25 BOOKS THAT CHANGED MY LIFE | Motivation & Inspiration

I would like to share with you the top 25 books that have changed my life.

My life has changed over many years.  I got into the self-development world when I was 17 years. Different books that I have read have changed different areas of my life over the last 13 years.

I have dedicated my life and his work to personal growth and development.  I love to read and learn.  I believe that reading is a powerful tool to learn more about yourself and the world.

Barack Obama once said, “Reading is the gateway skill that makes all other learning possible”.

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Awaken the Giant Within: How to Take Immediate Control of Your Mental, Emotional, Physical and Financial 

I first started reading this book when I was 19 years old. It teaches you the key success principles for how you can change every aspect of your life – beliefs, state, identity, values, etc.

Think And Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill

This is a classic self-help book. Andrew Carnegie, who was the richest man in the world at the time, hired Napoleon Hill to study the most successful people in the world. The goal was to find out what were the most common traits that made people successful.

This book talks about the mindset and the psychology of success. In my business, I emphasize this all the time, that success starts in your mind. 80% is your psychology, and 20% are the mechanics.

It Works: The Tiny Little Read Book That Makes Your Dreams Come True, RHJ

This book teaches you how to set goals. It shares a process and stresses that you should read and review your goals 3x/day. You need to carry those goals with you at all times. If at any moment, you are going through a difficult time in your life, take out that list of goals.

Focus on what you want, consistently, because if you do so, you will be able to manifest your goals.

Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl

Frankl was an Austrian psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor, who lived in Auschwitz. This book chronicles his experience as a concentration camp inmate. During his time there, he became fascinated with what made the difference in those that survived Auschwitz, versus those that did not.

He determined that, in any moment of life and suffering, you always have to find an empowering purpose, and if you can find that purpose, that is what will allow you to make it through anything.

He was the first person that determined that it is not your environment that determines how you feel, but rather, it is the meaning you ascribe to your experiences.

The Way of the Superior Man:  A Spiritual Guide to Mastering The Challenges of Women, Work and Sexual Desire, David Deida

This is a book for men. All men should read this book.  This book teaches you how to be in your power, as a man, and how to relate to women. It teaches you that, as a man, living your purpose and truth is attractive to the opposite sex. If you make your purpose about women, oftentimes she won't respect you as much, unless you have a bigger purpose that you are moving towards.

The 4-Hour Work Week, Tim Ferris:  Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, And Join the New Rich

I don’t really believe in the 4-hour work week because it is flawed. The Internet changes so much, so that in 5 or 10 years from now, you will be out of business if you follow this way of life. I believe in having this freedom at specific times in your life, but that it's more important to find your mission and purpose.

The Greatest Salesmen in the World, Og Mandino

This is a fictitious story about a boy who wants to become the greatest salesman in the world. He goes out on a journey and he is instructed to read one scroll, three times a day, for 30 days.  He has to master what is taught inside those scrolls.

I like books that don’t just have theory, but that get you to actually shift your beliefs and mindset. This book forced me to practice the principles in this book, every day.

The Wealthy Barber: The Common Sense Guide to Successful Financial Planning, David Chilton

I read this book when I was 18 years old and I was working for my family business. At the time, my brother, who is 9 years older than me, was learning about investing. He recommended that I read this book.  It’s a story about a guy who goes to a barber and gets financial advice, and the barber ends up becoming wealthy.

Before I read this book, I didn’t know about the importance of paying yourself first. I notice that a lot of people still don’t apply this principle. At the time, I invested in a mutual fund, and although I didn’t have a lot of money, I did invest $25/month.

Now, I'm 30 years old, and my money has been compounding over the years.

Rich Dad, Poor Dad:  What The Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and The Middle Class Do Not!, Robert Kiyosaki

This is the most popular finance book of all time. It really taught me about assets versus liabilities. It's an easy-read, and it helps you with your mindset around money. This book is based on Kiyosaki’s childhood upbringing, in particular, the attitudes of two men (his rich dad and poor dad), and how they influenced his life.

Cash Flow Quadrant:  Rich Dad's Guide to Financial Freedom, Robert Kiyosaki

This is a great follow-up book to Rich Dad, Poor Dad. I was a dating coach for years and I remember asking one very wealthy client that I had, “What advice do you have for someone that aspires to be financially successful one day?”

He said, “Read all of the books written by Robert Kiyosaki and apply them to your life.” This book shares 4 different quadrants – employee, self-employed, business owner, and investor. The author describes that you do not want to be the employee or the self-employed, but rather, you want to be the business owner and the investor because they work on the business.

The Millionaire Fastlane: Crack the Code to Wealth and Live Rich for a Lifetime, MJ DeMarco

I read this book in Bali a few years ago. This is a no BS kind of book.  It puts down the 9-5 lifestyle and the concept of getting rich slow. It teaches you that all the wealthy financial gurus in the world did not become wealthy by getting rich slow, but rather, they became wealthy in business.

I believe that you need to invest in your business and pay yourself first because business always changes and evolves. The best passive investments that you have are things like, blue stock chips, or real estate investments that pay positive cash flow, I believe in adopting multiple strategies for financial abundance.

