5 books to help you make and break habits

Habits hold immense power over the human mind, hence the proverb – man is a servant of his habits. A habit that is common to the greatest minds of the world, is the habit of reading books. Books spread knowledge and equip people to overcome all odds. And when you read with a purpose, it has the potential to change your life.

Warren Buffet’s right hand and a self-made billionaire, Charlie Munger, said he never knew any wise people who were not avid readers and they always read with a purpose. Making new good habits and getting rid of bad habits is equally difficult, but with a little guidance from the right book, you can definitely do it. Here are a few excellent books that can help you with that, shortlisted from an expansive list by Theceolibrary.

Tools of Titans, by Tim Ferriss

A favorite among successful entrepreneurs, Tools of Titans is a thoroughly researched book that chronicles the best habits of the world’s most accomplished people. The author, Tim Ferris interviewed acclaimed people for years and then put it all together in the book under three broad categories – health, wealth, and wisdom. Recommending the book, best selling American author and life and business strategist, Tony Robbins said:

“What I loved about Tools of Titans is that it distills key tactics, routines and habits of the ultra-successful in actionable ways that anyone can take advantage of.”

High Performance Habits, by Brendon Burchard

Being one of the world’s highest performance coach for over a decade, Burchard draws lessons from his experience and deep research and puts forth six habits in this book that can make high performers flourish over the longer term. Bogdan Lucaciu, CTO, Adore Me, recommends this book because:

“This book does a good job at setting a vision for long-term, consistent high performance in all areas of life.”

Atomic Habits, by James Clear

If you believe in the philosophy – build the castle brick by brick, then this is the perfect book for you. Clear presents an excellent manual about developing tiny habits that will in due course have a mammoth impact on your life. Clear’s simple writing and easy to apply habits make this book an absolute delight. Recommending this book, author Ryan Holiday opined:

“A special book that will change how you approach your day and live your life.”

The Power of Habit, by Charles Duhigg

This book adopts a technical approach and a path of psychological exploration to describe how human brains are wired. It reveals how certain processes can be automated, fascinating cues about habit activation and showcases examples of many life-changing habits that did the trick for many renowned people and successful companies. Sergey Sapelnyk, Co-Founder, Society Books recommends the book saying:

“This book kick-started a different thinking process for me, centered around optimization of the time I have in a day.”

Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products, by Nir Eyal

If you want to learn about building addictive products, then reading this book is your priority. Showcasing case studies that demonstrate how companies like Facebook, Uber and YouTube turn technologies into compulsive habits, this book is a lesson on driving customer engagement. Erik Cheong, Co-Founder of Park n Parcel, a Singapore based start-up opines:

“It [this book] provided me the step by step [guide] on how I can position my product into a “painkiller” that solves real problems, instead of a “vitamin” that appeals to users’ emotional rather than functional needs.”