The best 38 Mindful Work books

1
The Procrastination Cure

The Procrastination Cure

Jeffery Combs
7 Steps to Stop Putting Life Off
4.6 (436 ratings)

What's The Procrastination Cure about?

The Procrastination Cure is a practical and motivational guide to overcoming procrastination. It offers strategies and personal insights to diagnose and address the root causes of this behavior, enabling readers to balance productivity and relaxation without guilt.

Who should read The Procrastination Cure?

  • Anyone who struggles with procrastination
  • People suffering from perfectionism or resistance
  • Anyone willing to introspect and develop self-awareness

2
Deep Work

Deep Work

Cal Newport
Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World
4.3 (1,636 ratings)

What's Deep Work about?

Deep Work (2016) is all about how the rise of technology has wrecked our ability to concentrate deeply on tasks – and how to overcome this blockade. These blinks illustrate different strategies that can help you improve the output of your work and get the most out of your free time.

Who should read Deep Work?

  • Anyone trying to concentrate on cognitively demanding tasks
  • People whose days are consumed by email, social media and technology
  • Workers interested in learning tools to enhance their productivity

3
Essentialism

Essentialism

Greg McKeown
Improve your life by only focusing on the essentials
4.5 (772 ratings)

What's Essentialism about?

Essentialism (2014) teaches you how to do better by doing less. By offering practical solutions for how to get your priorities straight, Essentialism helps you to eliminate all of the junk in your routine that’s keeping you from being truly productive and fulfilled.

Who should read Essentialism?

  • Anyone who thinks that they are far too busy without being productive
  • Anyone who feels like there is never enough time
  • Anyone having a hard time identifying his or her priorities in life

4
Flow

Flow

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
The Psychology of Optimal Experience
4.4 (769 ratings)

What's Flow about?

Flow (1990) explores how we can experience enjoyment in our lives by controlling our attention and strengthening our resolve. This is achieved by being immersed in an activity or subject that makes us neither anxious (if it’s too hard), nor bored (if it’s too easy). In this “flow state” we lose our self-consciousness, selfishness and sense of time. Using goal-setting and immediate feedback, we can achieve a state of flow that improves our relationship with work, increases our self-worth and gives our lives meaning.

Who should read Flow?

  • Anyone who wants to be more engaged with their relationships, their work or the world
  • Anyone aiming to rise out of mediocrity and gain mastery over something
  • Anyone who wants to know how their health can be improved by ancient wisdom and diverse cultures

5
How to Enjoy Your Life and Your Job

How to Enjoy Your Life and Your Job

Dale Carnegie
Increase your understanding of human nature to live more fully
4.7 (557 ratings)

What's How to Enjoy Your Life and Your Job about?

How to Enjoy Your Life and Your Job (1955) provides guidance about getting more out of your day-to-day life, by generating more energy into your workday and improving your personal relationships. It sheds a light on how human nature influences the way we behave, so you can improve your interpersonal skills and deepen your self-understanding.

Who should read How to Enjoy Your Life and Your Job?

  • The chronically weary
  • Managers who want to become more effective leaders
  • Students of human nature

6
Goals!

Goals!

Brian Tracy
How to Get Everything You Want – Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible
4.7 (532 ratings)

What's Goals! about?

Goals! (2003) explores the power of goal-setting. It outlines tips and techniques for achieving your most important aims in life and examines the link between goal-setting and success.

Who should read Goals!?

  • Anyone wanting to achieve more in life
  • Entrepreneurs looking for inspiration
  • Procrastinators hoping to get more done

7
Stolen Focus

Stolen Focus

Johann Hari
Why You Can't Pay Attention – and How to Think Deeply Again
4.5 (1,539 ratings)

What's Stolen Focus about?

Stolen Focus (2022) begins with author Johann Hari experiencing a common problem: his attention span is diminishing. He can’t seem to focus on much outside of Twitter and online news. Over three years, Hari tries to identify the root causes of this problem. He uncovers a collective attention crisis that’s affecting the entire globe. From social media to the culture of productivity, Hari identifies the culprits behind our stolen focus – and wonders if, and how, we can claim it back.