This book made me realize that people spend so much time trying to find the best deal, that they don’t realize that their time is worth money.

F.U. Money: Make As Much Money As You Damn Well Want And Live Your Life As You Damn Well Please! Dan Lok

This book helped me with my mindset around building an online business when I was first starting out. Dan Lok was a mentor in my life, and we have now become good friends.

The Secrets of the Millionaire Mind: Mastering the Inner Game of Wealth, T. Harv Eker

This is a book that helps you understand your money blueprint. If you only believe that you are worthy of a certain amount of money, you will sabotage yourself.

Way Of The Peaceful Warrior: A Book That Changes Lives, Dan Millman

This is a powerful self-help book that helped me with my beliefs around success, happiness, etc. This book is about a boy who is going to college, and he wants to be an Olympic athlete, but he is so caught up in his ego and getting attached to the outcome.

He meets a man called Socrates, who challenges him and teaches him how to become a peaceful warrior.

The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment, Eckhart Tolle

This book taught me about the power of now and the importance of being present.  Everything comes down to the present moment.

The Depression Cure: The 6-step Program to Beat Depression Without Drugs, Stephen S. llardi

This book teaches you how to naturally cure depression. I've had moments in my life, especially in high school, when I was depressed. I would escape life through video games. I'm a big believer in exhausting all the natural resources possible before you consider using drugs to solve problems.

The author studied the Amish people, and he found that very few of these people are depressed. He goes into how a lot of depression is caused by our lifestyle, and he shares five ways that you can heal depression.

The Game: Penetrating The Secret Society of Pickup Artists, Neil Strauss

This is a book about picking up women. When I was 17 years old I was very shy, and I set out on a mission to improve my confidence. Neil Strauss was a role model for me.

I don’t agree with what his book teaches because it talks about techniques and lines that you can use on women, and about how you can put women down and deceive them, which I don’t agree with or endorse. That being said, this book impacted me because it demonstrated that being social and meeting women is a learnable skill.

It’s not your looks that attract someone, but rather, you become attractive by improving yourself and by learning how attraction works. I believe that the most important thing you can do to attract someone in your life is to focus on improving yourself.

The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho

This book tells a story of a shepherd boy named Santiago, who goes on a journey to realize his “personal legend”.  This book is about finding your purpose.

Unlimited Power: The New Science of Personal Achievement, Tony Robbins

This book goes into a lot of NLP strategies. It’s a great intro book about the techniques associated with NLP, and how you can change your behaviors, thoughts, and emotions.

Rocket Fuel: The One Essential Combination That Will Get You More of What You Want from Your Business, Gino Wickman

This is a great book for entrepreneurs that are living and working in their business, and not ON their business. I learned that you are either the visionary or the integrator in your business and that you don’t want to be both. It’s a book designed for someone that may be further ahead in their business journey.

I'm a visionary, not an integrator, so it helped me find an integrator that runs the operations side of my business so that I can focus solely on doing the things that I enjoy.

Get Up! Why Your Chair is Killing You and What You Can Do About It! Dr. James Levine

This book changed my life because it propelled me to buy a treadmill desk. The research shows that sitting is killing us. For every hour that you are sitting, you cut off 3 hours of your life.  My job involves me being in front of the computer, and it requires a lot of sitting. This book made me realize how much sitting affects my mood, happens, energy levels, etc.

The Introvert Advantage: How To Thrive in an Extrovert World, Marti Olsen Laney

This book shares with you the power of being an introvert. In society, we reward people for being extroverts. In many cases, being an introvert has a lot of amazing benefits.  A lot of people feel guilty that they aren’t more social, but many of the most successful people in the world are introverts. Introverts have deeper relationships with people, they are more comfortable being alone, and they are better able to focus.

Brain Over Binge: Why I Was Bulimic, Why Conventional Therapy Didn't Work, and How I Recovered for Good, Kathryn Hansen

This book changed my life. From 2012-2014 I took part in two different fitness competitions, where I had to be less than 10% body fat. I got to the point where I had veins coming out of my abs and I was dieting to extreme levels.

Through this process, you are going through extreme calorie deficits, which triggers our animal brain to binge, because your brain goes into survival mode. It was a very destructive time in my life and it caused a lot of pain.

Money: Master the Game: 7 Simple Steps to Financial Freedom, Tony Robbins

This book is based on extensive research and one-on-one interviews with more than 50 of the most legendary financial experts in the world. This book helped me master what I already knew. It’s about paying yourself first and compound interest, which are things that I already knew about, but it taught me to do more.

I realized that I need to invest more money and that I've got to make it the most important financial decision of my life. It teaches you some great beliefs about ways of looking at money.  The end of the book talks about the power of giving your money and being a force for good, which I resonate with.

These books have made an impact in my life in different ways throughout the years, and I hope they inspire you as well! What books have changed your life?

