5 Nonfiction Books That’ll Change Your Life

In almost every single aimlief’s post, you’ll see a book recommendation.

And that comes as no surprise!

Last year, when I hit rock bottom and felt like sh*t, I decided to start reading non-fiction books thanks to this Ted Talk.

I wrote a list of non-fiction and self-help books I wanted to read, plus all the good recommendations I could find, and started reading around 20 pages a day.

Needless to say, that habit changed my life.

Reading about other people’s lives and lessons others have learned gave me powerful insights, inspiration, and motivation to start working towards something different and exciting.

Today, I want to dedicate a blog post to those first 5 books that helped me rethink everything I was doing.

The books on this list helped me get inspired, change my mindset, know myself better, see how much is possible.

5 Books That Changed My Life (And Why You Should Read Them Too)

These are books I read in 2019 when I was feeling the most lost and hopeless I’ve ever felt in my entire life.

I’ve listed them in the order I read them.

Each one of them had a huge impact on me, in different ways.

I’m forever grateful for these books, these authors and the perfect timing in which they came to me ❤

1. The Power Of Now, by Eckhart Tolle

In this wonderful book, which should be considered a must-read for people all over the world, Eckhart Tolle explains to us how he came to the realization that living in the past and in the future was basically the root of all his suffering before.

Tolle has an amazing way to teach through his writing.

He’s capable of making you understand the different “layers” of voices inside your head and that you are not really your thoughts.

You’re way more than that.

Thanks to the Power Of Now I was able to realize that I was spending most of my time inside my head thinking about:

• things that already happened,
• things I wish had happened,
• things I wish I’d said,
• things that haven’t happened yet,
• things that haven’t happened yet and probably will never happen,
• and a long list of people and events outside the present moment.

All these thoughts create unnecessary anxiety and prevent you from enjoying everything you do have and everything you are, right here, right now.

It’s important to note that I started reading this book like 2 or 3 times before I actually got to finish the whole thing.

This is probably because the other times I wanted to read it I wasn’t fully ready for it.

However, when I finally read it from start to finish, I realized why I was ready this time: I felt lost and anxious and needed spiritual guidance.

The Power Of Now saved me from anxiety and made me start enjoying my life more.

It also helped me know myself better and start an amazing self-discovery journey.

If you want to read the most important lessons I learned from this book, check out this post:

8 Lessons I Learned From The Power of Now, by Eckhart Tolle

2. The Compound Effect, by Darren Hardy

The concept Darren Hardy explains in this book is pretty simple, yet life-changing: for better or worst, you are the results of all the small things you do constantly over a long period of time.

Eating a burger won’t hurt you. But eating a burger every day for a year? That will.

Reading ten pages of a book probably won’t do much for you if you read those ten pages alone.

However, reading 10 pages of a book a day for a year will undoubtedly change you as a person. Forever.

The Compound Effect helped me realize that in order to change my life, I didn’t have to have an epiphany in a dream and then wake up as a whole new person.

I just needed to keep working and making small progress day after day, and sooner than later I’ll be able to look back and see how far I’ve come.

You have no idea how much hope that idea gave me.

Ever since I read The Compound Effect, I’ve applied these principles to almost everything I do that requires sustained effort and the results are unbelievable!

I highly recommend The Compound Effect to people who feel like they’re not good or fast enough to do what they want to do in life.

3. Can’t Hurt Me, by David Goggins

Where do I begin with this one?

Let me start off by saying that this book is totally worth the hype.

It’s worth every single minute of your time.

Can’t Hurt Me has been on Amazon’s Most Read Nonfiction Chart for more than a year, at the time of writing this post.

That comes as no surprise: David Goggins’ story from abused child to record-breaking athlete is absolutely inspiring, to say the least.

The story is beautifully told from a storytelling point of view and the lessons he teaches through the book are absolutely life-changing.

I personally loved how his voice is captured in writing. You can really feel you’re inside his head or talking to him directly.

I’ll never forget how Can’t Hurt Me made me feel from start to finish and all the lessons I learned from it.

4. The $100 Startup, by Chris Guillebeau

In The $100 Startup, Chris interviews people who, just like him, are geniuses when it comes to turning ideas into income, with a $100 investment.

And not only that. He also turns these interviews into easy-to-digest business lessons for the entrepreneurs at heart who want freedom but don’t know where to start.

Before I read this book I honestly thought that to make a lot of money (the kind of money I wanted) you had to either:

• be ridiculously famous, like… Kim-Kardashian famous,
• be a greedy old man willing to do anything for money,
• start a groundbreaking company at a young age and with huge capital,
• or become a high-level drug dealer.

However, thanks to Chris Guillebeau and this wonderful book I found out that there are thousands, if not millions, of people out there making money with small online businesses they enjoy and care about.

I had read Side Hustle, by the same author, a couple of months ago and loved it, but it was The $100 Startup that made me understand the concept of making more than enough money with a small business.

Turning your ideas into a business is easier than you think and there’s no better guide for absolute beginners than this book right here.

5. Shoe Dog, by Phil Knight

Last but not least, because it’s one of my favorite books ever.

Phil Knight is the founder of Nike, one of the most successful brands and companies.

In Shoe Dog, Phil tells the story of Nike from the moment he had the idea of selling shoes.

I started reading this book because my brother told me it was amazing, but I wasn’t that interested in Nike’s story. At all.

However, once I started reading it, I just couldn’t put it down.

Phil Knight combines a remarkable, one-of-a-kind story with exquisite storytelling.

This book is so good, so addicting, so extraordinary I finished the whole thing in less than a week.

Reading Shoe Dog made me laugh, cry, get excited, get anxious, feel relieved.

This one will teach you valuable and life-changing lessons (and not only about business):

• Being successful takes a lot of courage
• It’s possible to start a company from scratch and live to see it surpass your biggest competitor, but only if you give it all you got
• There’s only so much you can do by yourself; if you want to succeed, you need a team.

And so much more, but I hate spoilers!

So, go read Shoe Dog now. I promise you won’t ever regret it.

After reading these, and many other books I love, my life improved a lot.