Today I am sharing seven books that were game changers for me, in hopes that it will illuminate the journey for you. I believe in being a lifelong learner, and reading these books helped me along my CEO journey. This list will help you think about the books that you’ve read and how they’ve inspired you, as well. Who knows, maybe you’ll dive in and have a whole new reading list!

When you’re finished listening, head on over to Instagram and DM me a book that has changed YOUR life! 

Show Links:

• 113 Productivity Hacks for Unstoppable Entrepreneurs
• You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero*
• Crazy Is a Compliment by Linda Rottenberg*
• High-Performance Habits by Brendon Burchard*
• Drop The Ball by Tiffany Dufu*
• Girl, Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis*
• The 5AM Club by Robin Sharma*
• Rich as F*ck by Amanda Frances*
• Think Like A Monk by Jay Shetty*
• Goddess Revolution by Mel Wells*
• Atomic Habits by James Clear*
• Off the Clock by Laura Vanderkam*
• Becoming by Michelle Obama*
• Get Rich, Lucky Bitch by Denise Duffield-Thomas*
• Unfinished by Priyanka Chopra Jonas*
• DM me on Instagram

*As an Amazon Affiliate, I earn commissions on qualifying purchases.

Show Takeaways: 

• Listen in to hear the 7+ books that have changed my life as a CEO

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Rather read than listen? ⬇️

Usually, in these episodes I share a very tactical strategy or action step that will allow you to up-level and reach your goals faster and easier. And while this episode is a little bit different in how I present the info, it is still part of that same promise. 

One of my biggest values in life and my business is to always be a life-long learner. I think we are in one of the coolest times when it comes to access to information. The world is changing at an incredibly fast-rate and part of that is in response to the connectedness that we have. Being able to find answers to your questions quickly is no longer an issue. You have access to an entire internet of information as well as different media to consume to educate yourself and get the answers you need. As a successful CEO, you have lots of options at your fingertips to continue to grow and up-level and reach for new information. 

So, as a way to constantly be learning, I listen to an incredible amount of podcasts, read magazines, watch videos and trainings, join programs and work with different people to level up over and over. But one of my favorite ways to learn something new or to challenge my current beliefs is to read good old fashioned books. You can learn from someone in a very distinct way, letting them mentor you, for a relatively low price point. 

Since I was little, reading was something that I found great accomplishment in. Our elementary and middle school had a program called Accelerated Reader or AR. Basically the concept was that you could read different books, take a comprehension test on it, and earn points for each book that you read and comprehended enough to pass the test. At the end of the year, you received certain rewards for certain amounts of points, 25 points for an ice-cream party invite, 50 points for a pizza party invite, 100+ points for a laser-tag field trip. We’d also have an auction of super cool (at the time) items that you could use your points to bid on. Movie tickets, skates, bikes, cd players (this was the late 90s and early 2000’s mind you). And there was always a competition for who had the most points. So not only did I love reading, I loved the competition of it all too. Which only fed my introversion and willingness to curl up in the corner with a book at all times. My favorites were the Little House on the Prairie books, where I could follow Laura and her sisters through a different, simpler world, and the best part was that I could read them in order and in rapid succession. My initial introduction to binging stories that has developed only further with the Harry Potter series and the invention of Netflix. 

Now that I am a bit older and have responsibilities that require me to do something other than spend all day with my nose in a book, I’ve had to get a bit creative about how I consume all this content. I certainly stopped reading as many books when I got a full-time job, a social life, a husband, and certainly when I had my daughter. But slowly, my interest in reading resurged and last year I read 33 books. The year before I read 27 books. And this year my goal is 52 books. I do this primarily by listening to audio books on my commute to and from the office and taking Nora to school and being intention about reading analog books as part of my regular routines. 

If you feel like you never have enough time to read or enough time to do basically anything, I do have something that I put together just for you, and yes, it is free. I created a list of 113 Productivity Hacks for Unstoppable CEOs that you can download right now. If you are constantly on the lookout with how to leverage you time well and get more needle-moving tasks accomplished so you can scheme your goals faster and easier, head on over to workwithprocess.co/113hacks to download.