Video transcript

Hey, everyone!  This is Stefan from ProjectLifeMastery.com, and in this video I'm going to share with you the top 25 books that have changed my life.  When I was originally thinking about recording this video, I thought, “Okay, what are the top five books that have really made a difference in my life, and that I would recommend to someone else?” People always ask me, “Stefan, what are the top five or ten books that you would recommend? What should I read?” When I was thinking of my list of my top five books, I couldn't just limit it to five books.

It ended up turning into ten books, and then when I was going through my list of ten books, I couldn't limit it there either, so it turned into fifteen and twenty. Finally, I narrowed it down to twenty-five books that have changed my life.  My life has changed over many different years.  I got into self-development when I was seventeen years old, and thinking back at the different stages of my life, different books that I've read have changed my life at different phases of my life, and in different areas of my life.

I believe that you should always want to improve every aspect of your life so that you are living a balanced, fulfilled life.  I'm going to go over each of the books that I have on my computer.  I don't remember all the author names for the books, so what I'm going to do is, on YouTube, I'm going to link each of the books below in the description, as well as in a blog post that will supplement this video.

Also, I recommend that if you want to get more up-to-date on all the books that I'm reading every year, you can find those in my Monthly Goals Reports, where, every month, I share my goals.  I always have goals to read books, to learn, and grow.  These books are in no particular order.  It's not from best to worst. They have all equally impacted my life.

Awaken The Giant Within by Tony Robbins

Now, the first book that I'm going to share with you that has changed my life is “Awaken The Giant Within”, by Tony Robbins. Many of you know how much Tony Robbins has influenced my life back when I was seventeen years old.  I first started reading the book, “Awaken The Giant Within”, when I was nineteen or twenty years old. I still remember specifically when I read the book.  I was actually flying to Toronto at the time.

This book is powerful.  “Awaken The Giant Within” basically teaches you how you can change every aspect of your life; your beliefs, your state, your identity, your values. It teaches you principles for your health and for your finances.  The key success principles that I think everybody needs to embody in their life. It's actually a book that I've read twice.  I recall how much it made a difference in my life at the time, amongst many other things that I've learned from Tony Robbins.

Think And Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

That is one of the top books that I often recommend to people that has really made a difference in my life.  The #2 book would be, “Think And Grow Rich”, by Napoleon Hill. Think And Grow Rich is a classic self-help book.  Napoleon Hill was hired by Andrew Carnegie, who was the richest man in the world at the time.  Andrew Carnegie had Napoleon Hill go out and study the most successful people in the world to find out what were the common traits and qualities that made people successful.

He went and studied Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and all these incredible people. The book, “Think And Grow Rich”, basically has the best of the best of what it takes to succeed. It's called “Think And Grow Rich” because success starts in your mind.  It's your psychology and your mindset. I've shared many times, how 80% of success is your psychology, whereas only 20% is the how to and the mechanics. This is a fantastic book that really goes into the mindset and the psychology of success. I highly recommend it.

It Works – The Tiny Little Red Book That Changes Lives

The third book that had a big impact in my life is a really short book, but it's powerful. It's a book called, “It Works”. I think the subtitle of the book is, “It Works – The Tiny Little Red Book That Changes Lives”.  It's a famous book that you can read in less than thirty minutes. It's a tiny book like this, it's pretty inexpensive. In the book it teaches how to set goals, and it shares a process for setting goals.  When you have the goals, you want to make sure that you read them three times a day, and carry those goals with you in your back pocket, in your purse, or whatever it is.

Every day you read your goals three times, first thing in the morning, at noon, and before you go to bed. At any moment that you are stressed in your life, frustrated, angry, depressed, or down, all you want to do is take out that list of goals and focus on those.  Focus on where you want to go. Don't focus on what you are afraid of, don't focus on what's not working out. If you just focus on what you want consistently, then you are going to move in that direction, and you are going to be able to manifest and attract what it is that you want. “It Works” is a powerful book.  Everybody should go out and get it.

Man's Search For Meaning by Viktor Frankl

Another book that really made a difference in my life is called, “Man's Search For Meaning”, by Viktor Frankl. Viktor Frankl is a psychiatrist who was living in Auschwitz for a certain period of his life. He got taken away from his family, and his wife and kids were killed.  All around him was massive suffering. He determined that, about one in twenty-five people would actually survive. He became fascinated with what it was that made the difference in those human beings that actually survived and made it through Auschwitz.

These people were in an environment where, at any moment, they were going to be gassed or killed, where they were starving to death.  It's a really powerful, eye-opening book about the reality of what went on during that time. What's inspiring about it is that Viktor Frankl studied and focused on what made the difference in someone who was going through this suffering, and how they were able to survive and thrive.

What he determined was that, in any moment of life, in any moment of suffering, you always have to find an empowering meaning and purpose. If you can find the purpose in your suffering, then that will allow you to be able to make it through anything. He was also one of the first people that determined that, it's not your environment that determines how you feel, because you could be in Auschwitz suffering the worst environment, but that does not dictate how you feel.

You can't control the outside world, but you can always control your inner world. He realized that you could still find meaning, happiness and joy, regardless of the environment that you are in.  This book really teaches you how to master your psychology and how to master meaning in your life. Its a very powerful book. I actually bought this book for my mom and my sister. My sister had the book, but I bought it for her again, because I was like, “You know what, you've got to read this book again”.

