If you’ve been following my social media platforms for a while or know me in person, you know that I love, love, LOVE to read. Reading is such a great way to learn and absorb new concepts, including ideas that can be applied to one’s career and work life.

In no particular order, here are my favourite professional development books that I’ve read recently. You may find them useful too!

1: A World Without Email: Reimagining Work in an Age of Communication Overload (Cal Newport)

Feel like a slave to your email? You’re not alone – and this book is for you!

This New York Times bestseller from Cal Newport presents “a bold vision for liberating workers from the tyranny of the inbox – and unleashing a new era of productivity.” You know I’m all about productivity! I highly recommend this book if the email beast has a hold on you.

2: Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less (Greg McKeown)

I share quotes from this book often because reading it heavily impacted my life. Its basic principle – of doing less, but better – radically transformed the way that I approach my work and my daily schedule. Its principles have extended beyond work and into my personal life, too.

If you struggle with information overload, feel both over-worked and under-utilized, or feel busy but not productive, this book is for you.

3: Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most (Greg McKeown)

Another gem from Greg McKeown! This is a follow-up book to Essentialism, and it too is very much required reading if you struggle with feeling overworked yet under-productive. Effortless offers practical, actionable advice on how to make the most essential activities the easiest ones. Principles from this book have had a positive impact on both my personal and professional life.

4: Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life (Nir Eyal)

This book is a great read if you struggle with maintaining focus, managing your time effectively, and having consistently productive days. In an age of constant notifications, social media distractions, working from home, alarming news stories and more, being often-distracted seems like a symptom of the times – but it doesn’t have to be. Learn to control your attention and watch the benefits materialize immediately.

5: Clockwork: Design Your Business to Run Itself (Mike Michalowicz)

This is an amazing read for my fellow entrepreneurs. Do you worry that your business will collapse without your constant presence? Are you sacrificing your family, friendships, and freedom to keep your business alive? What if instead your business could run itself, freeing you to do what you love when you want, while it continues to grow and turn a profit?

Described as “a how-to manual for helping a small business owner achieve the purpose of owning a business – time and financial freedom,” Clockwork is all about helping you to set up your business so it can run itself – every entrepreneur’s dream.

6: Soundtracks: The Surprising Solution to Overthinking (Jon Acuff)

Now “overthinking” may not be what pops to mind when you hear “professional development,” but overthinking is very common – an epidemic, in fact – and it can steal away your time, creativity, and goals. Overthinking is unproductive and unfulfilling. However, this book shows you how to change overthinking from a super problem into a superpower. 

Acuff shows that when we don’t control our thoughts, our thoughts control us. If our days are full of broken soundtracks, thoughts are our worst enemy, holding us back from the things we really want. But the solution to overthinking isn’t to stop thinking. The solution is running our brains with better soundtracks. Once we learn how to choose our soundtracks, thoughts become our best friend, propelling us toward our goals. 

7: Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action (Simon Sinek)

Perhaps most famous for his incredible TED Talk “How Great Leaders Inspire Action” and the concept in it of the Golden Circle, Simon Sinek is one of the great minds of our times. Start with Why is based on his renowned TED Talk, and starts with a simple question: Why are some people and organizations more innovative, more influential, and more profitable than others? Why do some command greater loyalty from customers and employees alike? Even among the successful, why are so few able to repeat their success over and over?

As Sinek shows, it’s because some people – including Martin Luther King Jr., Steve Jobs, and the Wright Brothers – all started with WHY. They realized that people won’t truly buy into a product, service, movement, or idea until they understand the WHY behind it.

If you’re an entrepreneur, a business leader, or someone who wants to inspire people or lead a movement, you must read this book. 

8: The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth About Extraordinary Results (Gary Keller)

This best-seller presents a simple, powerful concept to help people focus on what matters most in their personal and work lives. Whether you want to increase productivity, boost sales, grow your following, get in shape, nurture stronger personal relationships, or achieve any other goal, you can go far by focusing your energy on one thing at a time. This concept sounds simple, and it is – but it’s also life-changing. This book will help you learn to cut through the clutter, achieve better results in less time, build momentum toward your goal, dial down the stress, overcome that overwhelmed feeling, revive your energy, stay on track, and master what matters to you.

9: Soulful Simplicity: How Living with Less Can Lead to So Much More (Courtney Carver)

This is a beautiful and powerful book about the power of simplicity. Noticing a bit of a theme here? Simplicity can improve our health, help us to build more meaningful relationships, and relieve stress in our professional and personal lives. In this book, Carver shows us how to pursue practical minimalism so we can create more with less – more space, more time, and even more love. She invites us to look at the big picture, discover what’s most important to us, and reclaim lightness and ease by getting rid of all the excess things.

10: The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level (Gay Hendricks)

In The Big Leap, Gay Hendricks, a New York Times best-selling author, demonstrates how to eliminate the barriers to success by overcoming false fears and beliefs. Fans of Wayne Dyer, Eckhart Tolle, Marianne Williamson, and The Secret will find useful, effective tips for breaking down the walls to a better life in this great read.

Have you read any of these books? Are you planning to pick any of them up, and if so, which ones? Connect with me on Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn, and let me know!