Podcasts, like audiobooks, stimulate mental imagery and help strengthen your imagination. Tuning in to any podcast is a brain boost. But why not turn up your personal development a notch by tapping into the ideas, knowledge and stories that can improve your quality of life? A good podcast can be your ticket to advancing your skill set and growth mindset. Here are five to get you started.

For Creativity 

A Beautiful Anarchy

Hosted by David duChemin

Average length: 15-30 minutes

The creative journey is fraught with obstacles—self-doubt, motivation, mental blocks, dry spells, perfectionism, burnout, boredom and so much more. Simultaneously, creativity is part of the human experience. Problem-solving, personal expression and self-discovery work together, fueling culture and our relationships with the world. Author and photographer David duChemin knows a thing or two about the creative process. A Beautiful Anarchy is a collection of 80 bite-sized soliloquies bringing compassion and honesty to the joys and struggles of the creative life. DuChemin is the main character, and each of his episodes fuels inspiration, resolve and even self-forgiveness in the many dimensions of creativity.

For Financial Freedom

Journey to Launch

Hosted by Jamila Souffrant

Average length: 30-45 minutes

In the podcast universe, finance is a juggernaut topic. Given that money is society’s lubricant for making things happen, financial literacy is a must-have, and a plethora of individuals are eager to prophesize their version of how to achieve it. But, be aware: Sharpening your relationship with money should feel empowering and freeing, regardless of your circumstances.

Enter Journey to Launch. Personal finance coach and author Jamila Souffrant combines cheerleading and personal experience with expert guests whose strategies and specializations cover the entire financial gamut—increasing income, paying off debt, optimizing taxes, savings strategies, student loans and more. Sprinkled among the experts are regular people with stories of how they overcame significant financial challenges. At a time when most Americans are struggling with debt and savings, Souffrant’s approach is equal parts helpful and inspiring. Join Souffrant’s “Journeyers” and progress down the path to your version of financial freedom.

For Reclaiming a Connection to Nature

Nature Revisited

Hosted by Stefan Van Norden

Average length: 25-40 minutes

Through Nature Revisited, filmmaker Stefan Van Norden demonstrates that nature is not a place one visits but rather a place that is inherently part of one’s existence. His guests will change the way you see the world, from the roads we drive to the plants in our yard to the trees along an urban sidewalk. This natural take on our modern lifestyle is of utmost importance as countless studies spanning years of research link human health to interaction with nature. Blood pressure, stress and anxiety, circadian rhythms, happiness and even pain management can be dramatically improved with simple connections to the natural environment. Growing your knowledge and awareness is how you can achieve it.

For Scientific Knowledge

Ologies

Hosted by Alie Ward

Average length: 1-2 hours

Success often requires landing in the right field of study, and Ologies excels at letting you know what’s out there. It is, quite frankly, mind-boggling. Daytime Emmy Award-winning science correspondent and Ologies host Alie Ward embodies the quest for the curious. In addition to appearances on multiple science shows, Ward is a culinary host who also volunteers at a natural history museum. Her expertise is a window into the diversity of scientific knowledge and a sampler plate of the bizarre, intriguing and important. Listening to Ologies will kick-start your sense of wonder about the world, and with it, curiosity, exploration and problem-solving. It’s your ultimate source for interdisciplinary cross-pollination. Fascination is guaranteed.

For Health and Wellness

10% Happier with Dan Harris

Hosted by Dan Harris

Average length: 5 minutes-1.5 hours

Looking to return a little spring to your step? American journalist Dan Harris has overcome his personal demons to achieve a more productive and fulfilling life, and he’s channeled his experiences into a bestselling book and celebrated podcast. What sets 10% Happier apart is its dizzying array of topics that break any formulaic approach to achieving the elusive happiness goal. Harris effectively and respectfully shares the channels that can lead to happiness and, equally important, those that don’t. The 10% Happier podcast is your auditory guide to feeling better in just about every aspect of your life. 

This article originally appeared in the March/April 2025 issue of SUCCESS© magazine. Photo courtesy of DukiPh/Shutterstock

The post Growth on the Go: 5 Engaging Podcasts That Inspire Evolution and Personal Development appeared first on SUCCESS.

The role turned Longoria—who, up until then, had mostly been known for the daytime soap opera The Young and the Restless—into an instant A-list star, posing for the covers of prestigious magazines (including Vanity Fair), hosting Saturday Night Live and earning her a Golden Globe nomination. Longoria portrayed the now iconic “Gaby” for eight seasons and a whopping 180 episodes from 2004-2012. While she was becoming a household name to the show’s millions of fans around the world, Longoria was spending her time on Wisteria Lane doing what she does best: multitasking.

Longoria says she’s always been a director who “fell into acting.” She spent nearly 10 years on the Los Angeles set of Desperate Housewives—which premiered to an audience of over 21 million. Longoria wisely used that time to learn everything she could about directing, producing and working behind the camera. When the show came to an end in 2012, Longoria says, “That’s really when I started to get more and more behind the camera.”

Produce with a purpose

Longoria, a L’Oréal Paris ambassador who’s been named to PEOPLE magazine’s “50 Most Beautiful” list multiple times, traded in endless blowouts and “tiring” hours sitting in a makeup chair for a life that allowed her to roll out of bed and go to work in sweatpants behind the scenes. In 2013, less than a year after the show wrapped, Longoria reteamed with her Desperate Housewives boss, creator Marc Cherry, on the dramatic comedy Devious Maids. The prime-time TV show, which ran on Lifetime for four seasons, was the first to have an all-Latina lead cast. Although Longoria could’ve easily played any of the roles on the show, she opted instead to work behind the scenes as an executive producer on the series. By 2015, she was executive producing and starring in another comedy, Telenovela (NBC), a show she created that also featured a mostly Latino cast.

“When I created Telenovela, I was walking on the set with my friend Shaun Cassidy, who’s a big showrunner, and I was looking at all the people building the sets and Shaun goes, ‘Isn’t it crazy that you had an idea and now 300 people have a job?’ That’s the best part of [producing]. Filmmaking is such a collaborative process. You have to work with so many people, and I love it,” Longoria says.

The role of producer—someone who could develop projects and give opportunities to talented individuals, especially in her own community—fits the type A Longoria like a glove. “I produce with purpose,” explains Longoria, who’s worked with the American Latino Media Arts Awards (ALMA) for several years.

“With the ALMA Awards, I knew I could amplify all the talent we had in our community and celebrate it and applaud it but also [say], ‘Look, there’s not one well you have to tap into—we have all of this talent,’” she says. “I’ve always been a multiplier. I know there’s only one of me—I want more of those multihyphenates.”

Although Longoria was still acting after Desperate Housewives (including recurring roles on hit FOX shows like Empire and Brooklyn Nine-Nine and a starring role opposite Eugenio Derbez and Anna Faris in the big screen comedy Overboard), she seemed to be more focused on laying the foundation for a new career behind the camera. She would spend the rest of the decade building her resume as a director on hit TV shows: Devious Maids (2014); Jane the Virgin (2016); black-ish (2017-2019) and The Expanding Universe of Ashley Garcia (2020), followed by Gordita Chronicles (2022), which she also executive produced.

“I touched every rung of the ladder: short films, documentaries, TV episodics, half-hour, one-hour, multicam, single-cam, little pilots, big pilots,” Longoria says.

‘Flamin’ Hot’ directorial debut

Then, in 2023, Longoria finally made her feature directorial debut with Flamin’ Hot, a biopic based on the true story of Mexican-American Richard Montañez, a Frito-Lay janitor who helped disrupt the food industry by channeling his Mexican heritage to turn Frito-Lay snacks into an iconic global pop culture phenomenon. The film premiered at SXSW in March 2023, where it won the Audience Award, and shortly after, it became Searchlight Pictures’ most-watched streaming motion picture of all time when it premiered simultaneously on Disney+ and Hulu. 

