1 James Allen – As a Man Thinketh (1902)
We don’t attract what we want, but what we are. Only by changing your thoughts will you change your life.
2 Marcus Aurelius – Meditations (2nd century)
Don’t get caught up in trivia or pettiness; appreciate your life within a larger context
3 The Bhagavad-Gita
Seek peace inside yourself, do the work that is yours, and wonder at the mysteries of the universe.
4 The Bible
Love, faith, hope, the glory of God, the perfectibility of man.
5 Robert Bly – Iron John (1990)
Through old stories we can resurrect the ancient and deep power of the masculine.
6 Boethius – The Consolation of Philosophy (6th century)
No matter what happens to you, you always have freedom of mind.
7 Alain de Botton – How Proust Can Change Your Life (1997)
Appreciate the rich experience of life, despite circumstances. Low expectations make for pleasant surprises.
8 William Bridges – Transitions: Making Sense of Life’s Changes (1980)
All life transitions have a pattern, which if acknowledged will make tough times more comprehensible.
9 David Brooks – The Road to Character (2015)
Willingness to engage in moral struggle is more important than climbing the ladder of success.
10 Brené Brown – Daring Greatly (2012)
Not only is vulnerability not weakness, it can be the source of our power.
11 David D. Burns – Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy (1980)
Feelings are not facts. Always question whether your emotions accurately reflect reality.
12 Joseph Campbell with Bill Moyers – The Power of Myth (1987)
Always do what you love and appreciate your life as a wonderful journey.
13 Richard Carlson – Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff … and It’s All Small Stuff (1997)
Put your little struggles into perspective; by doing this you can gain more enjoyment of other people and life generally.
14 Dale Carnegie – How to Win Friends and Influence People (1936)
Really try to see the world as another sees it. The appreciation he or she feels means that whatever you have to say will be truly heard.
15 Deepak Chopra – The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success (1994)
There is an easier way to get what you want from life, involving attunement with nature and the universe.
16 Clayton Christensen – How Will You Measure Your Life? (2012)
We all want to get ahead and do well, but genuine success comes from commitment to values—standing for something—and thinking for the long term.
17 Paulo Coelho – The Alchemist (1993)
We too easily give up on our dreams, yet the universe is always ready to help us fulfill them.
18 Stephen Covey – The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (1989)
Real effectiveness comes from clarity about your principles, values, and vision.
Change is only real if it has become habitual.
19 Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi – Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience (1990)
Rather than being idle, doing what you love is a pathway to greater meaning, happiness, and a self of higher complexity.
20 The Dalai Lama & Howard C. Cutler – The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living (1998)
Achieving happiness does not have to depend on events. Through mental practice we can form the ability to be happy most of the time.
21 The Dhammapada (Buddha’s teachings)
Refine and improve the quality of your thoughts and you will have little to fear from the world.
22 Charles Duhigg – The Power of Habit (2011)
The science of habitual behavior is now so advanced that there is little excuse not to exchange our bad habits for good ones.
23 Wayne Dyer – Real Magic: Creating Miracles in Everyday Life (1992)
When you are aligned with your higher self and your life purpose, miraculous things happen.
24 Ralph Waldo Emerson – Self-Reliance (1841)
Whatever the pressures, be your own person.
25 Clarissa Pinkola Estés – Women Who Run with the Wolves (1992)
Reconnecting with your wild nature is not a mad indulgence but vital to mental and physical health.
26 Viktor Frankl – Man’s Search for Meaning (1959)
The meaning of life is the meaning that you decide to give it.
27 Benjamin Franklin – Autobiography (1790)
Constant self-improvement and a love of learning form your ticket to unusual success.
28 Shakti Gawain – Creative Visualization (1978)
Life tends to live up to the thoughts and images you have about it, good or bad. Why not imagine your future the way you want it?
29 Daniel Goleman – Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More than IQ (1995)
The truly successful person will always have achieved emotional self-mastery
30 John Gray – Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus (1992)
Before we can treat each other as individuals, we must take into account the behavior differences of the sexes.
31 Louise Hay – You Can Heal Your Life (1984)
You will only begin to change your life when you learn how to love yourself properly.
32 James Hillman – The Soul’s Code: In Search of Character and Calling (1996)
Not only celebrities and nuns have “callings.” All of us have in our heart the image of the person we can be and the life we can live.
33 Susan Jeffers – Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway (1987)
The presence of fear is an indicator that you are growing and accepting life’s challenges.
34 Richard Koch – The 80/20 Principle: The Secret of Achieving More with Less (1998)
By identifying what you’re good at, then doing more of it, success will come easily
35 Marie Kondo – The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up (2014)
Our approach to things and spaces says a lot about us. By changing your environment, you can change your life.
36 Ellen J. Langer – Mindfulness: Choice and Control in Everyday Life (1989)
Mental habits dull our lives. By regaining control of your thinking you can experience life anew.
37 Lao Tzu – Tao Te Ching (5th–3rd century BC)
Make your life easier and more effective by attunement with the natural “flow” of the universe.
38 Maxwell Maltz – Psycho-Cybernetics (1960)
Our body/brain is a brilliant self-contained system for achieving goals. Use it.
39 Abraham Maslow – Motivation and Personality (1954)
Full mental health is not the absence of neurosis but the fulfillment of our potential.
40 Thomas Moore – Care of the Soul: A Guide for Cultivating Depth and Sacredness in Everyday Life (1992)
Fill your emptiness by living soulfully. Let your individuality out by accepting your idiosyncrasies and dark side.
41 Joseph Murphy – The Power of Your Subconscious Mind (1963)
By understanding how the subconscious mind works, you can learn how dreams become reality.
42 Norman Vincent Peale – The Power of Positive Thinking (1952)
You can achieve anything if you have faith.
43 M. Scott Peck – The Road Less Traveled (1978)
Once you admit that “life is difficult,” the fact is no longer of great consequence. Once you accept responsibility, you can make better choices.
44 Anthony Robbins – Awaken the Giant Within (1991)
It is time to seize the day and live the life you’ve imagined. This is your starter kit.
45 Florence Scovell Shinn – The Game of Life and How to Play It (1925)
If life is thought of as a game, we are motivated to learn and apply the rules for our own happiness.
46 Martin Seligman – Learned Optimism (1991)
Cultivation of an optimistic mindset significantly increases your chances of health, wealth, and happiness.
47 Samuel Smiles – Self-Help (1859)
History is full of people who achieved amazing things by sheer will and persistence
48 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin – The Phenomenon of Man (1955)
By appreciating and expressing your uniqueness, you literally enable the evolution of the world.
49 Henry David Thoreau – Walden (1854)
Make sure that you have time in your life just to think.
50 Marianne Williamson – A Return to Love (1994)
Miracles start to happen when we resolve to depend fully on God and decide to love ourselves.