If you have followed our journey for a while you will know that I read a lot of books. I attribute a big part of the success we have had so far to the books we have read.
And while a number of the books I have read have related to property, the majority have had more of a focus on improving my mindset.
I firmly believe that mindset is the biggest thing we need to work on if we want to achieve success in life, property, and business.
Today I wanted to share with you 9 books that have been transformative for me on the journey towards financial freedom.
I’ve included links in this article to places where you can purchase the books. Just so you know, these are affiliate links. By following those links we’ll get a little payout once you complete your purchase. But these are books that I have on my own bookshelf and which I’d recommend anyway!
Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
This is an oldie but a goodie. Originally published by Napoleon Hill in 1937, Think and Grow Rich is probably one of the most well known self help books of all time.
It will give you a different perspective on thinking about wealth creation, and what action is required of you as an individual to make it happen. A lot of what the book talks about is about getting yourself into the right mindset.
Ultimately, it is not necessarily the smartest person in the room who will be the wealthiest, but that one who is able to apply their mind and their perseverance to overcome obstacles that they face that will achieve success.
I did find Think and Grow Rich to be quite a challenging read. Despite having read it at least three times I still feel like there is a lot more to take in from this book. This is one of those books that you need to read and read again to really get value from it.
The edition that I read is the 2015 restored and revised edition compiled by Ross Cornwell. According to the editor’s forward, this edition restores the text to more closely reflect that original edition.
You can buy Think and Grow Rich on on Amazon Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
Rich Dad Poor Dad is also an extremely well known wealth creation book. This was one of the early books that we read when we realised that the 9-5 wasn’t going to be the key to wealth creation.
This book is really about developing your mindset from the Poor Dad mindset that many of us have been raised with (which is effectively to get a good job, work a 9-5 and retire in our 60s to live off the pension), with the Rich Dad mindset, which is about creating wealth through alternative means such as property and business.
What I love about this book is that it helps us to understand in fairly simple terms some of the financial lessons that many of us aren’t exposed to growing up. It helps you to realise that changing your financial future is very much in your hands, but that the old ways of thinking most likely won’t get you there. It’s about thinking smarter, rather than working harder (which just isn’t as scaleable).
You can buy Rich Dad Poor Dad on Amazon The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
This is another self help book I read fairly early on in the journey. I think I came across it not long after I became a mum. Naturally this was a big period of transition and it got me thinking a lot about what made me happy. What makes me happy has changed has changed a lot since my pre-kids years.
The Happiness Project essentially encourages you to take control of your own happiness. It is up to us to identify the things that make us happy and to do more of those things. The book takes you through some of the strategies that worked for the author on her own journey to happiness.
A lot of the journey is about trying new things, making time for the things that give you joy, and having more fun. As adults we’re often way too serious, and making time for the things the book talks about like love, friendship and play really do add so much to our lives.
I especially recommend this book if you feel stuck in a rut (how I felt when I read it). It gave me the encouragement to take action and seek out things that would give me joy. It also helped me to have more appreciation for the things that I already have that full my heart.
You can buy The Happiness Project on Amazon The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod
Hal Elrod’s book, The Miracle Morning, has been one of the most transformational books I have ever read. The Miracle Morning sets out a morning routine that incorporates six practices that Hal has identified as being key to having a successful day.
Hal calls the practices the SAVERS. SAVERS is an acronym for Silence, Affirmations, Visualisation, Exercise, Reading, and Scribing (otherwise known as journalling).
While I have not been a consistent Miracle Morning practitioner, the book introduced me to Hal and his amazing podcast. The learnings I have had from Hal over the years have really helped my with my mindset. Hal’s positivity and goal setting advice have helped me to keep achieving goals even when times have been tough.
Even if you don’t read the book make sure you check out the podcast. Hal also has a great goal achievement book called the Miracle Equation, and that’s pretty awesome too.
You can buy The Miracle Morning on Amazon Chill and Prosper by Denise Duffield Thomas
I really enjoyed this book. Denise is such a breath of fresh air. I find that when I read her books or listen to her podcast I feel like I am connecting with a friend.
Denise’s approach to wealth creation is quite, err chilled. Haha! Rather than encouraging her audience to hustle, Denise encourages you to set your business up in a way that allows you to earn a great income while working as little as possible! A lady who to talks to my heart!