Longoria won several Best Director awards for the film and Flamin’ Hot received an Oscar nomination for Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (for the original song “The Fire Inside” written by Diane Warren and performed by Becky G). But for Longoria, what really mattered was the Latino community’s response to the film.

“The love we received from our community…, that, to me, is who really mattered because I made it for them,” Longoria says. “The fact that it was a commercial success was the icing on top, but I really wanted to show my community a hero who looked like them. And somebody they could say, ‘Wow, if that guy did that, imagine what I can do?’”

Longoria made sure to stay true to her mission of “producing with purpose” while making Flamin’ Hot. In fact, she didn’t just make a unique movie for her community, but she also made the movie with her community. The self-described “multiplier” made sure to put the talented Latinos she knew to work. “I was obsessed with Richard’s story and so obsessed with packing this movie with [Latino] talent not only in front of the camera but [also] behind the camera,” Longoria says. “Every department head was Latino.”

Given how rarely Latinas get to direct studio films—and how rare it is for a story like Flamin’ Hot to get told in Hollywood—Longoria says her cast and crew knew they had something to prove. “Everybody knew how important it was for us to get it right,” she says.

For the lead role of Montañez, Longoria championed Mexican-American character actor Jesse Garcia. “We don’t get roles like this,” she says. “We don’t get a lot of bites at the apple—playing three different decades [where] you have to be funny; you have to be charming; you have to be scary, dangerous, tough, witty. There’s so many gears he had to have to play this character, and he knocked it out of the park!” Longoria says. “People were surprised [about] that. I was never surprised that he could do it. Never.”

You better figure that out

Longoria’s resourcefulness, efficiency and tremendous success as a Hollywood multihyphenate isn’t surprising considering how she was raised. Growing up in Corpus Christi, Texas, Longoria’s mother, Ella Eva Mireles, a special education teacher, had a response at the ready whenever the young Longoria wanted something as a child. “Anytime I came to my mom with a problem, she’s like, ‘You better figure that out,’” Longoria says. “And we had to. It was like, ‘Mom, I want to be a cheerleader.’ She’s like, ‘That’s expensive; you better figure that out…. That’s not my problem; that’s a you problem.’ ‘I’m hungry.’ ‘You better figure it out.’”

Longoria grew up “middle to lower class” in a well-educated family that had high standards and stressed the importance of getting a good education.

“They expected me to be successful,” Longoria says. “Whether I was a dentist or a lawyer, they were like, ‘You’re going to do well in whatever you choose to do.’ … They raised me to know that I would be a successful, independent, intelligent adult, and that was a gift because everybody in my family was that. They all went to college. They all were educated. They were all independent—especially the women.”

But Longoria—who holds a master’s in Chicano studies and political science—has long been aware that not everyone has the same access to educational opportunities.

In 2012, she started the Eva Longoria Foundation to help Latinas build better futures for themselves and their families through education and entrepreneurship.

“I want every Latina to reach [her] full potential,” explains Longoria, whose foundation has helped more than 10,000 Latinas combined between all of its programs.

“We are the fastest-growing demographic in the United States, so in turn, that makes us the future workforce,” Longoria says. “I want to make sure that our community is ready for those jobs and ready for that opportunity.”

One of the areas the foundation has focused on is Latinas in STEM. Despite Hispanics making up 17% of the total workforce, only about 3% of Latinas work in STEM—the reason for which Longoria says is complicated.

“There are so many reasons, from socioeconomic status to their ZIP code to food insecurity, but I didn’t focus on the barriers because we already know the barriers,” Longoria says. “I focused on, ‘What do successful Latinas have in common?’ [We] found a lot of them have an engaged parent in their schooling. They had after-school programs; they took a robotics class in the second grade. We really modeled all of our programs on things that we know work.”

Establishing ‘Eva’s Heroes’

Longoria comes from a family of women, including three sisters and nine aunts. When she realized that one of her sisters, who has special needs, needed help, she started Eva’s Heroes. The San Antonio nonprofit, established in 2006, “is dedicated to enriching the lives of individuals with intellectual special needs ages 14 and older,” according to the organization’s mission. They achieve this by integrating participants into their communities through activities, dances, field trips, classes and a summer enrichment program.

“My sister turned a certain age as an adult with special needs, and there was nothing for her once you get out of a school system,” Longoria says. “There was a huge white space for the adult community with special needs, and I just go, ‘Well, if my sister needs this, many others must need it.’ So many families now depend on it. It’s one of the things I’m probably most proud of.”

As a result of Longoria’s philanthropy and her longtime advocacy for the advancement of the Latino community, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his fiancée, Lauren Sánchez, announced in March that they would be honoring Longoria with the Courage and Civility Award—the billionaire’s annual prize to individuals who make significant contributions to society. As part of the award, Bezos will grant Longoria $50 million dollars to help those in need.

“We’re very specific about what we’re going to do with that money, and the reason he gave it to me is because of the work that we’ve been doing over the last 10 years,” says Longoria, who says the money will go toward expanding the Eva Longoria Foundation’s work. “We’re going to continue to expand the work of helping Latinas through educational programs, civic engagement programs, culturally specific programs—really making sure we reach our full potential.”

A true multihyphenate

Longoria may be passionate about directing these days, but that doesn’t mean you won’t be seeing her back in front of the camera—and soon. “This year, I’m only in front of the camera,” says Longoria, who recently appeared in a recurring role on the new season of the hit murder-mystery comedy Only Murders in the Building and wrapped filming on a slew of projects, including The Pickup with Eddie Murphy; the holiday comedy Oh. What. Fun. with Jason Schwartzman; and the CNN Original Series Searching for Spain, which follows her on a gastronomic pilgrimage across the rich tapestry of Spanish cuisine. This past summer, she also starred in the Apple TV+ series Land of Women, which she also executive produced.

“This year has been about acting and being back in front of the camera while I read what I’m going to [direct] next. I haven’t had the same spark that I had with Flamin’ Hot, so I’m not in a rush to go back and direct. I love directing, but I want something to speak to me and say something.” In other words: producing with purpose.

Longoria also announced in late 2023 that she was teaming up with veteran unscripted producer, Cris Abrego (The Surreal Life, Flavor of Love) to launch a new company called Hyphenate Media Group, which will be part production company, part talent scouting agency and part business incubator. Longoria will serve as the company’s cofounder and chief creative officer.

“The reason we started Hyphenate and named it ‘Hyphenate’ is because, not only am I a hyphenate of being Mexican-American and straddling that hyphen of identity, but I’m a multihyphenate of actor, director and producer, and there are so many of us that are these hyphenates,” Longoria explains. “This industry wants you to stay in your lane, and so we’re [like], ‘No, I can be an entrepreneur and a good actress. I can direct and produce and act. Being a hyphenate is almost necessary now.”

Abrego, who serves as cofounder and CEO of Hyphenate, explains what makes Eva the ultimate multihyphenate. “She knows instinctually where to focus her time and attention. She does so many things well because she approaches each of her endeavors—her directing, her producing, her activism, her business—with a clear sense of purpose and a commitment to excellence” he says. “I’ve known her for two decades, and I am always impressed by her ability to cut through the noise and focus on what really matters to get the job done.”

This article originally appeared in the November/December 2024 issue of SUCCESS magazine.

Photography by Brian Bowen Smith

The post Eva-lution: Eva Longoria’s Transformation From Hollywood Star to Multihyphenate Mogul appeared first on SUCCESS.

Few rappers have achieved, or even attempted, a choreographed production of such scale. And the mastermind behind those moves? Lamar’s longtime collaborator and head of choreography Charm La’Donna.