Who should read Stolen Focus?

  • Anyone who feels like they just can’t concentrate the way they used to
  • Multitaskers with brimming to-do lists who still feel like they don’t get much done
  • Anyone scrolling through social media while they’re reading this!

8
Real Change

Real Change

Sharon Salzberg
Mindfulness to Heal Ourselves and the World
3.9 (238 ratings)

What's Real Change about?

Real Change (2020) is a guide to building a better world through cultivating inner strength. This manual teaches how meditation and mindfulness are key to navigating the stresses and pressures of modern life.

Who should read Real Change?

  • Do-gooders burnt out from the struggle
  • Stressed caregivers looking for a break
  • Anyone interested in the benefits of meditation

9
Conversations Worth Having

Conversations Worth Having

Jackie Stavros and Cheri Torres
Using Appreciative Inquiry to Fuel Productive and Meaningful Engagement
4.7 (504 ratings)

What's Conversations Worth Having about?

Conversations Worth Having (2018) looks at the power of conversation in our lives and what we can do to communicate more productively at work, in our relationships, and in the community. Drawing on real-life stories and scientifically based theories, it illustrates how we can improve organizations and lives using the principle of Appreciative Inquiry – effective conversation through positive perspective and asking the right questions.

Who should read Conversations Worth Having?

  • Leaders who want to engage with their teams for the best results
  • Parents and teachers who want to see their children flourish
  • Anyone looking to improve the tone and direction of their conversations

10
18 Minutes

18 Minutes

Peter Bregman
Find Your Focus, Master Distraction, and Get the Right Things Done
3.8 (244 ratings)

What's 18 Minutes about?

18 Minutes (2011) is a helpful guide to getting things done by focusing on meaningful work, reaching goals and preventing distractions. These blinks will show how to identify the kind of work that is right for you and how to stay on track and hit your targets.

Who should read 18 Minutes?

  • People who want to get things done
  • Anyone feeling overwhelmed with work
  • Anyone searching for happiness and meaning in their lives

11
How to Be a Productivity Ninja

How to Be a Productivity Ninja

Graham Allcott
Worry Less, Achieve More and Love What You Do
4.4 (577 ratings)

What's How to Be a Productivity Ninja about?

How to Be a Productivity Ninja (2014) transforms old-school time-management techniques and productivity advice into a twenty-first century handbook on how to work smarter – not harder. Adapted to the realities of contemporary work and life, it’s filled with practical guidance and exercises for boosting productivity.

Who should read How to Be a Productivity Ninja?

  • Chronic procrastinators who’d like to get more done
  • Habitual multitaskers who can’t seem to follow through
  • Anyone who’s scared of their overflowing inbox or novel-length to-do list

12
Kaizen

Kaizen

Sarah Harvey
The Japanese Method for Transforming Habits, One Small Step at a Time
4.6 (545 ratings)

What's Kaizen about?

Kaizen (2019) is a guide to the improvement philosophy known as kaizen, which encourages taking small steps to complete ambitious goals. Already well established in the world of business and sports, this method can also be applied to personal development. Using practical examples, this guide explains how to take a kaizen approach to setting goals that’ll improve health, relationships, money, and work.

Who should read Kaizen?

  • Anyone trying to overcome a habit or take up a new challenge
  • Anybody wishing to improve an aspect of their life
  • Anyone interested in Japanese culture and philosophies

13
Effortless

Effortless

Greg McKeown
Make It Easy to Get the Right Things Done
4.3 (402 ratings)

What's Effortless about?

Effortless (2021) challenges the idea that achieving anything worthwhile means overexerting ourselves. This easy-to-follow guide breaks down how to make tasks and projects feel easy, actions we can take to maximize our efforts, and techniques for increasing outputs while keeping our inputs low.

Who should read Effortless?

  • Workaholics looking for a better way
  • Leaders who want their teams to work smarter
  • Students under pressure to overachieve

14
A World Without Email

A World Without Email

Cal Newport
Reimagining Work in an Age of Communication Overload
4.4 (265 ratings)

What's A World Without Email about?

