Between 2016 and 2017 I have consumed more than 100 books on the topics of personal development and entrepreneurship. Among all the books, there are 5 that I absolutely have to recommend to you, if you have not read them. Many books are talking about the same mindset or concepts, but I personally find these 5 are most original and mind blowing. If you wonder how I managed to read so many books in one year, check out this article <Practical Guide to How to ‘Read’ 100 books A Year>.

How I select the books based on the below criteria

• Impact on my mindset, a starting point to explore more on the topic

• Worth reading multiple times

• Easy to understand, good read for everyone

Positive Mindset

<The Secret> by Rhonda Byrne

When I first started reading this book, I was a bit suspicious about the idea using your mind to attract the things you want. It sounds too good to be true. However, I still kept an open-mind and try to understand Law of Attraction. Beyond that, I took small actions to use Law of Attraction. I have to say, thoughts indeed become things. It is not a simple though, it is a burning desire that you have, and with the help of visualisation, you would feel that what you desire, is happening. Personally, I believe that my strong desire towards a goal subconsciously leads to me, taking actions towards it. Actions that I have not even thought of, which could take me to achieving my goals. If you have doubt, read the <Think and Grow Rich> by Napoleon Hill.

The first 4 chapters are describing the steps of using Law of Attraction to obtain wealth: Thought, Desire, Faith and Autosuggestion.

You might count this as an additional book in the list.

Success Mindset

<Mastery> by Robert Greene

This book helped me to recognized and discovered my individuality, as a unique person. We are living in a world where religion, family, peers, and other factors force us to conform to the rules of society if we want to succeed. Although born as individuals, most of us are not able to see our uniqueness, which is the hidden gem for our success. In this book, he explained what is inner voice and how we can tap into our inner voice and discover our potential, eventually to achieve mastery and success. This book truly opened my mind. I highly recommend it!

Money Mindset

<Rich Dad Poor Dad> by Robert T. Kiyosaki

I know this book has been read by many of you, and almost all of you have already heard of this book. It is written in such a simple manner that every primary student can read this week. But how many of them have really understood the concepts taught in the book, or even believe them? Because there is a difference between understanding and believing. This book is worth reading over and over again, you will have a deeper understanding each time you read it.

Recently I interviewed a very successful personal finance blogger, he told me that he has read the book three times in the past 2 years. And each time he understands or believes what Robert taught in the book, as he has seen it how his own business and his personal wealth grew by implementing the cashflow quadrant concepts. Start by reading this book, carefully, and I will recommend more books for you if you want to read more about personal finance.

Work Mindset

<The 4-hour Work Week> by Timothy Ferriss

I bet this came as no surprise to many Digital Nomads. This book has inspired so many online business entrepreneurs to explore the new work style which allows them to run an internet business from anywhere. It teaches you how to use your time wisely, learn to consume information selectively, how to get the most work done by outsourcing, and much more. When you have the system setup, it will free you from a 9–5 job, instead, live a 4-hour workweek. There are plenty of tricks and hacks in the book to teach you how to be more productive. Read it yourself!

Again, this book contains so much information, worth having a physical copy and refer back to it every now and then.

Entrepreneur Mindset

<Zero to One> by Peter Thiel

There are so many great business books that I want to recommend to you. Because starting, running, and growing a business need so many skills and knowledge, one book simply can not cover it all. But I chose this book because it covers the first important element of a successful business — creating new things. This book is about how to build companies that create new things. It draws on everything Peter learned directly as a co-founder of Paypal and Palantir and then an investor in hundreds of startups. He noticed many patterns and told the stories in this book. In this book, Peter shows how we can find singular ways to create those new things. This book is definitely worth a read for all entrepreneurs.