Charm La’Donna was born to dance

Growing up in Compton, California, La’Donna (born Charmaine Jordan) more or less always knew she wanted to dance.

“I hope it doesn’t sound cliche, but it was just a God-given gift,” she says. “To be so young and be very adamant and passionate and having the discipline to know what I want and really, really going for it—I did other things, but dance and the arts have always been at the forefront in my life.”

La’Donna says she was lucky to have a mom who pushed her to pursue those dreams, and she got her earliest break during her senior year at Los Angeles County High School for the Arts when she was hired as a backup dancer on Madonna’s Confessions Tour. At just 17, she was one of the youngest dancers on the tour.

In the years since, her list of collaborators has grown to include Dua Lipa, Meghan Trainor, Selena Gomez and Rosalía, whose song “Con Altura” landed La’Donna an MTV VMA for Best Choreography. She choreographed The Weeknd’s Super Bowl LV halftime show, and she’s worked on productions for the Academy Awards and the Grammys. But she is perhaps best known, as the music and culture magazine Complex put it, as “a fulcrum of Kendrick Lamar’s live show,” having choreographed a number of tours and televised performances for her fellow Compton native. She’s a big deal.

Balancing being your own boss

I felt somewhat sheepish connecting with Charm La’Donna for this story, the main feature in a magazine issue with a focus on freelancing. I mean, I’m a freelancer—I spend my days in front of a laptop, answering emails, transcribing interviews and attending to necessary edits. La’Donna is an artist; I didn’t want it to seem like I was comparing her work and mine or cheapening her craft by likening it to the labor of a laptop jockey. Only one of us is working with Rosalía, right?

But La’Donna has a laid-back ease. She says that the more she thought about it, the more she realized how much she has in common with any self-employed person.

“Honestly, I think I am more of a freelancer, right? Because yeah, I’m doing art, yeah, I’m doing dance, but if I don’t work, it stops,” she explains. “I don’t have anyone to call at HR to be like, ‘This didn’t work out!’”

Dealing with burnout

In fact, early on in her career, she says her art almost became a burden. She was handling the behind-the-scenes work of running the business along with the choreography, a never-ending cycle of work that had her feeling burnt out.

“You’re creating art, but you’re also worried about when your bills [are] gonna get paid,” she reflects. “I don’t get a check every two weeks, and I don’t get paid leave. I am my business.”

For a long time, trying to manage the art and the business took a toll on her—a catch-22 that will be familiar to any entrepreneur. It’s a delicate balancing act, figuring out if and when you can add new people to support you while knowing that you’ll need to be able to support them. 

Getting to a point where she can focus exclusively on her craft has been a journey, and it hasn’t always been easy.

But entrepreneurs also know how good it feels when the sacrifices, the hard work and the tears pay off. These days, La’Donna has a team around her taking care of the details so she can focus on dance.

“I don’t want to be writing anybody an email talking about money and logistics,” she laughs. “I want to create; I want to be with the artist.” She even has the time and freedom to venture beyond choreography and has her sights set on more directorial work, writing stories and doing short films that involve dance.

The art of trust and collaboration

There are other ways in which Charm La’Donna’s choreography isn’t so far removed from any good working relationship. Sure, her coworker might be Dua Lipa, but many of the factors that make a choreographic collaboration successful are the same as those that are important in the office: a willingness to workshop ideas, openness to compromise and change, and the ability to be honest about your thoughts and feelings in a respectful way.

“And [you have] to trust each other, right? My clients, they’re able to trust me and my expertise and what I feel, and I trust them and how they feel and what they see,” she says. “Of course, sometimes, we might not agree on things, but we always figure it out, you know what I mean? There’s always a compromise, or ‘I see why you did that,’ and we can make it work.”

In other ways, of course, dance is nothing like your typical day at the office. It requires a radical vulnerability and openness, and for all parties to let go of their hang-ups and experiment. There’s also the fact that it’s physical—something that can be trickier for some artists to embrace than it is for others.

“Sometimes you might have artists who aren’t as fluid in the body as they are with their words and their music,” La’Donna says. “And so to be in a room with me and release everything and be vulnerable and let their body move and learn is such a beautiful experience.”

Fostering artistic expression

Part of Charm La’Donna’s skill set is her ability to get artists to open up and express themselves physically, and her methods for doing so vary depending on the person she’s working with at the time.

“Everybody’s different, and it’s just a matter of adjusting to that person, and what they need, and what they want, and how they want to feel,” she explains.

It’s important for her to get inside and understand each artist individually, though, because she finds the best work happens when it’s a true collaboration. “It’s when the artist expresses how they feel, what they want to feel, what they want the audience to feel, what their music means to them and then me interpreting it my way and blending it together.”

Believe that you can do it

Charm La’Donna’s success is the result of a lot of hard work, but she emphasizes that she’s been blessed to live her passion. At a young age, she became a protégé of the choreographer Fatima Robinson, whose storied career includes work with Michael Jackson, Aaliyah, Beyoncé and Mary J. Blige. Today, part of her joy is that she can hire other young choreographers to assist her, mentoring them in much the same way she was mentored as a young person.

When it comes to young creatives who are working on their art while trying to build a business, La’Donna’s advice is to take time for yourself and really figure out what it is you want. Part of that is being real with yourself about whether a job is right for you and assessing whether you can realistically take something on. She encourages artists to never accept a “no” at face value: “A ‘no’ doesn’t mean it’s over; a ‘no’ means ‘go find another way.’”

And, she adds, you have to really believe that the future you want is already yours. You have to know that you can do it and understand that your success is almost an inevitability.

“You’ve gotta believe. I know that sounds so corny; I just hate to sound so corny,” La’Donna laughs. “But you really gotta believe. You’ve gotta see it, you’ve gotta believe it, you’ve gotta feel it—whatever it is that you want—that it’s already yours. I don’t care if it’s the craziest dream in the world. If you want to go do a ballet company on the moon. Believe it.”

This article originally appeared in the September issue of SUCCESS+ magazine. Photo by Alissa Roseborough

The post Charm La’Donna Knows All the Right Moves When It Comes to Creativity and Collaboration appeared first on SUCCESS.

“They’re all here for Microphone Check,” said someone behind the counter to the theater manager. “Should we pause the film?”

Exploring the history of hip-hop

Microphone Check is a documentary about the history of hip-hop and its origins. The film highlights some of the creators of hip-hop who are not often mentioned in the history and fills the gaps in the story between its founding in 1973 and the start of the 1980s. The documentary features Coke La Rock, credited for being the first MC, Sharon “Sha-Rock” Gree, who is considered to be the first female MC and Lauree “Trixie” Myers, the first breakdancer. It also looks at other elements of the culture, such as graffiti, and features an interview with Darryl McCray, who is “Cornbread,” the first modern graffiti artist.

Many fans of hip-hop trace its origins to a 1973 party hosted by DJ Kool Herc at 1520 Sedgwick Ave. in the Bronx. But according to director Tariq Nasheed, there is more to the story than that, and his concern is that much of the credit for its creation has been misplaced. 

DJ Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash and Africa Bambaataa are the three names that often come up when people speak about hip-hop’s creation. But Nasheed argues that the culture began to form prior to these three DJs, and he wants to ensure that the Black American founders of hip-hop who don’t have Caribbean roots have their stories told, too.

The godfather of hip-hop 

“The godfather of hip-hop is our brother Kool Herc who was from Jamaica,” says Nasheed. “He had the first technical hip-hop party that encompassed the break beats, the break dancers, everything to graffiti. Because he is the godfather, a lot of the media narrative is that he brought hip-hop from Jamaica to the Americas.” 

