Personal Development Books Coaches Love

This post contains affiliate links, which means if you click on a link I may receive a small commission at no cost to you. Thank you. 🙂

When you’re looking for the most empowering books to read, start with these personal development books life coaches love! Read their rave reviews here.

Big Magic

“‘Big Magic’ by Elizabeth Gilbert is a celebration of a creative life. That doesn’t mean (just) painting or writing but encompasses something larger: a worldview that extols the pursuit of any activity that takes you out of yourself and opens you to the experience of wonder and joy.” — Jennifer Reese

Buy Big Magic

Real Artists Don’t Starve

“Are you a painter, a writer, a start-up founder or a cabinet maker? Wondering how to avoid not paying the rent while you pursue your craft? Well, that’s where Jeff Goins’ Real Artists Don’t Starve comes in. The book offers 12 strategies to create your art, promote your art and make money from your art — no matter what it may be.” — Tree Franklin

Buy Real Artists Don't Starve

Unlocking Potential

“I would recommend this book: Unlocking Potential: 7 Coaching Skills That Transform Individuals, Teams, and Organizations by Michael K. Simpson to managers, leaders and aspiring-to-be leaders. Be sure to take note of those important techniques and strategies mentioned. It’ll be very useful for future reference.” — Gladys Jane

Buy Unlocking Potential

Year of Yes

“Rhimes is, unsurprisingly, a fantastic memoirist: Her writing is conversational and witty and lyrical, inflected with the supple human breathiness you might expect from a person who spends her days writing dialogue. [It] is in many ways a side door self help book…[with] pieces of advice that concern not just Rhimes’s readers, but everyone. …Year of Yes is a book about the shifts taking place in Hollywood right now. It is, like Shondaland itself, making a statement. It is insisting that it is time for the people who used to be invisible to come forward and be seen.” — Megan Garber

Buy Year of Yes!

The Coaching Habit

“I love Michael Bungay Stanier’s The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever. Instead of being the person with all the answers, learn how to be a coach—and a good one at that. Because your people have Google to find answers, you can give them what they really need. 1. Someone to ask them well-designed questions that get them into problem-solving mode. 2. A good set of ears that provides them with a much-needed blank canvas to make sense of their thoughts.” — Shawn Vanderhoven

Buy The Coaching Habit

Daring Greatly

“Laying out a roadmap for change, the author includes chapters on eliminating blame and shame from work and education, and daring to be the adults we want our children to be. Brown’s theories—complete with personal and not always flattering examples from her own life—will draw readers in and have them considering what steps they would dare to take if shame and fear were not present.” — Publisher Weekly

Buy Daring Greatly

Manifest: 30 Days of Intentional Mantras

“It is hard to locate self help books written by people of color. Many involve lengthy exercises, but the simplicity and effectiveness of these mantras help one to stay the course and maintain the practice of meditating beyond the 30 days. When you fall of your practice, pick the book back up and start again. You will gain new insight as you are not the same person. I suggest this as a gift to young people and and anyone you love as everyone could benefit from it.” — Kaiyah F

Buy Manifest

Unshakeable

Buy Unshakeable

Get Over It

“Iyanla Vanzant offers a unique spiritual technology called “thought therapy,” a process that harnesses proven spiritual tools with the science of neuroplasticity. The 42 prayers and affirmations in Get Over It! and complementary energy-clearing tools at the heart of the thought therapy process are designed to neutralize and eliminate the unconscious, unproductive, soul-destroying dominant negative thought patterns (DNTPs) and discordant emotional energies, allowing you to get to the root cause of your personal suffering, and make life-affirming choices.” — Hay House Publishing

Buy Get Over It!

Boys Won’t Be Boys

“Tim Brown’s book has blessed me tremendously…I don’t know of a better guy who’s more committed to doing things in a Godly manner for the sake of others, particularly as it relates to young boys. He has a great heart and passion and a gift for challenging, inspiring and shaping boys into men.” — Clark Kellogg

Buy Boys Won't Be Boys

**The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck**

“At its core, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck is a book about finding what’s truly important to you and letting go of everything else. More than a practical guidebook to choosing what’s important in our lives and what’s unimportant, it’s a brutally honest and much needed reality check about our personal problems, fears and expectations. It’s a bold confrontation of self, our painful truths, faults and uncertainties, without all the positive airy fairy fluff we’ve been spoon-fed to believe by self-help gurus.” — Tree Franklin

Buy The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck

The Science of Accelerated Learning

“This book by Pete Hollins teaches you how to really learn in an accelerated manner. It’s how to process info, condense it, make it stick, and use it.

The Science of Accelerated Learning starts with shaping our mindsets to be geared for learning, fertile. Then he tells us the three types of factors that can make or break us. It was a great breakdown and the further breakdowns at the end of each chapter with the takeaways were priceless.” — Reviewer

Buy The Science of Accelerated Learning