Books can help you in every sphere of life, from improving your intelligence to making you more empathetic. Whether you plan on learning new skills, or you want to improve your personality, books can help you in millions of ways. And in case you don’t find a lot of time to sit down, relax and turn a page or two, audiobooks are the perfect companion for you.
In today’s article, we’re going to look at some of the best personal development audiobooks that can, indeed, change your life, and make you a better person.
1. Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell takes you to the world of outliers in this piece: the world of the best, the brightest, the most successful, the outliers of society. And by doing so, he asks the question: what makes them different? What makes them successful? And he investigates, factor after factor after factor.
He also gives the very popular 10,000-hour rule: by continuing to practice a skill for 10,000 hours (not continuously, of course), one can be a master of any skill or art form. He emphasizes it through the examples of The Beatles and Bill Gates, both getting ample time for practice and for improving the skills that made them wildly popular.
He’s thorough and very analytical, and looks deep inside the most minute of factors, to see how different factors and circumstances come together to create a successful person. Unlike several self-help books that try to provide a simple formula without many nuances, Gladwell acknowledges the value of context outside the common factors between different successful people.
By providing this layered, detailed perspective, Gladwell pens a complex, wise, and motivational book that inspires and teaches several things. Narrated by the author himself, the audiobook is a treat to listen to, and is sure to be a riveting listen for anyone who decides to give it a listen.
2. Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear
Often instructional books remain just books in their deliverance: there’s the theory, you read it, and that’s that. No implementation, no transformation of ideas into something real. And if there’s one book that can never fit into this category, it’s this. One of those books that must be included in every “life-changing books list” ever, Atomic Habits can turn your life around. Just one habit at a time.
In this piece, Clear teaches you different ways through which you can change your behavior to obtain extraordinary results. He blames the system that individuals follow, for their bad habits, and not the individuals themselves. By changing the system effectively, one can reach new heights. Heights that were previously impossible to climb.
As the title of the book suggests, James doesn’t believe in grand efforts, but in little, atomic habits. Habits accumulate into something huge and life-changing. He sums up his entire framework into four laws, effectively: make it obvious, attractive, easy, and satisfying.
Beneath these laws lie minute concepts and elaborate psychological explanations along with numerous examples, that serve to clarify and emphasize. He doesn’t promise any quick fixes but rather shows how to change yourself over some time, slowly and steadily. Narrated by Clear himself, the audiobook is very engaging and presents his message even more effectively.
3. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
A book that emphasizes more on constant application and awareness over magical results, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People tells you steps that you can take to make your life better, more productive, and more successful. Covey focuses more on creating a sustainable lifestyle that is feasible and effective over a long period of time, rather than fizzling out in just a few days.
Covey believes in perceptions and how we perceive things can affect how we see the world and ourselves, which eventually affect our lifestyles. And so he tells us how to change ourselves, we must change how we see things first. So, changing external attitudes and behaviors aren’t as important as undergoing paradigm shifts.
In the initial chapters, he focuses on gaining mastery over one’s self and moving towards independence from dependence. In the middle sections, he writes about various social skills from collaborations to communications, and how to move towards interdependence from a state of independence.
Further, he looks into how you can keep growing yourself and gain habits that are sustainable and effective. Narrated by Stephen himself, the audiobook adaptation is as casual as it is educational, and it further improves its effectiveness.
4. Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen
The beauty of this book, and why it has been a classic since its release, lies in its simplicity and lack of any sort of pretentiousness. It promises you productivity, and it delivers you just that. Are you someone who gets stuck in the middle of too many things? Does your workload keep piling up till it’s too much for you to control? If yes, this might just be the book for you.
A book that seeks to change your approach towards work and new assignments, it introduces the GTD process that helps you maintain a smooth and easier workflow. In this five-step process of capturing, clarifying, organizing, reflecting, and engaging with a new item, you categorize new items and maintain a decluttered work life throughout.
One of the reasons why this book is a classic is because of how effective it is, for individuals across professions and lifestyles. From a student to a worker to a stay-at-home parent to a boss, it works for every individual. Rather than focusing on some tricks, the book teaches you a workflow that can be applied to situations of all kinds.
A book that revolutionized the productivity landscape, giving birth to several websites, tools, seminars, and more, you can listen to its audiobook version that is narrated by the author himself and is updated for modern times, which makes the work even more relevant and useful.
5. Who Moved My Cheese?: An A-Mazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life by Spencer Johnson, M.D.
In characteristic Spencer Johnson fashion, the book teaches a vital lesson through storytelling. Through this fable of four mice: Scurry, Sniff, Hem, and Hall, the reader understands the value of changing with change. All four mice love cheese, but when one day, cheese disappears, they have different reactions.
While Scurry and Sniff go on an expedition to find new cheese, Hem and Hall feel shocked and resentful, choosing to spend their time complaining. Soon enough, Hall understands that staying there won’t help, and so he sets out on finding new cheese, eventually finding a place, and discovering that Scurry and Sniff are already there.
Cheese represents anything you want to obtain in your life, be it money or fame, or health. The book tells you why and how you should shift with the changing tides, rather than cursing the movement itself. The more easily you adapt, the better you’ll find it to get your cheese.
It would be all too easy if things remained the same, or happened in a way that suited us. But they don’t, and so adapt we must, and the book helps in driving home that lesson. Tony Roberts and Karen Ziemba bring the story to life with drama and flair, making it furthermore engaging and entertaining.
6. You Are a Badass®: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life by Jen Sincero
Uncertainty, anxiety, doubt: these are some things that trouble most of us, in different intensities. This book is here to change that to a large extent, and help you live life in its full glory. It helps you understand your place in this vast cosmos, and how you fit under all this.
It also focuses on identifying thought processes and beliefs that might be holding you down and preventing you from reaching your true potential. It also emphasizes creating an atmosphere of gratitude and positivity to bring firm changes to your life. With twenty-seven small chapters, all of them are hilarious and filled with examples and anecdotes, Sincero helps you create a life that you love.
The book emphasizes living in the present moment fully, for only that allows you to completely enjoy what you have. It’s easy to say all this, without once being practical. But Jon provides numerous strategies and tips so that you can implement these concepts in your life too, easily.
Jon shows how to understand yourself fully, how to love yourself, and change those parts and attitudes that you don’t love and that can be changed. He doesn’t sugarcoat or overcomplicate things, which makes the book even more interesting and engaging. The audiobook has been read by the author himself, and also includes an exclusive interview with him.
7. The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
One rainy day in a city bus, Gretchen Rubin had a moment of realization: she’s not spending enough time on things she loves, towards things that matter. And that led to a year of her spending time on her happiness project. For the next twelve months, she would spend time trying out and reading the wisdom imparted throughout the ages, on how to be successful.
Instead of seeking happiness through traveling around the world (read: Eat, Pray, Love by Gilbert), she chooses to find happiness in the moment, right where she is. Not focusing on grand gestures of any kind to find happiness, Gretchen emphasizes finding happiness in the smallest of things.
Every month, she decides to try out something new. She also dives into principles by some of the greatest thinkers of humankind and tries to see if they work for her or not. Through such a vast array of exercises, she also leaves the reader with a lot of things to try out for themselves.
Very entertaining and addictive, The Happiness Project inspires you to start your own personal happiness project. Narrated by the author herself, the audiobook rendition delights and thrills, and keeps you hooked till the very end.