Denise’s philosophy is very much grounded in mindset and manifestation. However, her approach feels a lot less woo woo that many of the manifestation writers I’ve come across before. Denise is definitely someone who knows the value of hard work, so it is not about wishing and and hoping wealth will come to you. It’s about having faith that the lifestyle you want is achievable, and knowing that you can make that happen. In that sense her approach feels more powerful to me, because it is about you being prepared to take action. And also knowing that you really can create lifestyle where you can chill and still make money!
You can buy Chill and Prosper on Amazon Mindset by Dr Carol Dweck
This was one of my favourite reads of 2022. I picked it up at a time when my own mindset was in a bit of a bad place.
Mindset gave me a lot of insight into how the brain works, and how we think about mindset. Like many of the books in this area, Mindset teaches you how powerful our minds really are. Again, it is not about being the smartest person, but about being the person who has the mindset to persist through obstacles (many of which really only exist in our minds) to achieve success.
According to Dweck, there are two mindsets. A fixed mindset, or a growth mindset. Most of us tend towards one or the other. A fixed mindset tends to be more negative. For example, we might think that we aren’t naturally smart so there’s no point in trying to learn a language. If we have the growth mindset, then we know that there are classes we could go to that teach languages. We can also believe that we have the skills that we need to learn and understand that language.
What is great about mindset is that it is possible for us to develop it. The later part of the book talks about how you can develop your own mindset. Again, this isn’t one of those books you’re going to be able to read one time and put it back on the shelf (particularly if you’re wanting to improve your own mindset). Mindset can help you to understand your own mindset and how to develop it if where you want to be.
You can buy Mindset on Amazon Atomic Habits
Atomic Habits is one of the most well known books on Habits. I read Atomic Habits as a follow up to The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. As a side note, I really enjoyed the Duhigg book too. It gave a really good background to some of the science around habits, so I think it is good to read these two together.
Most of us know we have bad habits. Habits that if we overcome them would greatly improve our productivity and help us to achieve our goals. For me, this was the reason for picking this book off the shelf. I KNOW I can do better, but I find it hard to do the things I need to do to make the changes that will ensure that I achieve more consistently.
Atomic Habits gives you the roadmap to help you set yourself up so that those things you need to do become so routine that they are habitual. Then you can do the things you need to do without really having to think about it.
It makes a lot of sense when you think about it. Most of us have a routine that we go through each day that we don’t really think about. We get up, we go to the bathroom, we make coffee and eat breakfast and we brush our teeth. Those are things we do habitually. Some of our bad habits we do habitually too. For example, scrolling our phones when we’re bored when we might be better off to pick up one of these self help books.
I need to do some more work to implement the book in my life. However, I can definitely see the value of making creating more Atomic Habits in my life!
You can buy Atomic Habits on Amazon Girls That Invest by Simran Kaur
Girls that Invest is one of my more recent reads. I read this book because we are really keen to start growing a share portfolio to help diversify our investments, but when we started to look into it we realised we really knew nothing about share investing.
I found this book to be a really great guide for a beginner getting started in share investing. It was so helpful to explain the process of share investing and the various terms that you need to know in a simple way. I also found Simran’s advice around how you could structure your share portfolio to be really helpful for a beginner.
I think there is so much valuable insight in the book that it can be useful for anyone who is looking to get into share investing (not just women).
You can buy Girls that Invest on Amazon Twenty Good Summers by Martin Hawes
Twenty Good Summers is a book I came across in a second hand shop a few years ago. Luckily for you, it has been updated and a newer version is now available.
This book is about how few good summers we really have in our lives and is about how we should do what we can to make the most of those good summers. It came about when the author realised as he approached his 50s that he might only have 20 good summers left.
All of us only get so many summers on this planet. While the idea of a limited amount of good summers is a bit depressing (albeit true), the content of the book gives you a lot to think about in terms of what you need to make the most of the good summers you have in front of you. It provides you with some strategies for how you can set yourself up financially so you don’t have to worry so much about your finances affecting how you can enjoy those summers.
It has been a while since I read this book, and having pulled it out again for this blog post I think I should read it again!
** Remember, that by clicking the links in this blog we will receive a small commission if you decide to buy the book. These little commissions help us to keep this page going, so we really appreciate you using our links to buy the books. And we these are books we love, so we’d recommend them even if we didn’t receive commissions **