The 10 Most Popular Personal Transformation Books on Blinkist

2016 is still rife with possibility and uncertainty, still filled with exciting unknowns. And the year is still fresh enough that it’s a great time to make a positive change.

But as anybody who’s ever lived through New Year’s resolution season can tell you, change is hard. Of course you want to write that novel. Of course you want to find a career that you can grow into and enjoy for decades to come. You’d genuinely like to build better relationships with your family, or maybe learn how to promote your work better within your field. But where do you start?

If you’re looking to turn over a new leaf, we’ve got plenty of leaves you should be turning. This is the list of the 10 books on self help and personal transformation that the Blinkist community of readers loved most. Whatever you’re hoping to accomplish this year, your fresh start is only a read away.

1. Emotional Intelligence – Daniel Goleman

In this book, psychologist, writer, and Pulitzer Prize nominee Daniel Goleman explores the nature of emotional intelligence and how it impacts every facet of human life. You’ll learn how emotional intelligence evolves and how it can be boosted, all in a framework alternative to the prevailing cognition-centered approaches to the human mind. Goleman’s book offers new insights for anyone seeking to live up to their own abilities or curious about the relationship between success, cognitive abilities, and positive outlook.

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2. Flow – Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

The key to experiencing more enjoyment in your life?  It’s flow. When you’re immersed in an activity or subject that makes you neither anxious that it’s too hard, nor bored because it’s too easy, you slide into a flow state that keeps you controlled but creative, focused, but free.

Csikszentmihalyi is the global leader in research on positive psychology, creativity, and motivation, and his landmark book illuminates a path to shedding self-consciousness, selfishness, and a sense of time and achieving mastery and meaning through flow. with relationships, work, the world

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3. How to Stop Worrying and Start Living – Dale Carnegie

This is the self-help czar’s somewhat lesser-known treatise on, what else? Nixing the worry in your life so you can know, do, and be better. Carnegie outlines clearly why worrying is so awful for you and offers tools that you can use to cut it out. In typical Dale style, there are also plenty of anecdotes to support his recommendations, including those from Carnegie himself. Until he did a little digging for the secrets to living better, he considered himself to be ”one of the unhappiest lads in New York” due to excessive worrying. This book is the manifestation of long, hard efforts to quitting it for good.

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4. Drive – Daniel Pink

Motivation. As it turns out, most companies are doing it wrong. In Drive, Daniel Pink describes the characteristics of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, and the counterproductive ways in which businesses today still rely upon external motivators—even when it’s often (and obviously!) counterproductive. Pink reveals how we can best motivate ourselves and others by understanding intrinsic motivation.

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5. How Will You Measure Your Life? – Clayton M. Christensen, James Allworth and Karen Dillon

If you’re wondering how to strike a balance between work and life demands, or lately, you’ve been asking yourself just what long-term happiness is made of, this is the book for you. As a leading business expert and cancer survivor, Clayton M. Christensen has a unique insight or two on how to lead a life that brings both professional success and genuine happiness. In How Will You Measure Your Life?, Christensen touches on everything from motivation and how you can harness it to picking a career strategy; how to strengthen relationships with loved ones, to how to craft a family culture.

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6. How to Win Friends and Influence People – Dale Carnegie

This book may just be where the entire self transformation genre began. How to Win Friends & Influence People is Dale Carnegie’s classic, presenting some basic rules for how to make a good first impression on others and transform them into allies and friends. This is a colorful read, made immediate by anecdotes of yesterday’s greats including presidents, politicians, and businessfolk alike. Read this one if you’re a manager, an employee, a consultant, a teacher—really, anyone who deals with people on a daily basis.

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7. 59 Seconds – Richard Wiseman

Described by one of Scientific American’s columnists as “the most interesting and innovative experimental psychologist in the world today,” psychologist and professor Richard Wiseman has given keynotes for the likes of Amazon and Google, and has written a couple of bestsellers, too. In 59 Seconds, he offers handy tips and insights you can use to change your life—in a minute or less!—all backed by scientific research.

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8. Activate Your Brain – Scott G. Halford

Despite all the scientific breakthroughs made in recent decades, we still don’t fully understand the human brain. We have, however, discovered some important elements of neuroscience! Backed by research, helpful examples and exercises, Activate Your Brain  shows you how to use what we know about brains to make the best use of your gray matter, be more mindful, and feel more fulfilled.

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9. 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do – Amy Morin

Do you dream of starting a company or writing a novel? Could you even start today, but feel like something’s holding you back? Do you wish you were more assertive, more of a go-out-and-get-’em type? It’s time to start being rather than yearning, and this book can help. Amy Morin’s book will help you break the cycle of non-achievement and help you start living the life you’ve dreamed of. There are 13 critical ways to improve your mental strength, conquer your fears, and be the powerhouse you know you can be.

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10. Finding Your Element – Ken Robinson

If you’re looking for direction, start reading here. Sir Ken Robinson, a renowned writer, speaker, and educator known as much for his TED talks on human creativity as for his books on discovering your passions, will help you uncover your true talents. Written with a keen sense of wit, Finding Your Element offers entertaining and inspiring wisdom that will help you not only to be more productive but also to improve your overall happiness and quality of life.

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