A World Without Email (2021) presents a bold reimagining of the workplace, one in which the days of email and instant messaging are a thing of the past. It argues that while email may seem like an integral part of modern knowledge work, it’s actually making everyone less productive and less focused, not to mention miserable. The solution will require a major paradigm shift –⁠ but it will be well worth the effort.

Who should read A World Without Email?

  • Business leaders who want to root out inefficiencies in their organizations
  • Employees frustrated with the workplace culture of constant communication
  • Freelancers and entrepreneurs looking to improve their workflow

15
Do Breathe

Do Breathe

Michael Townsend Williams
Calm Your Mind. Find Focus. Get Stuff Done.
4.6 (263 ratings)

What's Do Breathe about?

Do/Breathe (2015) is a calming antidote to the stressors of contemporary life, offering a simple guide to cultivating balance, honing focus, and learning to be present. Do/Breathe takes you right back to life’s basics – like breathing, eating, and sleeping – to show how adjusting fundamental practices, habits, and mindsets can produce positive, lasting change in your life. 

Who should read Do Breathe?

  • Busy professionals who never seem to reach the end of their to-do lists
  • Dreamers whose fear holds them back from chasing their goals
  • Multitaskers who want to juggle their roles and responsibilities without losing equilibrium

16
Positively Energizing Leadership

Positively Energizing Leadership

Kim Cameron
Virtuous Actions and Relationships That Create High Performance
4.6 (349 ratings)

What's Positively Energizing Leadership about?

Positively Energizing Leadership (2022) offers organization leaders and workers a practical guide to understanding and harnessing the power of positively energizing characteristics and interpersonal approaches. With empirical data and how-to advice, it aims to boost innovation, profits, and compassion in the workplace and at home. 

Who should read Positively Energizing Leadership?

  • Anyone working as part of a team 
  • Managers who want to increase interpersonal richness in their organization 
  • Leaders looking for strategies to deal with a “black hole” of a worker 

17
How to Fix Meetings

How to Fix Meetings

Graham Allcott and Hayley Watts
Meet Less, Focus on Outcomes and Get Stuff Done
4.4 (173 ratings)

What's How to Fix Meetings about?

How to Fix Meetings (2021) is a guide for turning long and ineffective meetings into well-designed sessions that encourage collaboration and produce results. From defining a meeting’s purpose to helping people get started on their tasks, How to Fix Meetings outlines the best ways to get the most out of any meeting.

Who should read How to Fix Meetings?

  • Leaders who want to change their organizations’ meeting culture 
  • Facilitators who want to run better meetings
  • Anyone fed up with ineffective meetings

18
No Hard Feelings

No Hard Feelings

Liz Fosslien and Mollie West Duffy
The Secret Power of Embracing Emotions at Work
4.4 (138 ratings)

What's No Hard Feelings about?

No Hard Feelings (2018) is a guide to understanding, expressing and managing your emotions in the context of your working life. All too often, we buy into the idea that emotions don’t belong in the workplace. But the reality is that your work life is full of emotion. From feeling frustrated with irritating colleagues to the misery of being unmotivated, these blinks are a practical guide to help you navigate how you feel about work.

Who should read No Hard Feelings?

  • People who’d like a little guidance on managing emotions in the workplace
  • Employees who are frustrated, angry, stressed or nervous at work
  • Leaders who’d like to build a safe and productive working environment for their teams

19
Employee to Entrepreneur

Employee to Entrepreneur

Steve Glaveski
How to Earn Your Freedom and Do Work that Matters
4.5 (247 ratings)

What's Employee to Entrepreneur about?

Employee to Entrepreneur (2018) demonstrates how to transition from the mentality of an employee to that of an entrepreneur. It shows how you can pursue purpose in your work while avoiding the pitfalls that most first-time entrepreneurs encounter. With practical strategies for launching and testing your ideas, this exploration of the entrepreneurial mindset proves that anyone can find fulfillment in work and in life when equipped with the right tools and attitude.

Who should read Employee to Entrepreneur?

