TOP 10 Motivational Books for Students

July 23, 2015 2:02 pm

‘You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take’

Wayne Gretzky, Canadian hockey player

How many shots you’ve already missed? Tens of thousands? Even more? How many shots you could have taken? All of them. Where’s the catch? – Yes, the right motivation. I’ve been reading hundreds of books per years. The good, the bad and, aha, the crazy ones. My basic concern was to find exactly the latter ones. Obviously I get tons of questions regarding what books I recommend to my students. Ultimately I keep reading every one of them over and over again, so that they transformed me into who I am now. Here’s my list of TOP 10 best motivational books of all times every student must read at least once.

1. Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz

Maxwell Maltz is a plastic surgeon. He’d noticed that some of his patients felt bad after surgery. Then he decided to use a cognitive behavioral technique, which consisted of different self-concept aspects. Dr. Maltz realized his patients needed self-reconstruction as well. Everything you ever wanted to know about the ‘mind-body’ connection is in this amazing book. The main trick of it is in the ‘self-image’. This book is going to be interesting not only to medical students, but also to every student who is looking for some good self-motivation mechanism. Interesting fact: motivational experts in personal development such as Brian Tracy, Zig Ziglar and some others based their concepts on Maxwell Maltz technique of Psycho-Cybernetics. Best quote: “Your nervous system cannot tell the difference between an imagined experience and a ‘real’ experience.”

2. How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie

I won’t tell you a long story of people whose lives have changed dramatically after reading this book. One of them was me. And I was a student just like you. Here’re some little things about this book:

1. It tells you how to make friends easily and to build strong relationship with them.
2. It helps you to grab attention of new clients and ultimately win them.
3. It enables you to increase your earning power.
4. It turns you into a confident speaker and a receptive listener.
5. It broadens your thoughts, vision and ambitions.

  Interesting fact: book has sold 15 million copies worldwide. And it’s still going strong. Best quote: “To be interesting, be interested.”

3. Talent is Overrated by Geoff Colvin

Don’t you think that success is determined only by genetics and talent? That’s right, it’s not. Geoff Colvin tells you what it really takes to be successful and how not to get tired of charging your motivative battery inside. Interesting fact: the author uses world classic examples such as Mozart, Warren Buffet, Tiger Woods and a lot of others to prove that years of practice is the only key to become successful. Best quote: “If you set a goal of becoming an expert in your business, you would immediately start doing all kinds of things you don’t do now.”

4. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey

The 7 habits opens a new world of different perspectives you’ve never heard before. This book answers the question why two people see the same thing, but still differ with each other. It’s turned to be totally useful ‘must-read’ book for the students who’re going to master multitasking and everything connected with it. Interesting fact: Time listed ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People’ as one of ‘The 25 Most Influential Business Management Books’ in 2011. Best quote: “Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.”

5. As a Man Thinketh by James Allen

Do you know that your personality is loosely based on our thoughts? Not only on them, but to a far greater degree it’s so. No one force you to take immediate actions until you have a good look at your brains – this is probably the main difference of this book from other motivational books. Interesting fact: the book became a basis for the lyrics to the song ‘Good Thoughts, Bad Thoughts’ by Funkadelic. Best quote: “The dreamers are the saviors of the world. As the visible world is sustained by the invisible, so men, through all their trials and sins and sordid vocations, are nourished by the beautiful visions of their solitary dreamers.”

6. Drive by Daniel Pink

The author of the book, Danie Pink, confirms that human motivation is substantially inner. He divided the whole mechanism of motivation into 3 subcategories:

1. autonomy;
2. mastery;
3. purpose.

Find out what each of subcategories is all about. But don’t expect to find there an ordinary approach based on carrots and sticks. It’s about something much more deeper and most profound senses of who we are. Interesting fact: Dan Pink has made an extraordinary summary of what his book is about by placing 140-character descriptions in the form of Twitter. Best quote: ‘Find what drives us’.

7. Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

Whatever your goal is, you can reach it in just 13 steps, says Napoleon Hill. He also discovered the common processes of decision-making that had led 40 millionaires to their success. The first tip is in the combination of greed and luck. Interesting? These men have something worthwhile to say, believe me. Interesting fact: the author spent two decades analyzing the pass to success of more than 500 high achievers like Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and John D. Rockefeller. Best quote: “All the breaks you need in life wait within your imagination. Imagination is the workshop of your mind, capable of turning mind energy into accomplishment and wealth.”

8. The Greatest Salesman in the World by Og Mandino

This masterpiece is fairly greater than just a sales book. It’s mostly about believing in yourself and desire to help others. And this book is just about each of us. Interesting fact: It’d take about 10 months to read this book if you abide by the Mandino’s rules of his game called the philosophy of salesmanship and success. Best quote: “You were not created for a life of idleness. You cannot eat from sunrise to sunset or drink or play or make love. Work is not your enemy but your friend. If all manners of labor were forbidden to thee you would fall to your knees and beg an early death.”

9. The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale

You still don’t believe in the power of positive thinking? Let Mr. Peale blow your mind with his book. Interesting fact: when the book was published first most of theologians ‘praised’ it as heretical. Best quote: “Our happiness depends on the habit of mind we cultivate.”

10. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

This is the best self-help book I’ve ever read. Interesting fact: this is the best self-help book most of my friends have ever read. Best quote: “Live and act within the limit of your knowledge and keep expanding it to the limit of your life.”