And the types of books I read now has changed a bit. A large part of the books I read now are business-related or personal development, though I have read a few memoirs that I loved and ever a fiction book or two thrown in for good measure. 

And while I feel that I have gained something from every single book I’ve read, there are a select few that I would say are total game-changers for me. And I want to share 7 of those books with you right now and how and why they were so impactful. 

Ready?

1. You Are a Badass – Jen Sincero* – Feb 2017 – This is a fun one to start with because it aligns quite well with when things started to shift for me in a big way. When I was younger, I was told that I could do and be anything with enough hard work. So I always strived for excellence, being the best, and standing out. But where I flourished as a big fish in a small pond, I quickly learned that there were lots of talented, smart kids who new how to get good grades and that wasn’t enough anymore. Not in high school or college. And I wasn’t anything special in the job pool either, working food service jobs to support myself from the time I was 15 until I was 27. To put it bluntly, I felt like a total failure and that previous accomplishments meant nothing. Just buying You Are A Badass gave me something- borrowed confidence that I was still meant for more. That I wasn’t done growing and changing and becoming who I was becoming. That I could choose to change my life at any time. That spark was all I needed.
   
2. Crazy Is a Compliment – Linda Rottenberg* – Summer 2017 – Okay, I found this author because my previous employer interviewed her for a podcast episode, something that I was tasked with setting up and ensuring all went smoothly. In doing that research and logistical gymnastics, I found this book which spoke to me. As a woman in my 20s, I had been called lots of names, “crazy” certainly being one of them, and probably one of the nicer ones, TBH. But as a woman, the term crazy had always been used as an insult. So for someone to take that term and reclaim it, redefine it, and spit it out as something that was actually good thing, well, let’s just say it perked my ears right up. It gave me a new perspective that different, passionate, obsessive about things that others don’t really get isn’t a bad thing and that others don’t necessarily know best. In fact, this idea combined with my intense love of Hanson and the Jonas Brothers actually inspired me to sit down and write my very first book that will be coming out later this fall. If you want to be up-to-date and one of the first to get access, head on over to workwithprocess.co/waitlist to sign up.
   
3. High-Performance Habits – Brendon Burchard* – Winter 2018 – I thought I was busy in fall 2017 and winter 2018. I had a small child, a full-time job, a husband, 3 pets, a mortgage payment, friends to keep up with— and yet there was this piece of me that felt like something was missing. I often felt like this, the need for more than mediocrity in my accomplishments, around December and January when the collective conversation shifts to becoming your best self and creating New Year’s Resolutions. But this one hit differently. I thought it was just a need for a more perfect workout routine and nutrition plan. And maybe some meditation or something. So when I read High-Performance Habits, I thought that was my answer. Yes, I was to perform at a high-level. That is where happiness and fulfillment is. It wasn’t BTW, at least not directly. But what High-Performance Habits was was the catalyst for me to start an intentional relationship with building better habits through testing stuff out. And if you’ve been paying attention, you know that a big part of my philosophy is that everything is an experiment and you get to create routines and habits in a way that works for you. 
   
4. Drop The Ball – Tiffany Dufu* – April 2018 – This book came at a time where I was really struggling with doing all the things and trying to be all things to all people. It was certainly more about my needing validation from others when I spent 10 hours cleaning and prepping for a family visit only to have them NOT notice, or to spend $1000 and 2 weeks of staying up til 11pm custom-creating a Groot costume for a 1-year-old to wear to daycare for 5 hours. I was under the impression that all things required the same amount of time and energy, perfection was a good thing, and that being a superhuman was something to strive for. To be a good mom, wife, hostess, employee, anything, I had to be freaking amazing at each of those roles ALL THE TIME. And while that may sound like a nice sentiment, I was miserable. I wasn’t making major strides towards anything that truly mattered and I was doing lots of busy work. Reading Drop the Ball gave me the perspective and permission to stop focusing on all the things and instead focus on the things that truly mattered in any given season.
   