  • Unsatisfied employees who want to quit their day job and start a business
  • New entrepreneurs seeking practical advice on how to launch a startup
  • Anyone who wishes to find more fulfillment in their work

20
Meditation

Meditation

Osho
The First and Last Freedom
4.3 (235 ratings)

What's Meditation about?

Meditation (1988) provides a valuable overview of Osho meditations – an approach to meditation that emphasizes awareness and uses movement as a way of preparing the mind and body. It provides the basic principles behind Osho meditation, as well as a few foundational techniques to get you started.

Who should read Meditation?

  • Anyone interested in meditation
  • Fans of the Wild Wild Country Netflix series
  • People looking to become more aware and more relaxed

21
The Long-Distance Teammate

The Long-Distance Teammate

Kevin Eikenberry and Wayne Turmel
Stay Engaged and Connected While Working Anywhere
4.3 (101 ratings)

What's The Long-Distance Teammate about?

The Long-Distance Teammate: Stay Engaged and Connected While Working Anywhere (2021) is a guide to being a quality teammate while working remotely. It helps you navigate all the interpersonal issues that pop up when you’re no longer sharing an office with your coworkers, and gives advice on how to build connections with people you haven’t seen.

Who should read The Long-Distance Teammate?

  • Anyone working remotely
  • Workers unsure where they fit in
  • People seeking a better work-life balance

22
What Color Is Your Parachute? 2021

What Color Is Your Parachute? 2021

Richard N. Bolles with Katharine Brooks
Your Guide to a Lifetime of Meaningful Work and Career Success
4.5 (81 ratings)

What's What Color Is Your Parachute? 2021 about?

What Color Is Your Parachute? 2021 (2021) is a fresh edition of a book that’s widely regarded as the job-hunter’s bible. It’s packed with classic exercises and time-tested strategies that empower prospective employees to find, and secure, the role they want. This new edition contains essential updates that speak to the contemporary job market.

Who should read What Color Is Your Parachute? 2021?

  • Job-seekers wondering if they’ll ever land a coveted role
  • Fed-up employees who are ready to take on a new career challenge
  • Prospective entrepreneurs who need a kick start

23
A Minute to Think

A Minute to Think

Juliet Funt
Reclaim Creativity, Conquer Busyness, and Do Your Best Work
4.4 (750 ratings)

What's A Minute to Think about?

A Minute to Think (2021) explores how busyness is harming our productivity – and why it's so important to take regular pauses. It reveals the mental and economic costs associated with our hectic modern working environments and explains how we can reclaim our time. 

Who should read A Minute to Think?

  • Busy professionals hoping to claw back some me-time
  • Leaders seeking to build a more creative working environment
  • Managers wanting to improve their team’s well-being

24
The Work-Life Balance Myth

The Work-Life Balance Myth

David J. McNeff
Rethinking Your Optimal Balance for Success
4.5 (462 ratings)

What's The Work-Life Balance Myth about?

The Work-Life Balance Myth (2021) is a guide to managing stress and creating harmony across the key areas in your life using the Seven-Slice Method. Rather than divide your waking hours between work and life, the Seven-Slice Method recontextualizes life into seven key areas and demonstrates how spending time in each of them every day can help you overcome pressure and find peace.

Who should read The Work-Life Balance Myth?

  • Professionals seeking ways to manage stress
  • Parents struggling to juggle family and work life
  • Those who want more harmony in their lives

25
How to Thrive in the Virtual Workplace

How to Thrive in the Virtual Workplace

Robert Glazer with Mick Sloan
Simple and Effective Tips for Successful, Productive and Empowered Remote Work
4.2 (124 ratings)

What's How to Thrive in the Virtual Workplace about?

How to Thrive in the Virtual Workplace (2021) is a guide to working remotely. With tips for both organizations and individuals, it covers everything from the benefits of remote work to steps for implementing it successfully, and the tools and tricks that make it easy.

Who should read How to Thrive in the Virtual Workplace?

