It’s resolution season, when we all have a fresh start, a clean slate, and plenty of good intentions.
But if you actually want to keep those resolutions, it’s time to get serious about forming the right habits and minding the right things. These 15 inspiring and practical books are focused on our most common collective resolutions, and they’ll help you do just that.
Daily Rituals: How Artists Work
The Nesting Place: It Doesn’t Have to Be Perfect to Be Beautiful
The Listening Life
Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World
The Whole30: The 30-Day Guide to Total Health and Food Freedom
In the Company of Women: Inspiration and Advice from over 100 Makers, Artists, and Entrepreneurs
Emotional Agility: Get Unstuck, Embrace Change, and Thrive in Work and Life
168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think
Reading People: How Seeing the World through the Lens of Personality Changes Everything
The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business
Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone
Happier at Home
The Non-Runners Guide to Marathon Training
Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation
Click here to check out last year’s 9 books for your New Year’s resolutions.
Want to start focusing on those new goals immediately? These shorter MMD blog posts on habits, goals, and time management will help you get right to it:
• Planning for visual types. Years later, I’m still implementing a version of this system. I really struggled with organization until I realized I was a visual type.
• 3 time management rules I wish I’d learned ten years ago. They may be obvious to some, but it took me a whole decade to figure out these 3 rules. Hopefully, that means someone will find a shortcut today.
• Forget about results: my new approach to goal setting.Progress over perfect, because sometimes SMART goals aren’t so smart.It’s been gratifying to see so many current New Year’s articles encouraging us to focus on processes over goals.
• The Fab Four habits for a better life. Want to create new habits, but not sure where to start? These four foundational habits greatly affect your well-being, directly strengthen your self-control, and should be your first priority.
What are your favorite books on this list? Which titles would you add to it? Tell us all about it in comments!
15 comments
Bookmarking this! I’m gonna pick each one off like a grape and savor. Thank you ever so much for some encouraging titles. It’ll be a time saver! Haha.
Wow thank you for this list! I’ve just been released from my academic load and I’m finding my way back to leisure reading again. This will definitely get me started. I also highly suggest the book “Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance” by Angela Lee Duckworth!
Enjoy your leisure reading!
I would also recommend Mini Habits by Stephen Guise. Great list!
My friend’s brother ran a marathon with that program! Fun to see the book here.
I need to start reading Gretchen’s books.. They all sound so good!
You’ve got a few of my favorites in there … but ‘The Listening Life’ was a huge gamechanger for me
http://www.lindastoll.net/2016/06/if-you-read-only-one-book-this-summer.html
It was the best book I read in 2016 … and nothing has topped it since then. I’m a huge Adam McHugh fan. An absolute must-read!
Deep Work was a paradigm shift for me. I thought it was one of the best books I read this year. Loving this list.
I actually found Gretchen Rubin’s book “Better than Before” incredibly helpful in understanding what would help me succeed in my endeavours to be better.
Lots of great titles here, but I think Daily Rituals is my favorite. My biggest takeaway was that if you want to be a creative genius, you either need to drink a lot or walk a lot. Motivated me to lace up my tennis shoes.
Thanks soooo much for this list, Anne! I read chapter 5 of Reading People this morning. I am just so fascinated and it’s
Definitely adding The Listening Life to this year’s list! I’m gonna read it for the book recommended by someone with great taste category. ? What’s funny is that I picked my one word for 2018 and shared it on Instagram this week. It’s “listen”! Ha
Thanks Anne! I stumbled upon My Morning Routine: How Successful People Start Every Day Inspired by Benjamin Spall and Michael Xander when I had a hard time finishing Daily Rituals (I wasn’t expecting all the substance abuse!)
The Non-Runners Guide – 16 weeks to run a marathon works! I used it in 2001. I had a running base to start but this was my training plan for St. Louis Marathon in 2001. Highly recommend!