich” then you ought to devour James Allen’s “As a person Thinketh”. This book acts almost sort of a synopsis for Napoleon Hill’s greatest work. I always believed the law of attraction to be a guise for a few religion but after further investigation, the teachings are literally a philosophy wont to cultivate a robust mind with the potential to supply its desires.

Here the author proposes that man has the power to shape their destiny — so to talk — by cultivating “God-like” thoughts. this is often because the cause and effect principle isn't just the wildlife, it's also of the mind. Only through humble introspective investigation are you able to address potential problems.

He uses an analogy of gold and diamonds. Precious metals like those are only found after exhaustive excavation. Similarly, the person must mine the mind and “soul” to completely uncover the truths that construct your being. The lies you tell yourself and therefore the words that catalyze your action.

8. Talent is Overrated By Geoffrey Colvin

This was surprising in some ways. The start of it is pretty much Gladwell’s Outliers, the end is pretty well Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us and the middle is about the least interesting part of the book. So, I guess I would recommend those two books rather than this one, except that there were some things about this that made the whole thing worthwhile.

I’m more convinced than ever that talent is overrated. What is talent? Essentially it is directly connected with performance – talented people are people who can perform well. So if you are trying to improve performance looking at the ‘innate’ abilities of the performer is probably the least interesting and least worthwhile thing to do. Surely the best way to improve performance is to look at what high performers DO and work out how to help weaker performers do that.

Much of this book is about the benefits of deliberate practice – which is, doing stuff that is not fun to do so as to be able to be successful at something. That is piano practice or pumping iron or swimming at 5am. However, I think he overdoes the ‘this is hard and horrible but needs to be done’ stuff. The real lesson is that if it is meaningful and is directed at a goal the person wants to go in then it will not be horrible. Meaning is key here.

9. Spark By John Ratey

In Spark, Harvard psychiatrist John Ratey gives them yet another reason to get active: Exercise, he argues, has a “profound impact on cognitive abilities” and it “is simply one of the best treatments we have for most psychiatric problems.”

Ratey, who wrote the book with journalist Eric Hagerman, cites numerous studies to support his case for the relationship between a healthy mind and a healthy body.

Exercise, he says, does what most psychiatric drugs do: It boosts levels of serotonin and norepinephrine. It also causes the release of a newly discovered substance in the brain called BDNGF, which Ratey dubs as a “miracle grow” for the brain. Finally, researchers have recently discovered that several areas of the brain devoted to motor function also have critical roles in cognition; physical exercise strengthens the pathways between these areas and might thereby improve cognitive function. 

10. The 7 Habits of Highly effective Peoples By Stephen Covey

This book was just alright. I was slightly disappointed as I have had this book recommended to me by countless people so I had higher expectations from this book. I’ve started reading this book with great expectations. But while reading, I see that it was repeating itself. It is needlessly long, and telling the same things over and over again. I felt it could have been summarized to a quarter of its size easily, and the core of the book is “change your paradigm”. If you want to read this book, just find a summary and read it. It will be enough to learn the concept of this book.

Here are the key insights from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People :

1. Sharpen the saw. Don't work yourself to death. ...
2. Be proactive. ...
3. Begin with an end in mind. ...
4. Put first things first. ...
5. Think win-win. ...
6. Seek first to understand, then to be understood. ...
7. Synergize.