But Nasheed would like to see credit given to the non-Carribean Black Americans who were part of the creation of hip-hop culture. Fifty years later, many of hip-hop’s founders like Disco King Mario have passed on, and Nasheed wants to make sure that their stories are told before the narrative forgets them altogether.

“Surprisingly, many of them are still alive,” says Nasheed. “They’re up there in age and very important, too. A lot of the media will just wait until people die off and when they die off you can really go roughshod and tell anything you want to tell because they’re not here to clarify anything no more. So we did a phenomenal thing while getting these people while they’re still alive, to tell the story and get everything written in stone.” 

Throwing the pennies together

Microphone Check was largely funded by fans. The documentary had a Kickstarter that raised more than $260,000 and had more than 2,000 donors. 

“These record labels have artists that they need to promote,” says Nasheed. “So they do a documentary. They will try to flip it as a way to promote their artists. So what they’ll do, they’ll talk about hip-hop, the history of it for a quick second, and then jump to the 2000s. 

“I didn’t want to do that,” says Nasheed.” I didn’t focus on too many modern rappers in this film. We stuck to the ’70s most of the movie. People talk about that party that Kool Herc had [in 1973]; no one ever talks about the before and after… what happened from ’73 to 1979 when the Sugarhill Gang released the first hip-hop record. There’s a big gap that’s never really talked about. We dig deep into that gap.”

Nasheed says that the willingness of fans to pay for its production is a testimony to hip- hop fans’ desire to hear the story of the genre, especially when many modern documentaries are funded by large production companies and record labels. 

“You can gauge the excitement level when you have the community get together and throw the pennies together to make the funding happen,” says Nasheed. “That shows a lot of interest. People are very interested in seeing the story, so I’m very thankful for the crowd and [for] the audience who helped fund the production of the movie because that puts a certain energy on it.”

Hip-hop culture: The influential genre

Hip-hop culture has had an undeniable influence on branding, fashion and music at a global level. When brands decide what’s popular, they often look to the streets. Much of what ends up on the runway during fashion week is inspired by what hip-hop artists and fans are wearing. These styles are reproduced in the looks that you find in fashion magazines and retail stores.

“Hip-hop culture dictates what goes on on the corporate level,” says Nasheed. “They have whole market research teams that sit around, studying the streets, studying hip- hop culture, studying our culture to see what’s going to be the next thing so they can get in front of it and kind of capitalize off of it.”

Microphone Check premiered in theaters in 12 cities between May 22 and May 25, but if you missed it in theaters, don’t worry! It can be purchased on Blu-Ray.

Photo courtesy of Tariq Nasheed

The post Microphone Check: The New Documentary Sets the Record Straight on Hip-Hop History   appeared first on SUCCESS.

Sounds like a lot of work but also pretty fun. We got a glimpse of the lighter side of preparations and Olympic staff as Bob the Cap Catcher stole everyone’s heart and attention when he retrieved an Olympic swimmer’s cap from the bottom of the pool while wearing a very colorful Speedo. His instant fame proved that it’s not just the athletes who work hard and deserve credit for an event capturing viewers all around the world.

Here are some behind-the-scenes professionals and helpers who prepare athletes for the big day and support them throughout the Games.

The furriest helpers

It’s not just humans keeping athletes on track. The “most valuable pup” of the Games, Beacon, is a therapy dog, serving as part of an increased focus on mental health for athletes at the Olympics. Athletes including celebrated gymnast Simone Biles, have spent time with the caring canine, further promoting her mission to be an open book about mental health. Four-year-old Beacon is the official Olympic Team USA dog for gymnastics, with a name tag referring to him as the “Goodest Boy.” Suni Lee even used Instagram to share her gratitude for his companionship.

Cat lovers, take heart. There’s also a behind-the-scenes helper spotting gymnasts from home. This cat has the gymnasts’ backs as you can see in a video posted to the official NBC Olympics and Paralympics TikTok page. The rescue cat’s name is Maverick and it’s clear the feline has a ton of enthusiasm for gymnastics.

The unofficial hype man

Olympic viewers have all been asking the same question—why is Snoop Dogg everywhere in these Olympic Games? Does he have an actual job there, or is he just the unofficial celebrity hype man? The 52-year-old rapper served as an NBC correspondent and even carried the torch, which he said made him feel like Muhammad Ali, in a post-ceremony interview with NBC Sports: “I was waving, shaking hands, kissing the babies—doing what I do, you understand me? Putting my foot in the pavement, letting the people know that we’re here. We’re here for peace, love and unity and great sportsmanship.” If nothing else, his hilarious one-liners take the edge off in an otherwise high-stress environment.

The nutrition gurus

Ever wonder what an athlete eats before the competition of a lifetime? Tony Castillo, a Florida-based, registered dietitian and founder of Nutrition for Performance knows the answer and says it varies by sport. The performance dietitian has worked with Olympians and Olympic hopefuls across various sports, representing numerous countries in multiple Olympic Games. Before founding Nutrition for Performance, he served as a sports dietitian for the Toronto Blue Jays and at the University of Florida. He says his role is imperative for the prevention of injury and fatigue. He also ensures the food athletes use as fuel isn’t a reason for poor performance. He teaches them about refueling with carbs, repairing with protein and rehydrating with electrolytes.

“I give specific recommendations based on the athlete’s personal dietary preferences,” he says, along with reminding them about tricks, like including eggs in a post-workout meal for the protein. He stays in constant communication during the Games to give appropriate food options and reminders to fuel “with purpose and on purpose.”

The public relations specialists promoting athletes

Stephania Schirru is a public relations specialist at Dynamically Branded, a firm specializing in representing athletes, including two-time Olympic gold medalist Natasha Hastings (400M), Olympic high jumper Priscilla Frederick-Loomis and two-time Olympic gold medalist Angel McCoughtry (basketball).

“The most challenging part of working as a public relations specialist for the Olympics is navigating the complex logistics while adhering to strict regulations… I just received a call, for example, that they changed the location for an event. So, now, I have to create a new itinerary with how my client gets there and back,” she says.

“Luckily, I speak French fluently, but my client doesn’t. So, I have to make sure everything is in English and that her guide is fluent in both languages. In Rio, in 2016, that was more difficult, as we didn’t reap the benefits of AI as we do now, and I [don’t] speak Portuguese. I have to keep up with the local press, which has completely different cultural undertones, and, right now, is seven hours ahead of me, as I’m still in the U.S.,” she says. “Balancing these logistical demands while maintaining a cohesive PR strategy is both demanding and crucial to the success of the campaign.”

The equipment managers, pilots and logistics teams

Equipment is a necessary requirement for certain events at the Olympics, and there are teams of Olympic staff that help ensure the equipment works for the competitions, including the Yonex badminton stringing team. The group has taken to Instagram to showcase their work and help educate the public on the behind-the-scenes activities that go into maintaining equipment, such as restringing badminton racquets.

But not all equipment fits nicely into a bag for travel. Other sports at this year’s Olympic Games, such as sailing, require the equipment to be deconstructed and placed on cargo ships to make it to Paris, where they are then reassembled ahead of the competition.

And you can’t forget the horses. The Australian equestrian team’s horses flew on an “air-stable” airplane and required a passport for travel.

Ellen Farlow, an airport arrivals and departures advisor for this year’s Games, shared in an IOC open-source document that “it takes a huge amount of work to successfully move the volume of people, luggage and equipment around at Games time. The people involved are rightly proud about what they’ve achieved: It’s the equivalent of athletes and their sport, striving to do their best and winning a medal in the work they do.”

The security teams making safety the highest priority

When it comes to large events, such as the Olympics, security is always a concern. CBS News recently reported that the July 26 opening ceremony required 45,000 police officials—both local and national—plus an additional 18,000 military personnel. While disturbances have been considered minimal, French officials are asking security detail to help monitor and intercept drones, complete security checks, provide attendee assistance and protect foreign nationals. In addition to local support, Paris is utilizing 1,800 police officers from over 40 different countries, including an NYPD K-9 unit.