  • Organizational leaders interested in going remote
  • Employees who want a fulfilling remote experience
  • People who are curious about the future of work

26
The Burnout Fix

The Burnout Fix

Jacinta M. Jiménez
Overcome Overwhelm, Beat Busy, and Sustain Success in the New World of Work
4.4 (257 ratings)

What's The Burnout Fix about?

The Burnout Fix (2021) is a practical guide to thriving in the modern workplace. Today’s world of work is characterized by uncertainty, change, and a blurring of lines between home and the office. That’s why it’s essential that employees learn to set healthy boundaries, develop core skills, and make choices that prioritize their well-being. 

Who should read The Burnout Fix?

  • Innovative leaders who want to create thriving workplaces
  • Exhausted executives looking to regain passion and pleasure in their work
  • Psychology buffs striving to understand the causes of burnout

27
You’re About to Make a Terrible Mistake!

You’re About to Make a Terrible Mistake!

Olivier Sibony
How Biases Distort Decision-Making – and What You Can Do To Fight Them
4.3 (106 ratings)

What's You’re About to Make a Terrible Mistake! about?

You’re About to Make a Terrible Mistake! (2020) deals with the negative but often predictable effects that cognitive biases have on high-stakes decisions. Far from claiming that biases can be eliminated altogether, it demonstrates how every decision is colored by bias and outlines specific techniques that’ll help you make more rational, fact-based business decisions.

Who should read You’re About to Make a Terrible Mistake! ?

  • Businesspeople who have to make frequent decisions
  • Anyone interested in business strategy and behavioral economics
  • Fans of Daniel Kahneman or Malcolm Gladwell

28
Urgent!

Urgent!

Dermot Crowley
Strategies to Control Urgency, Reduce Stress and Increase Productivity
4.3 (215 ratings)

What's Urgent! about?

Urgent! (2021) is your guide to getting the right things done at the right time. In our fast-paced world, it’s easy to fall into the urgency trap – and keeping up with the constant demands often feels impossible. But by learning to consciously replace reactive behaviors with proactive ones, you can reduce stress and do deeper, more effective work.

Who should read Urgent!?

  • Savvy leaders who want to increase team productivity
  • Frazzled workers craving less stress – and less time at the desk
  • Optimizers seeking efficiency hacks for a better work-life balance

29
Bring Your Human to Work

Bring Your Human to Work

Erica Keswin
10 Surefire Ways to Design a Workplace That Is Good for People, Great for Business, and Just Might Change the World
4.2 (77 ratings)

What's Bring Your Human to Work about?

Bring Your Human to Work (2018) explores how organizations can put human connection at the center of their business. It outlines the benefits, both financial and social, of encouraging better communication and deeper relationships between coworkers. 

Who should read Bring Your Human to Work?

  • Anyone seeking a greater connection with their coworkers
  • Business leaders looking for fresh insights
  • Managers wanting to inspire their direct reports

30
The Purpose Myth

The Purpose Myth

Charlotte Cramer
Change the World, Not Your Job
4.4 (217 ratings)

What's The Purpose Myth about?

The Purpose Myth (2020) dispels the idea that what you do to earn a living should also be your life’s driving purpose. Although many job offers are posted as fulfilling opportunities, the reality of office life remains banal. This book offers clear guidance on how to find the joy and satisfaction that’s too often lacking at work. 

Who should read The Purpose Myth?

  • People looking to put some purpose back into their lives
  • Aspiring entrepreneurs on the hunt for inspiration
  • Anyone who finds their day job unfulfilling

31
Win at Work and Succeed at Life

Win at Work and Succeed at Life

Michael Hyatt and Megan Hyatt Miller
5 Principles to Free Yourself from the Cult of Overwork
4.4 (147 ratings)

What's Win at Work and Succeed at Life about?

Win at Work and Succeed at Life (2021) explores the pitfalls of our long-hours work culture. It outlines how professionals can reclaim their personal lives and achieve a better work-life balance.

Who should read Win at Work and Succeed at Life?

  • Anyone struggling with burnout
  • Stressed-out professionals seeking balance
  • People managers wanting to boost employee engagement

32
Making Work Human

Making Work Human

Eric Mosley and Derek Irvine
How Human-Centered Companies are Changing the Future of Work and the World
4.3 (44 ratings)

What's Making Work Human about?