By the way, I'm a big believer in rereading books at different times in your life, because many of these books that I'm sharing with you, I read when I was seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-one years old. I'm thirty years old now and they made such a difference for me back then. If you go through books at different times in your life, you are going to get totally different things from them, because you are at different stages of your life.

The Way Of The Superior Man by David Deida

Another book that has made an impact on my life is called, “The Way Of The Superior Man”, by David Deida. This is a book for men. All men should read this book. However, women can also read it as well, if you want to understand men a lot more. David Deida has got a lot of great books.  “The Way Of The Superior Man” is broken up into small chapters, and it teaches you how to be in your power, as a man, how to be in your masculine presence.

It teaches you how to relate to women, how to live your purpose, and how living your purpose is something that is extremely attractive to women.  If you make your purpose about a woman, a lot of times she is not going to respect you as much, unless you have a bigger purpose that you are moving towards. An example I always remember from this book is, let's say you are in a relationship, and you are a guy.

You love your woman and you are in bed in the morning, and you have a certain ritual, a certain discipline of doing your morning ritual.  Let's say that you are with your girl and she says, “Honey, how about we just stay in and cuddle? You don't have to go to the gym. Let's just stay in”.   You say, “Okay”.   You start compromising the disciplines that you had in your life and your higher purpose.  What is going to happen in that moment is, your girlfriend or your wife is going to appreciate that love, but on some levels, she's not going to respect you the same way.

As a man, you still have to love your woman, but at the same time, you need to say, “You know what, I've got to be consistent with the standards that I have in my life.” Or, “You know what, I've got this bigger purpose”.  Even though she might not enjoy that as much, she's going to respect you for it.  This is just one concept in the book, is to be focused on your purpose in life and how that's actually more attractive for women.

I know for myself, at different stages in my life, I was the nice guy and so I would always want to make everyone happy and make women happy, and so I would compromise.  I ended up being this guy who just became needy and clingy, and sure enough, all the attraction disappeared.  You have got to make sure that, as a man, you are still focused on your purpose. 

The Four Hour Work Week

Another great book is, “The Four Hour Work Week”.  I've mentioned this book several times. I don't really believe in the four hour work week, it's kind of a myth, because nobody lives the four hour work week, full-time. There might be certain moments that Tim Ferris, myself, and other Internet entrepreneurs that I know, would live the four hour work week for a few months, but the four hour work week is flawed in the sense that, if you just work four hours a week, and you've got an online business, because the Internet is changing so much, in five or ten years from now, you are going to be out of business.

I don't believe in the four hour work week, for life. I believe in having that freedom at different times of your life, and being able to enjoy it, but more importantly, I believe in finding your mission and your purpose in your life, that you enjoy working more than forty hours a week, but that you are doing something because you enjoy it. It's not a chore for you, it's not a job, it's your mission, it's your purpose. This book made an impact in my life because it made me believe in and realize the whole passive income lifestyle.

Tim Ferris did a great job marketing and selling the ‘escape the nine to five and travel the world, and be able to enjoy your life in the process of building your business' mindset. That really influenced me at the time, got me motivated to build online businesses, and pursue it as a lifestyle and a career. I was attracted to the fact that I could travel the world. When I was building my first business I traveled to Thailand and around South East Asia.  I was living this great lifestyle and it was because of the book, “The Four Hour Work Week”.

Beyond that, it also teaches you how to leverage yourself and how to leverage virtual assistance. Tim Ferris did a great job promoting the whole idea that you can outsource things inexpensively to other countries, and have them help you build your business.  This is a great book for anybody that has a 9-5 job that wants to escape it and pursue the Internet lifestyle. 

The Greatest Salesman In The World by Og Mandino

Another great book that has made a difference in my life is called, “The Greatest Salesman In The World”, by Og Mandino. This is a book that I recently reread. I read this book when I was nineteen years old.  It's a classic self-help book and it really impacted me when I was nineteen years old.  Og Mandino has a lot of great books that I recommend, but “The Greatest Salesman In The World” is basically a fictitious story about a boy who wants to become the greatest salesman in the world.

He goes to the king and the king basically gives him these scrolls. These scrolls have the different success principles in order to be a successful salesman, to be wealthy, and live a great life. He goes out on this journey and what the instruction is, is that he has to read one scroll, three times a day, for thirty days, and he's got to really master and practice what is taught inside that scroll.  For example, the first scroll is on love and the power of love, and how loving the day and loving people, is one of the most important skills in being able to influence people and live a really great life.

Basically, throughout the book you go on this journey and you are reading these scrolls, which is a chapter, three times a day, morning, noon, and before you go to bed. It really made a big impact in my life because I like books like that. I like books that don't just have a bunch of theory and knowledge, but that get you to actually shift your beliefs, your mindset, and your psychology.

This is a great book that really forced me to practice these principles every day.  Reading one scroll, every day, for thirty days allows you to master it. You know that I'm a big believer in committing to mastery. It's a powerful book.