“We’re only a team of seven, so we can’t be everywhere all the time,” said Isabelle Bois, security operations manager for Team Canada, in an IOC open-source publication. “Ultimately, the host-country authorities are responsible for everyone going to France. Our job is to go from site to site to help ensure security measures are in place as planned—for example, checking bags properly, or that there are no breaches in the security perimeter. If one of our team members is the victim of a crime, we’ll meet with them, and, if appropriate, make sure they connect with the local police and facilitate the police report.

The muffin man

The athletes sure want to know the muffin man. While the word on the star-studded street is that the food hasn’t been great, there’s an exception that has become a viral sensation: the chocolate muffins in the Olympic village where athletes eat. Norwegian swimmer Henrik Christiansen popularized the muffins on TikTok, where his videos about the baked goods have over 10 million views.

The “muffin man” in question is really French company Coup de Pates, and they confirmed to Eater via email that the muffins are their “Maxi muffin chocolat intense.” They said, “We work exclusively with food service professionals, some of whom are partners of the Olympic Village,” adding that the muffins can be found “in many countries around the world thanks to our clients and distributors.”

The photographers capturing the legacy

The Olympic Games are full of iconic moments that athletes and viewers remember for the rest of their lives. Photographers abound, from amateurs to those from major publications, trying to capture the most historic and memorable moments. But, arguably, “the” picture of the Games was taken by a French-Polynesian photographer named Jerome Brouillet, who captured an image of surfer Gabriel Medina that looked like he was flying above the ocean, holding up the number one for fans. The photo was used as the featured image in a story in The New York Times about the surfer.

Photo courtesy kovop/Shutterstock.com

The post Meet the Most Interesting Non-Athletes at the Olympics, Who Make the Games Run Smoothly appeared first on SUCCESS.

Books to improve communication in relationships

Communication is key to keeping any relationship healthy and strong—from professional relationships at work to family and loved ones. Without it, a relationship can easily break down, and everyone involved can feel confused and unfulfilled. Luckily, there are some fantastic relationship books on improving your communication skills.

1. Digital Body Language: How to Build Trust and Connection, No Matter the Distance 

By Erica Dhawan

• What it’s about: Described as “the definitive guide to communicating and connecting in a hybrid world”
• What makes it unique? This book focuses on how to better understand digital communication and how to communicate more effectively in our digital landscape.

Dhawan, an award-winning keynote speaker and leadership expert, breaks up what could easily be an overwhelming topic—digital communication—into three distinct yet easy-to-understand sections in Digital Body Language. She defines exactly what digital body language is and explores topics like the four “laws” of digital body language through engaging storytelling. This relationship book blends significant research and Dhawan’s personal experiences to help support actionable advice.

With over 600 reader reviews on Amazon that highly recommend this book, Digital Body Language is a must-read.

2. Set Boundaries, Find Peace: A Guide to Reclaiming Yourself 

By Nedra Glover Tawwab

• What it’s about: Learning how to set simple but powerful boundaries in your life
• What makes it unique? It offers a very specific in-depth look at setting boundaries in all aspects of your life, from family to social media.

With over 9,000 reader ratings on Amazon, Set Boundaries, Find Peace has frequently been described as life changing by many and as the “boundary bible” by Alexandra Elle, author of After The Rain. Tawwab, a licensed counselor and relationship expert, approaches the fairly complex topic of learning to set boundaries pragmatically by breaking down what boundaries are, why you may not have healthy boundaries and what you can do to work on setting them.

3. We Need to Talk: How to Have Conversations That Matter 

By Celeste Headlee

• What it’s about: Simple tools and strategies to help you become better at conversations
• What makes it unique? It emphasizes the importance of being able to listen and speak well in all of your relationships.

This 2017 Silver Nautilus Award winner was adapted from Headlee’s popular TED Talk “10 ways to have a better conversation.” And, just as in her TED Talk, Headlee digs right into a number of different strategies that readers can use to improve their communication skills—specifically through conversation. You’ll read through why you should try to have better conversations in your life and how to improve your listening and talking skills.

Books to improve relationships with friends 

Friendships are an important part of life from childhood into adulthood. And just like you’re never too old for friends, you’re never too old to learn more about improving your friendships. Here are a couple of our favorites. 

1. The Art of Showing Up: How to Be There for Yourself and Your People 

By Rachel Wilkerson Miller

• What it’s about: A guide on how to show up for yourself and others
• What makes it unique? It offers a two-pronged, practical approach to maintain friendships.

The Art of Showing Up digs into two areas in-depth: showing up for yourself and showing up for your friends. You can’t have one without the other, and Miller offers a variety of suggestions and guidelines on how to do both effectively. You’ll even find answers to highly specific questions and scenarios, like if you struggle to cancel plans and how to better stand up for yourself.

2. Big Friendship: How We Keep Each Other Close 

By Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman

• What it’s about: The story of the two authors’ friendship
• What makes it unique? Big Friendship looks at the importance of nurturing friendship through the lens of a real-life friendship—including the highs and lows.

With well over 20,000 reader ratings on GoodReads, Big Friendship provides a very intimate look at Sow and Friedman’s actual friendship over the course of a decade. This is a very much memoir with a splash of self-help, helping it stand out from other books on friendship. You’ll find relatable moments and ideas on friendship here that are uniquely explored through Sow and Friedman’s story—including how to handle communication issues between friends. 

Books to improve romantic relationships 

While we can’t guarantee all your romantic questions and woes will be answered, these two books on how to be in a relationship are standouts that address quite a few common relationship issues.

1. The Mathematics of Love: Patterns, Proofs, and the Search for the Ultimate Equation 

By Hannah Fry

• What it’s about: The patterns that shape everyone’s love lives
• What makes it unique? It offers a unique look at the popular topic of love through the lens of mathematical equations.

Romance is covered in all types of books on how to be in a relationship. But The Mathematics of Love approaches different aspects of romance, from online dating to post-marriage, from a more analytical perspective. As Fry writes, “The goal of this book is to reveal the patterns that govern one of life’s greatest mysteries” in a relatively short but approachable read on how mathematical methods apply to love.

2. ADHD & Us: A Couple’s Guide to Loving and Living With Adult ADHD 

By Anita Robertson

• What it’s about: Simple strategies for people with adult ADHD navigating relationships 
• What makes it unique? It provides inclusive and practical advice for modern couples where one or more partners have ADHD. 

Relationship books and advice tend not to account for neurodivergent individuals, usually offering tips and tricks that apply to a broad audience. ADHD & Us helps fill that gap by specifically providing readers with adult ADHD simple and effective strategies that they can utilize in their relationships—including how to better understand ADHD, how it can affect relationships and how to meet each partner’s needs a little better. With an average rating of 4.6 stars on Amazon, readers have found this relationship book helpful and easy to understand.

Photo by Fizkes/Shutterstock.com.

The post The 7 Best Books to Help Improve Your Relationships appeared first on SUCCESS.

Professional development books give insight on how to grow in our careers, grow as people and better approach work-related challenges, shifting work environments and new opportunities. In this post, we’ll dive into books that speak to the three following categories:

• Books on personal habits, attitudes and approaches
• Mental health and work books
• Books for entrepreneurs
• Books for managers and founders

Read on to discover 45 of the best professional development books. 

Professional development books on habits, attitudes and approaches

1. Take the Leap: Change Your Career, Change Your Life

By Sara Bliss

If you’re tired of your 9-to-5 job and often find yourself daydreaming about pursuing something else, Sara Bliss’s Take the Leap features more than 60 stories of people who did just that. You’ll meet Jon Deng, a U.S. Army officer turned software engineer; Ge Wang, a lawyer who became the owner of a menswear business; and Monique Greenwood, a magazine editor-in-chief turned innkeeper.

