As the year comes thundering to a close, I always take a bit of time to reflect. I’ve got a bunch of 2014 lists coming over the next couple of weeks and I want to kick it off with this one.

This year has been an epic personal development year and so, naturally, I’ve read some pretty epic books to help me through it.

With that comes the 14 Life Changing Books I Read in 2014:

 

1. Daring Greatly by Brene Brown

I actually can’t believe that I only fell in love with Brene Brown this year! What a revelation. The thing I love about this book is her vulnerability and the stories of her struggles with the importance of being vulnerable. This book is jam packed of examples from her life and the lives of others and it gives you permission to live a vulnerable life.

I recommend it to anyone wanting to break free of the collective mind and embrace their true self.

 

2. The Firestarter Sessions by Danielle LaPorte

I’ve had the Desire Map for a couple of years now but hadn’t gotten around to reading The Firestarter Sessions until earlier this year. Shame on me! This book is exactly what the title suggests, a bright spark of knowledge and experience to ignite a flame of momentum in your life and business. It’s powerful stuff from the words of someone who’s been there and has a kick ass life philosophy.

I recommend this to anyone looking to take on the new year with a bang (in fact, I might read it again to fire myself up for 2015!)

 

3. Get Rich, Lucky Bitch by Denise Duffield-Thomas

I talked about this book here, so I won’t go too far. But what a start into developing a healthy money mentality and the impact that has on your life.

I recommend this to anyone who is sick of feeling poor and ready to change!

 

4. Daily Love – Growing Into Grace by Mastin Kipp

This is one of my favourite books of the year, I love Mastin’s story and some of the messages within those stories I talk about with clients or implement in my own life all the time. The gems of knowledge at the end of each chapter are invaluable – but only if you take action – something he stresses constantly through the book.

I recommend this to anyone who is fascinated by the connections of seemingly random life events.

 

5. Broken Open by Elizabeth Lesser

This book blew my mind because it was exactly what I needed at the time that I read it. While most of the stories are those of loss and tragedy in a more direct and identifiable way – and the strength that comes with it – I found myself relating in a different way. In that I was detaching from this idea of ‘identity’ that I’d spent my whole life creating. There is a different level of loss that comes from that and this book showed me that it was in this pain and rediscovery that real magic happens.

I highly recommend it to anyone who is going through a tough time, it will completely shift your mindset!

 

6. Wild by Cheryl Strayed

This is one of my favourite books ever. It’s been around for a while and I actually won it and have had it sitting on a bookshelf for a year or so. But, for some reason, I picked it up about 4 months ago and absolutely devoured it. It is powerful and has a great message about pushing yourself to your absolute limits.

I recommend this to anyone. It’s such a beautiful story (the movie adaptation is just about to be released here too).

 

7. The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks

I am recommending this book to EVERYONE right now. I love the ideas in it that we are the only thing stopping us from being successful and really living to our true potential. There are so many concepts that lead to this theory that I feel as though I’m going to have to read it a couple of times a year for a long time before I fully understand it, but just the simple act of recognising when I’m limiting myself has already dramatically changed my life.

I recommend this book to anyone who is looking to step it up, in the life/business/relationships. 

 

8. The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle

Like The Big Leap, The Power of Now contains some heavy ideas about how the mind + body + spirit work together and how our over thinking can so deeply affect our lives. I am getting through this one slowly because so much of it is new to me but I can already see the impact it is having on my thoughts and how powerful it is.

I recommend this to someone who is waist deep in their personal development journey and at least open to receiving new ideas.

 

9. E Squared by Pam Grout

From a lot of the books I’ve read this year, it’s pretty plain to see that I’ve been focusing a lot of my attention on mindset stuff and the power of our own thoughts and beliefs. E Squared falls solidly into this category as well, using crazy concepts backed up by science and real life exercises to prove that they’re totally legit.

I recommend this to anyone who’s looking to do some experimenting and see how powerful their thoughts really are.

 

10. Wink by Roger James Hamilton

This is such a cute little book about business building told as a parable. The simplicity of the story allows the concepts of business and money to be both accessible and interesting. The way that it builds together the basic ideas to a fully formed approach to life, business, and making money is brilliant and thoroughly entertaining.

I recommend Wink to anyone who is looking to build a great foundation for their life and business but without all the jargon and business B.S

 

11. The War of Art by Steven Pressfield

Ummmm procrastinate much? I felt like Pressfield totally nailed me on this one and, again, I read it exactly when I needed it. The book is split into sections, the ideas as subsections within to illustrate exactly what creative types do during the creative process and how to just get it done.

I recommend this if you’re struggling getting stuff done and feeling blocked. Game changer.

 

12. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

I actually re-read The Tipping Point this year because I love it. Gladwell has a brilliant way of taking social science and making it real and accessible through stories and examples. The benefit I got this time around, was understanding why some businesses or ideas tip and others do not.

I recommend this if you want an understanding of human nature in relation to ideas and products. 

 

13. The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown

Had to put this on as well because, like Daring Greatly, it’s so full of simple ideas to embrace living wholeheartedly by accepting that the idea of ‘perfect’ is a fallacy. Each chapter is broken down in to a pillar and there are thinking and action points at the end to instantly use the ideas she shares.

I recommend this if you like the idea of living wholeheartedly but have no idea where to start and find yourself stuck because you want everything to be perfect.

 

14. Steal Like An Artist by Austin Kleon

Another fun and easy book to read, but with power packed punches of ideas and thoughts. Steal Like An Artist is almost a story book in its layout – pictures and quotes aplenty – but the ideas contained within are brilliant and eye opening.

I recommend this if you want to give your creativity a little edge.

 

The thing about these books, in particular, is that it’s not about what you read or how much you read. It’s about what you do with the information. If you read a book and think, ‘that’s nice’, put it down and never think about it again, that’s entertainment (nothing wrong with that at all!) but if you read a book jam packed with ideas and you actually IMPLEMENT some of them, you have books that will literally change your life.

It is in the action that the real magic happens.
So, tell me, have you read any of these? Or do you have any books that you’ve checked out this year that you want to share? Leave me a comment below and let’s share the awesome book-loving experience.

 

P.S I read a couple of these on Scribd – we both get a free month membership if you sign up here.