The Wealthy Barber by David Chilton

It's going to take you a few months to finish it because that's the way it's laid out, but it's a really great book in shifting your psychology.  Another great book that made a difference in my life is called, “The Wealthy Barber”, by David Chilton. This is a book I read when I was eighteen years old. When I was eighteen years old I was working for my Dad in the family business with my brother.  I hated my job, but my Dad wanted me to work in the family business.  I was working in the family business all throughout high school.

I didn't get paid most of the time when I worked for my Dad in the family business. My brother at the time, who is nine years older than me, was learning about investing. He had a mentor in his life who was teaching him about real estate.

He recommended that I read this book.  It's basically a story about a guy who's going to the barber and is getting financial advice, and this barber ends up becoming wealthy. It's basically teaching the principles of paying yourself first, ten percent of what you make.  You have got to pay yourself first.  It teaches about the power of compounding.  The book is more geared towards Canadians, because David Chilton is a Canadian author.  It really impacted my life.

I didn't know about paying yourself first. I started doing it.  I think pretty much every finance book teaches to pay yourself first, but what I notice is that, a lot of people still don't do it. They read the book and for some reason, they don't actually apply it. For me, at eighteen years old, I decided, “You know what? I'm applying it”.  I just started doing that, month after month, and at the time, I had invested in a mutual fund, which was Bank of Montreal.  The minimum investment was five hundred bucks.

I didn't have a lot of money to put in every month, but I put in twenty-five dollars a month on a pre-authorized payment plan. Every single month the money automatically withdrew, so I couldn't even see it. Eventually, it was a hundred dollars a month, and then I found another mutual fund.  This is what I was doing when I was eighteen or nineteen years old. Now, I'm thirty years old, and my money has been compounding, I've continued this habit. Obviously, more of my money goes towards paying myself first. It was a really great book that opened me up to that. It's got a really great story as well.

Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki

Another powerful book that changed my life was, “Rich Dad Poor Dad”, by Robert Kiyosaki. This was one of the most popular finance books of all time. It really taught me about assets versus liabilities. It's a really easy to read book that helps you with your mindset and your psychology around money. He basically shares a story of his rich dad and his poor dad. His poor dad was his actual biological father, who was actually a school teacher and I think maybe a principal as well, but he was poor.

His rich dad was actually his friend's dad.  He was wealthy and he was getting financial advice from him, and it was contradictory to what most of society believes what his poor dad, his teacher dad, was basically living at the time as well.  This is a really great book that teaches you about the fundamentals of money. I think everybody should read it. Another great book is called, “Cashflow Quadrant”, also by Robert Kiyosaki. This is a good follow-up book to “Rich Dad Poor Dad”. I read this book when I was maybe twenty-two, or twenty-three years old.

I was a dating coach for many years, in my early twenties, and I had this one client that I coached who was an extremely wealthy person.  He was in his fifties or sixties, but he was extremely wealthy. He had homes all around the world. I remember I asked him, “What advice do you have for me, for somebody that wants to be financially successful one day?” He said, “Read all the books by Robert Kiyosaki”.

Cashflow Quadrant

He's like, “You know what, if you just read all those books and apply it, that's the core of what you need to know in order to be financially successful”.  I always remember that advice that he gave me, and so I ended up reading a few more of Robert Kiyosaki's books. Anyway, “Cashflow Quadrant” was a good one.  It basically shares four different quadrants. Let's see if I can remember all of them. One is the E, the employee. One is the self-employed. The third is the business owner. The fourth is the investor.

He basically describes that you do not want to be the employee, and that you do not want to be the self-employed, because a lot of people are self-employed, but they still have a job.  He share that, in the quadrant, you want to be the business owner and the investor. The business owner is the one that works on the business – they have a business that runs and that is independent from themselves. They are not working in the business as an employee. Also, you want to be the investor.  This is great book. Great follow up.  Again, more mindset knowledge around money and investing.

The Millionaire Fastlane by M.J. DeMarco

Another great book that really made an impact in my life is, “The Millionaire Fastlane”, by M.J. DeMarco. This is a book that I read when I was in Bali a few years ago. I read it when I was doing twenty thousand to thirty thousand dollars a month in my business. I read this book and it blew me away. I like books that communicate in a very direct way, like a no BS sort of way, because that just, for me, it resonates more with me, and it's definitely a book like that.

It's a book that really puts down the 9-5, and also it puts down the whole thinking of getting rich slow. Basically, the whole concept contradicts the pay yourself first and compounding mentality.  Things like that I don't necessarily agree with, but the book teaches you that all the wealthy financial gurus did not become wealth by paying themselves first, but rather that they became wealthy in business.

I think business is the best way to really change your finances.  However, at the same time, you have to make sure that you are paying yourself first and  that you are investing in other ways, because business always changes as it evolves.  I think the best passive investments that you can have are stocks that pay dividends, that are blue chips, or real estate that pays positive cash flow. I'm a big believer in investing your money in those ways, and having multiple strategies for financial abundance. This is the long-term approach.