Bliss doesn’t just share the stories of others, but also her own. She was working at the front desk of a Manhattan auction house “helping move art from one fancy apartment to another.” So she left to become a writer.

The stories Bliss shares are important because “people who have radically changed their lives provide serious inspiration to… everyone who has ever wanted to switch gears but worry they are too old, too young, too broke”—and the list goes on. If that sounds like you, this is a must-read. 

2. Success Habits: Proven Principles for Greater Wealth, Health, and Happiness

By Napoleon Hill

Though Napoleon Hill died more than five decades ago, there is still much one can learn from his teachings. His work these days is managed by the Napoleon Hill Foundation. In their newest production, Success Habits, you’ll find never before published insights from one of the godfathers of personal development.

To create this book, a series of radio talks delivered by Hill were transcribed and edited for cohesiveness. The book is divided into 13 chapters filled with gems of deep insight, such as, “Mental attitude attracts to you the physical counterparts of your dominating thoughts as surely as an electromagnet attracts steel filings. Keep your mental attitude positive at all times and you may make your life pay off on your own terms.”

Hill’s principles are candid, some coming from his own experiences and others in the form of entertaining stories. 

3. Wise Guy: Lessons From a Life

By Guy Kawasaki

Whereas many people write memoirs in a linear fashion, Guy Kawasaki tells his story in vignettes, giving the reader entertaining tales from his life with important takeaways. He also imparts a personal development spin. Rather than leaving the reader with vague lessons learned, Kawasaki spells it out with tips, advice and quotes.

Among the best nuggets: “Do the right thing, not what you can get away with when you achieve a position of power and wealth,” Kawasaki writes. “Money can’t buy scruples—indeed, money may prevent scruples. With money comes the responsibility to act magnanimous—not abusive.”

With advice ranging from where to go for college (away from your hometown) to knowing when to keep your mouth shut, Kawasaki offers useful wisdom no matter your age or profession. In Wise Guy, Kawasaki shares important stories that can be valuable to anyone looking to take the next big step in their professional or personal life.

4. Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear

By Elizabeth Gilbert

Big Magic is all about the habits, attitudes and approaches people can take to live their most creative life. And while this book is often recommended to artists, writers and other creative people, it’s also perfect for business owners who want to approach their everyday lives with more mindfulness and passion.

5. The Alter Ego Effect: The Power of Secret Identities to Transform Your Life

By Todd Herman

Life is full of moments that involve reinventing yourself and taking a step forward into the future. In The Alter Ego Effect, author Todd Herman suggests that we add another element: creating an alter ego to boost our confidence and skills. Just as Clark Kent has Superman inside him, we all have a hero inside us waiting for the time to put on a cape. I fully endorse this book so that everyone can unlock their potential.

6. Accidental Genius: Using Writing to Generate Your Best Ideas, Insight, and Content

By Mark Levy

Accidental Genius is a book that describes the power of “freewriting.” Freewriting is the technique of writing continuously, without editing, for a fixed period of time. It allows your mind to expel “junk thoughts” before paving the way for truly brilliant and creative thoughts. 

This is a great book for anyone who needs to find creative solutions or wants to improve their writing in general.

7. Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

By Greg McKeown

You won’t fulfill your dreams, change the world or make an impact if you’re simply reacting to everyone else’s expectations and requests through a bombardment of emails, meetings, calls and commitments. 

Essentialism is a great guide for narrowing your efforts in order to proactively control your day, so you can spend more time on what will produce the most success and happiness.

8. How to Make Sh*t Happen: Make More Money. Get in Better Shape. Create Epic Relationships and Control Your Life

By Sean Whalen

Nearly all the topics that matter most to us are covered in this book—How to Make Sh*t Happen. What happens is this: Thanks to the chaotic environment and harried lifestyles society has made the norm, we cannot figure out how to strike the right balance to achieve everything we want to achieve.

Sean Whalen’s own successes among this varied and full life—as a father, entrepreneur, public speaker, podcaster and business coach—make him an excellent candidate for helping the rest of us be in control of our lives and get more done.

9. Your Best Year Ever: A 5-Step Plan for Achieving Your Most Important Goals 

By Michael Hyatt

Your Best Year Ever is a great mindset to adopt, something that will be easy to do after you check out Hyatt’s actionable steps for making it a reality. Rather than just being a cheerleader, the author delivers the reasons life should matter and how you can develop your own purpose for reaching your full potential.

Hyatt’s approach is to develop a research-based process for determining how to set your individual goals and take the steps needed to achieve them despite feeling overwhelmed by daily stress. It’s a system you can apply to your business, personal, fitness and/or relationship goals.

10. Great at Work: How Top Performers Do Less, Work Better and Achieve More 

By Morten T. Hansen

Doing less and achieving more is an ideal we all share about work and life. Great at Work was written by the co-author of New York Times bestselling Great by Choice. Thanks to Hansen, we now have a road map for how we can work in a smarter way through his seven “work smarter practices.”

To illustrate each of these practices, Hansen includes specific stories from all types of people that show the wide range of jobs and perspectives out there. To include you in the process, he also provides quizzes and questionnaires, making the practices relatable so you can enact change immediately.

11. Treating People Well: The Extraordinary Power of Civility at Work and in Life 

By Lea Berman and Jeremy Bernard

With the decline in regular face-to-face interaction and so many people hiding behind social media, it seems as though politeness is often lost at work and in daily life. Penned by two former White House social secretaries, Treating People Well is committed to bringing civility back so we can start treating each other better.

Berman and Bernard talk about their experiences while working at the White House, including interactions with celebrities, foreign leaders and other staff members. They focus on how you can incorporate what they learned into your own relationships with your boss and colleagues. This includes ways to develop important social skills, whether you use them online or in person.

12. Drop the Ball: Achieving More by Doing Less

By Tiffany Dufu

Tiffany Dufu has a common story, the one about the new mother who thought she could do it all, only to run smack into reality. To put this in perspective, here is a partial list of Dufu’s accomplishments: launch team member for Lean In; chief leadership officer at Levo, a career and social media website; president of the White House Project; associate development director at Seattle Girls’ School; and member of the Women’s Forum of New York.

As much a memoir as a how-to, Drop the Ball recounts Dufu’s struggle and solution: letting go. She learned to recalibrate expectations, concentrate on her to-do list and accept help from others. Dufu urges women to embrace imperfection and marshal the energy to develop a rich, balanced life—one that includes professional goals. It’s a practical kind of feminism for the 21st century, one endorsed by Gloria Steinem’s enthusiastic foreword.

13. What Motivates Getting Things Done: Procrastination, Emotions and Success

By Mary Lamia

Getting things done is not a matter of willpower. That’s the good news. A clinical psychologist and a professor in the doctoral program at the Wright Institute, Mary Lamia says procrastination is not a mental problem but a problem centered in human emotions. In fact, she says, some high-achieving people are procrastinators, but they have learned how to use procrastination as a source of motivation, and waiting for the spur of pressing deadlines is part of their productivity cycle. Others feel the need to start on projects immediately. One strategy is not necessarily better than the other, so long as things get done.

In What Motivates Getting Things Done, Lamia shows how anyone can harness their own personal work style for maximum productivity. She takes the reader on a tour of the emotional lives of high achievers, those who procrastinate and those who don’t, and surveys the current science on motivation. Humans, she says, are motivated not only by the pursuit of positive emotions but also by the desire to avoid negative ones. Therefore, managing negative emotions—shame, fear, guilt, anxiety—is key to her approach. Fortunately, it’s something anyone can learn. 