5. Girl, Wash Your Face – Rachel Hollis* – April 2018 – I know Rachel Hollis has become quite a big and controversial name in the online personal growth space. While I may not agree with everything she does or says, I will say that this book changed the game for me. I read it around the same time I read Tiffany Dufu’s book, and it did wonders as a confidence booster and a trigger for me to start examining the lies I had been told or the ones I was telling myself. Despite my long list of empowered women creating content to create other empowered women, I felt like Rachel was someone that truly got what it was like to be me and in my position. Seeing her change her direction and intentionally choose her path throughout the 20 lies she calls out in this book gave me the template and confidence to begin to do the same. This book gave me the final push I needed to begin creating my own business in a super smart way. (Did you know I started by trying my hand at life coaching?)
   
6. The 5AM Club – Robin Sharma* – Winter 2020 – If you have purchased World-Class Wake Up, my guide to creating a morning routine that truly works for you, you can thank Robin Sharma and his book The 5AM Club. I read this book in January 2020. I learned Sharma’s secret to get up at 5am everyday, workout first thing, and start the day with intention and purpose. That sounded great to me so I became the early bird and got 2 intentional & productive hours of my day done before the rest of the house woke up. What sparked my cultivating this habit was my struggle with trying to get it all in – work, dedicated Mommy & me time with my daughter, eating healthy, alone time just for me, adult time with my hubby, moving my body EVERY DAY. I’d work on everyone else’s priorities and then stay up later trying to fit mine in. I’d read over and over that being an early riser would give me the edge I needed as a busy mom & entrepreneur. But getting up at 5am when I went to bed at 1am was pretty much impossible. I would work late, scroll Pinterest and Instagram until the wee hours, or binge Grace & Frankie cause who doesn’t love Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda. With Sharma’s guidance, I had made a few small changes to my day and how I approached making changes to my routine and boom, I naturally woke up at 5am every day – yes, even weekends – and started each day with a 30-minute workout, journaling, and some kickass creative time. And while I am not still using Sharma’s routine, it gave me the spring board I needed to create a morning routine that helps me feel the way I wanna feel each and every day.
   
7. Rich as F*ck – Amanda Frances* – Spring 2021 – Amanda Frances is someone who I’d known about for a little over a year before I really dove into her stuff. Two coaches were major fan girls so I learned about her kind of second hand. But when the student is ready, the teacher appears, right? I started actually following her on social channels and checking out her courses and offerings and such right around the time this book was released. I liked the ideas that she was talking about (mainly money mindset) and I thought that the book was an opportunity to get to know her on a real, valuable level without investing in a full-on course. So I bought the book on Amazon and as soon as it arrived, I began reading it. I got to page 3 before this book changed my life. At the bottom of that page, it says, “I am going to take you back to Sand Springs, Oklahoma…” and when I read that I damn near screamed. I immediately began “researching” aka googling everything I could find out about Amanda Frances and it turns out, I went to high school with her. Someone from my teensy little bitty suburb of Tulsa, OK town had gone on to build a freaking empire and a bank account to match. Rather than being intimidated or annoyed that she was my town’s biggest accomplishment, I took great pride and comfort and inspiration in knowing that someone just like me, from the same educational background, could go on to really make a big impact and live the dream life. And it was really what I needed. In fact, as I record this, I am rereading the book to go through and do each and every exercise she outlines. Girl knows what she’s doing.

That is just 7 of the books that have definitely positively impacted me If you want a few more or maybe you’ve already read all of those, here are a few more recommendations: 

1. Think Like A Monk by Jay Shetty*
2. Goddess Revolution by Mel Wells*
3. Atomic Habits by James Clear*
4. Off the Clock by Laura Vanderkam*
5. Becoming by Michelle Obama*
6. Get Rich, Lucky Bitch by Denise Duffield-Thomas*
7. Unfinished by Priyanka Chopra Jonas*

Action Step:

I always like to end each episode with an action step that you can take right now to help you move forward and begin to implement immediately. Here is your action step for this episode: Head on over to Instagram and DM me @ms.erin.haworth with a book that’s changed your life. 

*As an Amazon Affiliate, I earn commissions on qualifying purchases.