This is a great book on mindset.  This book shares that there are a lot of people out there that are always looking for deals. I'll give you an example, my Mom.  I love my Mom, but she's always taking all the coupon books and trying to find the best coupons and shopping around, in order to find the best possible deal.

I was this way at certain moments in my life as well, and what this book made me realize is that, a lot of people are spending so much of their time trying to find the best deals, that they don't realize that their time is worth money.  You have got to identify exactly how much your time is worth, because if one hour of your time is worth ten dollars, twenty dollars an hour, fifty dollars an hour, a hundred dollars an hour, or a thousand dollars an hour, you have got to be aware of that.

Aa lot of people will spend time and actually lose money because they are trying to save a couple of dollars or a couple of cents on a deal. I remember at one moment in Bali, my friend and I were spending all this time trying to find the best hotel and the best deal to get a massage or whatever it is, and we would spend three hours looking to save five or ten dollars. It didn't make any sense.  From this experience, I remember understanding the value of time, and that you want to be very efficient with your time.

FU Money by Dan Lok

In some cases, you want to spend more money if it's going to save you time, because your time is more valuable than money. Another book is called, “FU Money”, by my friend, Dan Lok. Ive shared this book before.  This is a book that was given to me by Dan Lok at a seminar that he gave in Vancouver. I read this book when I flew to Thailand and I was building my online business.  I was pretty new to it at the time, and it really helped me with my mindset and psychology around building an online business.

It was a very inspirational book for me at the time. I was in total desperation mode, committed to doing whatever it took to succeed online. It really impacted my life. I actually shared this book a few years ago on my YouTube channel, and a lot of people went and bought Dan's book as a result of it.  Dan Lok noticed this, or someone told him, and he reached out to me. Here was someone that was once a mentor in my life, reaching out to me, and now Dan and I have become friends and I've spoken at his events and whatnot.  I interviewed him on my YouTube channel.

Secrets Of The Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker

This is the really cool thing about how you can meet your mentors one day. Oftentimes, it's when you've added value to them in some way.  Another great book that changed my life, and that made a huge impact, is called, “Secrets Of The Millionaire Mind”, by T. Harv Eker. This is a book that really helps you understand your money blueprint.  It teaches you, that, oftentimes, we sabotage ourselves, financially.  If you only believe that you are worthy of a certain amount of money, and you associate pain to money, for example, then you are going to sabotage yourself.  You will maybe make a certain level of money, and then you are going to lose it.

T. Harv Eker is one of those guys that has a no BS approach.  He is very direct.  I resonate with that approach. There's a seminar they have called, “The Millionaire Mind Intensive” and they have different programs. Yeah, I've definitely gotten a lot of value from that book.  It really impacted my mindset at the time.

The Way Of The Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman

Another great book is called, “The Way Of The Peaceful Warrior”, by Dan Millman. This is a really powerful self-help book, a spiritual book, that really helped me with my beliefs around success, happiness, and fulfilment. It's a great story, and there's actually a movie called, “The Peaceful Warrior” that I recommend as well.  A powerful movie. There's also a follow-up called, “The Wisdom Of The Peaceful Warrior”, which is another good book. Anyways, “The Peaceful Warrior” is about a boy who is going to college, and his name is Dan and he wants to be an Olympic athlete.

He is so caught up in his ego and on being attached to the outcome.  He meets this man named, Socrates. who is an older man.  I'm not going to ruin the story, but Socrates basically enters into his life, gives him advice, challenges him in many different ways, and helps him become a peaceful warrior.  This is a powerful book, a powerful story, and a powerful movie.  I highly recommend it.

The Power Of Now by Eckhart Tolle

Another great book that changed my life is, “The Power Of Now”, by Eckhart Tolle.  I read this book when I was twenty-one years old, and it taught me about the power of being present, and how everything comes down to right now, this moment, and being present in the moment. It's a book that I should probably reread, because it's one of those books that is so powerful and profound that you want to go through it several times and really practice living in the now. That was definitely a book that made a big difference for me.

The Depression Cure

Another powerful book that changed my life is called, “The Depression Cure”.  I don't quite remember the authors name, and again, I'm going to link to all these books in the description as well as on the blog post. “Depression Cure” basically teaches you how to naturally cure depression. I've had moments in my life, years ago, especially when I was in high school, where I was depressed. I didn't know why I was depressed. I used to skip school and try to escape through video games, watching TV, movies and whatnot.

I'm a big believer in exhausting all the natural resources out there that exist before you ever consider drugs or anything to solve a problem.  I don't view drugs as a sustainable solution. This book goes into depression and how the doctor studied the Amish. The Amish are people that haven't changed or evolved their lifestyles in many years.  They live as if they've been living a hundred years ago. What he found, is that very few of the Amish people are actually depressed. He goes into how, a lot of depression is caused by our lifestyle.

Basically, as human beings, we're living in a world, an environment, a lifestyle, that is not how we are designed. He shares in the book five things to naturally cure your depression, and he shares stories of clients and people that he works with. One of them is exercise. Exercise has been proven to be one of the best natural antidepressants out there, even more so than drugs.  When you work out every day, you are releasing endorphins, and it's proven to help elevate your mood.