Professional development books about mental health and work

1. Stress Less, Accomplish More: Meditation for Extraordinary Performance

By Emily Fletcher

When she was 27, Emily Fletcher was the understudy for three lead roles on Broadway, but it wasn’t all that it was made out to be. Whenever she had a bad performance, she was devastated. Then she met another actress who was understudying five lead roles, yet—unlike Fletcher—seemed “calm and centered.” The actress told Fletcher it all came down to meditation.

At first she didn’t believe it, but eventually Fletcher tried it, became hooked and ultimately quit acting to travel to India to learn more about meditation. That’s what led her to create Ziva Meditation and the Ziva technique, which consists of meditation, mindfulness and manifesting.

Fletcher makes one thing clear. “Stress Less, Accomplish More is not another meditation book heralding the benefits of higher states of consciousness without giving you any real tools to get there,” she writes. “This book is all about extraordinary performance.” Meditation, Fletcher argues, can not only improve your health and peace of mind, but it can also help you excel at whatever it is you do. 

2. When to Jump: If the Job You Have Isn’t the Life You Want 

By Mike Lewis

We’ve all been in a job where that voice in our head is telling us it’s not the one that will give us what we want out of life. Maybe you’re there right now. If so, then this is a great book to pick up today. Lewis has been in your shoes; it’s why he wrote When to Jump. He knows everyone wonders when they should go ahead and make such a huge change in their life.

In the book, he shares stories from people with various jobs and backgrounds who made big jumps in their careers. They share why and how they did it, as well as when they realized it was time to go for it. There are more than 40 different stories in the book—any one of which might inspire you to finally make that jump for yourself.

3. The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative

By Florence Williams

As Homo sapiens become an increasingly urban species, evidence for our dependence on nature continues to grow stronger. Florence Williams, who has been a contributing editor to Outside magazine, scoured the latest science while traveling the world for examples. 

In The Nature Fix, Williams explores how Scotland offers “ecotherapeutic” therapy for people who are mentally ill, and in West Virginia, being outside has been found to help children with ADHD. Williams is an elegant yet witty writer, and she makes a terrific guide.

4. The Future of Happiness: 5 Modern Strategies for Balancing Productivity and Well-Being in the Digital Era

By Amy Blankson

Technology makes us more productive, but it comes with a cost: multitasking, 24-hour availability and the incessant sensation that we are falling further behind. In The Future of Happiness, Amy Blankson says there’s good news. Technology also gives us the tools we need to find balance, and even happiness, amid the distractions of the digital age.

Blankson proposes five strategies for managing a coherent 21st century life: Stay grounded because distraction is a choice; think smaller and use technology to understand the world; train your brain to use emerging technologies to cultivate a positive mindset; create a habitat for happiness and declutter your space and your mind; and be a conscious innovator to make today’s technology shape the future you want. The wise use of technology can help us achieve happiness right now, she says, not in some distant future.

Professional development books for entrepreneurs

1. Crushing It! How Great Entrepreneurs Build Their Business and Influence—and How You Can Too 

By Gary Vaynerchuk

Crushing It provides you with incredible ideas from a super influential social media sensation, motivational speaker and author. Vaynerchuk pulls no punches in his live and social media events, and the same is true in this entertaining book.

Vaynerchuk tells some of the best stories from entrepreneurs who continue to add to their wealth and influence. This includes offering principles that readers can implement in their own lives and businesses. The book breaks down each social media platform to make it easy to understand how it can be used to build your empire.

2. Superconnector: Stop Networking and Start Building Relationships That Matter 

By Scott Gerber and Ryan Paugh

You might not want to hear that the approach to networking you’ve been accustomed to is in need of an overhaul, but Gerber and Paugh show you why it doesn’t work and how to look for a different type of connection: the superconnector. Superconnectors make things happen by leveraging the power within social platform communities.

The authors also teach you how to become a superconnector yourself, offering advice on practicing habitual generosity and the importance of open communication and Google-proofing your reputation, all of which can help pave your path to success.

3. What’s Your Presentation Persona? Discover Your Unique Communication Style and Succeed in Any Arena

By Scott Schwertly and Sunday Mancini

Science used to indicate you were stuck with the brain you were born with. Actually, it is possible to rewire the brain through practice to support healthier habits, eliminate bad habits and give yourself lifelong learning. “Neuroplasticity can even make it possible to retrain your brain’s physical abilities simply by imagining those changes,” the authors write in What’s Your Presentation Persona? So don’t give up on that air guitar just yet.

We live in a golden age of public speaking. The thing is, most speeches are delivered to small groups and are known as “presentations” or “sales pitches.” Co-author Scott Schwertly, founder of Ethos3, a presentation design and training boutique in Nashville, Tennessee, offers a proprietary test to determine each individual’s strengths. By classifying you in one of several categories, from scholar to scientist to entertainer, Schwertly promises to hone your presentation skills. You can even become a well-rounded presenter by trying other personas.

4. Win at Losing: How Our Biggest Setbacks Can Lead to Our Greatest Gains

By Sam Weinman

Sports reporter Sam Weinman didn’t know how to guide his sons through losses at school and on the field. To learn more, he interviewed high-profile achievers who had survived public defeat, including athletes, entertainers, politicians and executives. Weinman learned that real success comes not in spite of but because of loss, humiliation and rejection.

Weinman says, being a good loser “implies perspective and resilience and the quiet confidence that the world will not crumble around you because of a fleeting setback.” In Win at Losing, he supports the point with the stories of golfer Greg Norman, politician Michael Dukakis, actress Susan Lucci and others.

Professional development books for managers and founders

1. Brave New Work: Are You Ready to Reinvent Your Organization?

By Aaron Dignan

Wherever he goes, organizational consultant Aaron Dignan meets workers and leaders who are frustrated by pressure to grow, deliver and execute, all while being hamstrung by endless emails and meetings.

“This isn’t the way it has to be, or even the way it always was,” Dignan writes. “Our way of working was created, brick by brick, by gurus, industrialists, robber barons, unions, and universities—generations of managers and workers who came before us. We can thank them for what is still serving us, and we can change the rest.”

In Brave New Work, Dignan offers a number of solutions. Not all of his advice will be popular with everyone: Dignan’s idea to eliminate bonuses likely wouldn’t go over well in some offices, for example. He invites you to use what you can and what you need and to experiment in your workplace. Dignan presents his ideas in an accessible manner with worksheets, checklists and questionnaires to help. 

2. Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In

By Roger Fisher, William Ury and Bruce Patton

Everyone needs to have negotiation skills. Most people think of negotiation as an “us-versus-them” situation. But Getting to Yes by Roger Fisher, William Ury and Bruce Patton shows how you can find common interests that lead to great outcomes for all parties. 

This is an excellent book for business owners who want to have a better relationship with their partners and customers.

3. The Replaceable Founder

By Ari Meisel

The Replaceable Founder by Ari Meisel begs the question: How much notice do you need to give your team to take a last-minute vacation? How much notice would they need to give you? If the answer is more than 48 hours, this is a red flag and means there are bottlenecks within your company that are preventing you from communicating effectively and having redundancy and safety in the organization.

4. The Making of a Manager, What to Do When Everyone Looks to You

By Julie Zhuo

Sometimes we’re asked to become leaders regardless of whether we’re ready for it. That was the case for Julie Zhuo, who at 25 found herself a first-time boss with more questions than answers.

“This is the book that’s here to tell you that your fears and doubts are normal,” Zhuo writes. “And, like me, you’re going to figure it out.” Using clear-cut examples of how great leadership looks in the workplace, Zhuo creates a practical guide. One example is the art of feedback and how to make it as effective as possible for bosses and their reports. Feedback should be specific, clarify what success looks like and inform next steps, she explains.