Making Work Human (2020) is a roadmap for building the workplace of the future based on positive human values such as community, connection, and belonging. Drawing on a vast amount of data and using deep analytics, the pioneers of social recognition company Workhuman explain how a work culture of gratitude makes people happier and healthier while boosting productivity and performance.

Who should read Making Work Human?

  • HR professionals interested in new management approaches
  • Business owners looking to boost productivity and innovation in their companies
  • Those curious about the future of work

33
All Work No Play

All Work No Play

Dale Sidebottom
A Surprising Guide to Feeling More Mindful, Grateful and Cheerful
4.5 (311 ratings)

What's All Work No Play about?

All Work No Play (2021) teaches tricks and tips for getting more happiness and joy from everyday life. This fun and practical handbook draws on play-based mindfulness strategies designed to help you improve relationships, boost mental well-being, and reconnect with your inner child. 

Who should read All Work No Play?

  • People who want more joy from daily life
  • Anyone looking for new mindfulness strategies
  • Tired workers striving for balance

34
Noise

Noise

Joseph McCormack
Living and Leading When Nobody Can Focus
4.4 (119 ratings)

What's Noise about?

Noise (2019) is an antidote to our distracted times. In an age of shrinking attention spans and divided focus, it shows us how to reclaim our natural powers of concentration.

Who should read Noise?

  • Tech addicts trying to break their bad habits
  • Procrastinators who need to rediscover their ability to focus
  • Leaders interested in distraction-proof communication

35
Wellbeing at Work

Wellbeing at Work

Jim Clifton and Jim Harter
How to Build Resilient and Thriving Teams
4.3 (226 ratings)

What's Wellbeing at Work about?

Wellbeing at Work (2021) explores how the different spheres of our lives contribute to our overall sense of well-being. It also outlines how leaders can positively impact their employees’ well-being, and sheds light on the link between employee well-being and organizational success. 

Who should read Wellbeing at Work?

  • Stressed-out workers
  • Managers learning how to lead in a pandemic
  • Wellness enthusiasts looking for inspiration

36
Shapers

Shapers

Jonas Altman
Reinvent the Way You Work and Change the Future
4.6 (38 ratings)

What's Shapers about?

Shapers (2020) chronicles how technological and organizational shifts have transformed our workplaces. Most importantly, it outlines the key competencies that modern organizations and workers should develop to thrive in a world of uncertainty and disruption.

Who should read Shapers?

  • Entrepreneurs looking for advice on creating sustainable, innovative companies
  • Employees who are fed up with their dead-end jobs
  • Managers who want to learn how to lead

37
The Refusal of Work

The Refusal of Work

David Frayne
The Theory and Practice of Resistance to Work
4.5 (62 ratings)

What's The Refusal of Work about?

The Refusal of Work (2015) is a critical look at the way our society is structured around work. Given the fact that 40 hours of work per week makes many of us exhausted, irritable, and actually ill, it doesn’t seem right that it’s the only way we can access necessities like income, social acceptance, and a sense of belonging. Author David Frayne engages with the theory and practice of resisting the way we are expected to work, invoking critical thinkers and interviews with people who have reduced their hours, or given up working altogether.

Who should read The Refusal of Work?

  • People who spend their days at work fantasizing about starting a business or changing careers 
  • Those who miss the freedom they had at university to organize their own time 
  • Workers for whom the Sunday Scaries are starting to feel like a terminal illness

38
Permission to Glow

Permission to Glow

Kristoffer Carter
A Spiritual Guide to Epic Leadership
4.3 (261 ratings)

What's Permission to Glow about?

Permission to Glow (2021) provides managers with a roadmap to lead with intention and purpose so that everyone can reach their full potential. By embracing its four permissions, it shows how leaders can maximize outcomes and personal successes by first tapping into their own power and then guiding others to do the same.

Who should read Permission to Glow?

  • Leaders looking for meaning and fulfillment
  • Managers wanting to champion the potential of others
  • Seekers of inner peace

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