3 Must-read Books for Your Personal Growth

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I recently had a client ask me for book suggestions.

"I want something focused on self-development," he said. He was targeting some specific skills, and I got the sense he was looking for a how-to manual of sorts.

There is no shortage of personal growth and self-improvement books lining the shelves of bookstores and airport kiosks. But if I'm being honest, I've stopped reading most of them, and this is coming from a guy who typically reads three to four books a month. Most of them feel like a literary version of snake oil, with blurbs like “a clear message in a sea of noise,” and “the definitive resource that no leader should be without.”

I found three books that I think are the exception. I'd recommend them without reservation and have hyperlinked the titles should you want to learn more…

“Hidden POTENTIAL”

Those who know me will tell you that I'm unapologetic in my praise for Adam Grant. That said, this book deserves its flowers.

Grant makes a research-backed case for the value of practice and persistence in skill development. He argues that discomfort in learning is worth leaning into, not shying away from.

He also provides evidence that learning styles (e.g., "I'm a visual learner") are really just preferences that we ascribe to ourselves. He's not the only person to point to the lack of research around learning styles, but he's definitely the most mainstream author to do so, and he busts the myth in a way that the general population will understand.

“Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning”

I recently declared to an absolute stranger on LinkedIn that if my house were on fire, I would grab my copy of this book while I make my exit. It sounds dramatic because I could absolutely order a new one, but what is irreplaceable are ten years’ worth of notes I've scrawled into the margins.

This book is a treatise on how our short- and long-term memory really works and the systems that we can build to create durable learning. Backed by case studies ranging from university students to aircraft pilots, this book is the culmination of over a decade of research conducted by Peter Brown, Henry Roediger III, and Mark McDaniel.

I'd lend you my copy, but I can't take that risk.

“Emotional Intelligence 2.0”

I'm convinced that emotional intelligence—sometimes abbreviated as EI or EQ—is the bedrock to personal growth. Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves have given us a great starting point.

Building on the work of Daniel Goleman, they've included a self-assessment that identifies your strongest and weakest domains of emotional intelligence. If you're going to pick up this book, be sure to pick up a brand-new copy so that the access code for the assessment is unused.

Start with the assessment, and then, because emotional intelligence is like a muscle that can be targeted and toned, use the rest of the book to determine which practical strategies to tackle first. The code can be used a second time for you to calculate your growth down the road.

EPILOGUE

This list isn't definitive, and it certainly hasn't been endorsed by Kirkus Reviews or the Dalai Lama.

It comes from my own experience of wanting to grow, picking up a book that made a strong promise, and feeling like I never got the answers I was desperately seeking.

I'm always on the lookout for the next addition to my TBR stack. If you've got a recommendation, I'm all ears!

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