Human beings were made to hunt, to move, to exercise, to go out and about, and collect water.  That's why depression has been a rare thing amongst the Amish.  We are not made to sit indoors all day. Another thing that it shared is sunlight. As human beings, we are not made to be indoors, we are not made to be away from the sun. The sun and vitamin D is proven to help your mood. A lot of people get seasonal mood disorder, I forget exactly what the acronym is.

Basically, in cloudy, rainy environments, people will go into more depressive states.  I've noticed that for myself. I live in Vancouver, a beautiful city, but it gets very cloudy and rainy, and definitely my mood gets affected by that.  We are meant to spend a lot of time outside. It also shares that Omega 3s are very important for your happiness and for curing your depression, because human beings always used to get a lot of omega 3s from fish, nuts and different vegetables.

Now, a lot of our diet is deficient in that. You have got to make sure that you supplement with it.  The book has a lot of different solutions and things that can help you naturally be able to overcome depression and be happier.  Whether you are depressed or not, it's a great book that will help you be happier. As you can see, a lot of these books are in different areas of life. That is what I'm a big believer in – improving yourself in every aspect of life.

The Game by Neil Strauss

Another great book that really changed my life was called, “The Game”, by Neil Strauss. Now, if you're a guy, you might have heard of this book before. It's basically a book about pick-up artists and picking out women and this whole sort of thing. I read this book when I was twenty-one years old.  I got into improving myself to meet women when I was seventeen years old. At the time, this was well before the book, “The Game”, and I was just on message boards at the time, researching and learning in different articles and resources like that.

People like Neil Strauss and other people that were in the book, “The Game”, used to interact with each other online, on different message boards, and it was kind of like an underground society, and it still is. Anyways, the book, “The Game” came out, and at the time, I was so shy.  I was trying to improve my social skills and my confidence. Neil Strauss was a role model for me.

I don't agree with what the book teaches.  It's not a good book, in terms of actually learning how to pick up women because it basically teaches all these techniques, routines, lines, and openers, and teaches you ways that you can put women down and deceive them.  I do not agree with or endorse these beliefs in any way. Many of you guys saw the YouTube video that I put out a few days ago, on how the most important thing with dating and attracting someone is to become attractive, to improve yourself.

I'm a big believer in a more of a natural, honest approach, that consists of integrity and adding value to everyone that you meet. You should always want to leave everyone that you meet better off for having met you.  However, the book impacted me a lot at the time because it really demonstrated that meeting women is a skill, a learnable skill, it's something that you can improve, change, and grow. It's not your looks that attract someone.

You can trigger attraction.  You can create attraction by improving yourself and learning how attraction works. Beyond that, it's a very entertaining book, and a really great story. Neil Strauss is one of my favorite writers.  If you're a guy, it's an entertaining book, but I would not literally take the advice of the book. 

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

Another great book is called, “The Alchemist”, by Paulo Coelho.  I remember I read it when I went to Cuba actually when I was maybe twenty-three years old or something like that. Very powerful book, great story, it's a very powerful fiction story, inspirational book. I really enjoyed the writing of it. It basically shares a story about finding your purpose. That's a great book. 

Unlimited Power by Tony Robbins

Another great book that changed my life was, “Unlimited Power”, by Tony Robbins. This is a book that Tony Robbins wrote before “Awaken The Giant Within”. It basically goes into a lot of NLP strategies. I've since studied NLPs.  I'm an NLP practitioner now.  This is a really great introductory book to NLP and it provides a lot of different techniques for neuro-linguistic programming, and how you can change yourself; your behaviors, thoughts, and emotions.

Rocket Fuel

Another great book is called, “Rocket Fuel”.  Rocket Fuel is a book that I read this year. It's a great book for entrepreneurs that are living and working in their business, and not on the business. What I learned from the book is that, you are either the visionary or  the integrator in your business, and you don't want to be both. If you are the integrator, you need to find a visionary, and if you are a visionary, you need to find an integrator. This is more of a book designed for someone that might be further ahead in their business journey.

For me, it was the perfect book at the perfect timing, because it was something that I was struggling with at the time in my business.  I didn't have a manager in place. I didn't have an integrator, because, for me, I'm the visionary in my business. That was a powerful book in helping me find an integrator, which I have now in my business.  This person now runs the operations of my business for me, so that I can focus on creating content, coaching and doing the things that I really enjoy.

Get Up!: Why Your Chair Is Killing You And What You Can Do About It

Another powerful book is a book that I recently read a few months ago called, “Get Up”. I mentioned this book in a few videos. It's called “Get Up!: Why Your Chair Is Killing You And What You Can Do About It”.  It basically changed my life, because it propelled me to get a treadmill desk. It helps you realise that sitting is killing us.  It's worse for us than smoking. I think they said in the book that, every hour that you are sitting, you are cutting off three hours of your life, and they provide all the research and studies to support it. It's just a really powerful book.

My treadmill desk is something that has changed my life.  I live a job that involves being in front of the computer, and working from home, and it requires a lot of sitting. It really made me realize how that's affecting my mood, my happiness, and my energy levels. Many different factors come from the importance of exercising and moving more throughout the day.  That was a great book. If you are somebody that spends a lot of time sitting throughout the day, this is a life-changing book, and I do recommend watching the YouTube video that I had on my treadmill desk, because that has been one of the best investments that I've ever made and it's really changed my life as well. 

The Introvert Advantage

Another great book that changed my life, a recent book, is called The Introvert Advantage. Don't recall the author name, but again, I'll link to it below. Introvert Advantage basically shares with you the power of being an introvert and how a lot of society we reward other people for being extroverts. Extroverts are rewarded and everybody wants to be an extrovert, but in many cases being an introvert has actually a lot of amazing benefits to it, and so a lot of people, they feel guilty that they're not more social or they're not more extroverted. 

This book makes you realize and understand how being an introvert is powerful. A lot of the most successful people in the world and throughout history are introverts. Introverts typically have deeper relationships with people, whereas extroverts have more friends, but more on the surface. Introverts are more comfortable being by themselves. Extroverts, they feel lonely if they're by themselves, they always have to be around people. Introverts are able to focus better. Extroverts have a hard time focusing and oftentimes are a little bit all over the place. It just really helps you understand how you have an incredible advantage if you are an introvert. Recommend the book.

Brain Over Binge

Another great book that changed my life is called, “Brain Over Binge”. This book changed my life, because in 2012 and 2014 I did two different fitness competitions. I did fitness modelling competitions where I basically had different trainers, and I had to be less than ten percent body fat, and getting to the point where I had veins coming out of my abs.  I was dieting to extreme levels to get up on stage and be in front of a crowd.  You are basically going through the process of fat loss, at extreme calorie deficits, which basically triggers our animal brain to binge, because your brain goes into survival mode and it needs to eat food.  There was no amount of willpower that I could tap into in order to overpower it.

It was something that was really destructive in my life.  It caused a lot of pain in my life.  I hired coaches to help me, I read many different books, and really tried to understand what was going on. The book, “Brain Over Binge” is a story about a girl who has binge eating disorder and she's bulimic.  She went through extreme phases of extreme calorie deficit and then binging and exercising for five hours the next day to burn off the calories.

It's just a very destructive thing. People that have had binge eating disorder can relate to this book.  I did a great YouTube video a few years ago on how to overcome binge eating. That video got a couple of hundred thousand views. People always share with me how that video has changed their life, and I recommend this book in it. That book really helped me overcome binge eating disorder. That was a great book that really impacted my life.

Money Master The Game by Tony Robbins

I think we are at the last book here.  I'm going to finish up this one. By the way, I want you to share books as well. I'm streaming this right now to Periscope and Facebook, so I'm going to ask you guys some of your favorite books. I'd love to hear yours as well. The last one, just to top it off, is called “Money Master:  The Game”, by Tony Robbins. You know that I'm a big Tony fan. This is a book that I read last year. I got it before it was released at his seminar, “Unleash The Power Within”.

A lot of what is in the book I already know, but it really helped me understand it more.  It goes over paying yourself first and compound interest, but it made me associate even more to that, and that I need to do more. After reading that book I was like, “Shit! I've got to invest more of my money. I've got to pay myself even more, and I've got to find a way to do it. I've got to make this the most important financial decision of my life”.  This book really motivated me to do that more.

It had some great new beliefs and ways of looking at money, and it also shared indexing with me, strategies from billionaires, etc.  The end of the book is great too, because it goes into the power of giving; giving your money, philanthropy and being a force for good.  I really resonate with that.  It also motivated me to give more with respect to building houses, and in building schools that I've been involved with, and also now being involved with helping with human trafficking.

Conclusion

That's it, guys. Those are my top twenty-five books. Honestly, going through this, there are actually more. There are actually a number of biographies and whatnot that I can go into as well. I wanted to cap it at twenty-five books. No particular order, all of them are great books, all have been great for me at different moments and different phases of my life. Depending on the phase of life that you are in, and what your focus is in, there might be certain books that benefit you more, but I think all these books are great books to have in your library, that you should read.  Honestly, a lot of these books I should reread again, because it's been many years since I've read them, and sometimes you forget things.

I was actually impressed to be able to share certain things on each book that have resonated and that have made an impact in my life. I would love to hear what your top books are. I love to read and I love to learn.  You don't have to share your top twenty-five but maybe share one, two or three of your top five books that changed your life, and that made a difference in your life. I'd love to hear what those are, and it would also be a great way to contribute to others.

I'm always buying more and more books.  I've got tons of books on my Kindle now.  I just got the Kindle Oasis too. I have the Kindle Paperlight and the Oasis. Leave a comment, share which books have made a difference for you. If you enjoyed this video, make sure you hit the like button and give it a thumbs up. 

Of course, if you want to learn more from me, make sure that you click the links below. You can find different resource that I have with respect to building your online business, or more great content that I have that that I don't publicly share here.  Follow me on social media as well!  I would love to connect with you further there. Thank you for watching this video and I look forward to seeing you again in the next one. Take care.