Although most of The Making of a Manager focuses on leading others, Zhuo also writes about leading yourself. Whether you’re a first-time boss or you’ve been doing this for a while, there’s something to take away from the book, including tips on growing a team and a culture. And, as a designer, Zhuo uses illustration to creatively explain some of her most important points. 

5. Radical Candor: Be a Kickass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity

By Kim Scott

Alice Roosevelt Longworth is famously connected to the phrase, “If you can’t say something good about someone, sit right here by me.” But that’s not what consultant Kim Scott means by “radical candor.” No, she’s talking about the “unnatural act” of delivering honest criticism—and praise—to employees. Praise sounds patronizing, Scott says, and criticism can be brutal. As a result, most bosses avoid genuine open communication altogether, which makes them bad bosses.

Scott has worked as a CEO coach at several Silicon Valley outfits, including Google, Dropbox, Twitter and Apple. She has developed three simple principles for hitting the “Goldilocks” zone between obnoxious aggression and ruinous empathy: Make it personal, get [stuff] done and understand why it matters. In Radical Candor, Scott shows how to receive criticism as well as give it and how to encourage multidirectional feedback.

6. Good People: The Only Leadership Decision That Really Matters

By Anthony Tjan

In Good People, Anthony Tjan brings a timeless human question into the modern business world: What is goodness? In the workplace, goodness is often limited to competence and productivity. Tjan says real goodness includes integrity, compassion, generosity, gratitude and kindness. Sometimes dismissed as “soft,” these characteristics actually enable leaders to create business cultures of real value and longevity.

7. The Inspiration Code: How the Best Leaders Energize People Every Day

By Kristi Hedges

Executive coach Kristi Hedges says that just as any child can grow up to be president, any employee, manager, or CEO can become a real inspiration to others. The behaviors that make for the kind of active listener and motivational conversationalist people want to follow are not a matter of born talent. They’re the result of skills that can be learned.

In The Inspiration Code, Hedges argues that inspirational leadership comes from a few consistent routine behaviors: investing in each conversation with full attention, speaking authentically, displaying the emotion and energy appropriate to each situation and helping others find meaning in their place within the big picture. Hedges refutes common myths about executive leadership. She says what really moves people to action is genuine communication. With this message, Hedges delivers an exceptional leadership book.

8. Performance Partnerships: The Checkered Past, Changing Present and Exciting Future of Affiliate Marketing 

By Robert Glazer

As a leader in affiliate marketing, Robert Glazer understands how this concept has been misunderstood and dismissed over the years. Yet he continues to focus on this marketing tool because his decade in the industry has produced actual quantifiable results that he shares in this book.

In Performance Partnerships, Glazer goes beyond the surface of affiliate marketing. He delves into the history of the field and how it has evolved into a results-oriented form of direct-to-consumer digital marketing. The book is filled with incredible advice on how to tap into the power of affiliate marketing. This is the year to add it to your marketing strategy.

9. Never Lose a Customer Again: Turn Any Sale Into Lifelong Loyalty in 100 Days 

By Joey Coleman

Joey Coleman is a business consultant and public speaker who has woven his theory of customer loyalty throughout this book. He believes companies that cultivate customer loyalty will reap the benefits for years to come.

In Never Lose a Customer Again, Coleman walks readers through each of the emotional phases customers experience within the first 100 days after they have made a purchase. This examination of the customer journey can help you identify what you can do to ensure buyer’s remorse doesn’t set in. The book gives you the tactics to create the type of memorable experiences that will keep customers coming back for more.

10. Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love 

By Marty Cagan

Everyone wants to create the next iPhone. It’s the dream of every startup founder to build a successful company that rivals brands like Apple, Google and Tesla. This book tells you how to approach technology product development and management in a way that directs everything you do around what the customer would want.

In Inspired, Marty Cagan covers every factor that counts, such as talent, skill sets, market research, customer input and more. He bases all his insights on his own personal stories, as well as stories from Adobe, Apple, BBC, Google, Microsoft and Netflix.

11. Shortcut Your Startup: Speed Up Success With Unconventional Advice From the Trenches 

By Courtney Reum and Carter Reum

The faster you get your startup going, the faster it can grow and offer a return, right? But it often feels as though it can’t go fast enough. That might be because you have not yet discovered all the ways you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. In Shortcut Your Startup, brothers Courtney and Carter Reum, former Goldman Sachs investment bankers and investors, have delivered a helpful guide full of shortcuts you can use to accelerate your startup’s development.

They leverage their experience of investing in more than 130 companies to give you shortcuts and tips that will help you speed past certain steps, avoid specific mistakes and take advantage of particular partnerships to piggyback on others’ resources. The book is intended for all kinds of entrepreneurs at every stage in the startup process.

12. Build Your Dream Network: Forging Powerful Relationships in a Hyper-Connected World

By J. Kelly Hoey

The world has never been so tightly knit, thanks to digital technology, but as we all know, connections on social media can be superficial and unsatisfying. In Build Your Dream Network, J. Kelly Hoey shows us how to master the new tools. 

She’s been a columnist for Inc.com and a commentator on CNBC and was named among “25 of the Smartest Women on Twitter.” She’s also learned the hard way that good old-fashioned quality relationships are as important as ever, and she’s devised a detailed plan for building them in our brave new electronic world.

13. Extreme Teams: Why Pixar, Netflix, Airbnb and Other Cutting-Edge Companies Succeed Where Most Fail

By Robert Bruce Shaw

Consultant Robert Bruce Shaw isn’t the first to examine successful 21st-century teams, but his observations are fresh and insightful. The trick is hiring the right people to create the right atmosphere and maximizing profits by choosing to not make profits what matters most. Extreme Teams shows you how. According to Shaw, Pixar uses constant feedback, whereas Whole Foods fosters super-autonomous teams. What all these successful businesses have in common is the willingness to toss conventional wisdom overboard to make room for innovation.

14. Let the Story Do the Work: The Art of Storytelling for Business Success

By Esther K. Choy

Leadership expert Esther K. Choy says everyone knows a story is a great way to hook attention and convey a message people will remember. But it’s hard. In Let the Story Do the Work, Choy illustrates the skills that make storytelling work: giving raw experiences narrative shape, finding the right structure and ending on the right note. A few basic storytelling techniques, she says, will aid in a range of situations, from interviews to fundraising and from changing minds to establishing strong relationships.

15. Excuse Me: The Survival Guide to Modern Business Etiquette

By Rosanne J. Thomas

When Steve Jobs traded a coat and tie for turtlenecks and jeans, he gave too many younger professionals the idea that the only etiquette that matters anymore is be-yourself casual. This is a huge miscalculation. Etiquette in business is more important than ever, warns Rosanne J. Thomas, founder of Protocol Advisors, an etiquette-training consultancy. Sure, it might not be the same as in the day of the gray-flannel-suit crowd, but good manners are indispensable for avoiding confusion and social blunders in today’s fast-paced workspaces.

The collapse of clear-cut rules of etiquette and the advent of open-plan offices and increasing connectivity spur energy and creativity. At the same time, the chance of unintentionally offending someone (even your boss) can skyrocket. In Excuse Me, Thomas offers guidance on such up-to-the-minute issues as cellphone use in meetings, proper office attire, electronic manners, business dining, telecommuting and more.

16. Earning It: Hard-Won Lessons From Trailblazing Women at the Top of the Business World

By Joann S. Lublin

Only 4.6% of Fortune 500 CEOs are women, and Joann S. Lublin, former management news editor for Wall Street Journal, includes many of them, as well as other female business leaders, in Earning It. 

Most were “firsts,” just as Lublin, in 1969, became the first female summer intern at Wall Street Journal’s Washington bureau. “They dismantled the old boys club, destroyed myths about the capabilities of female leaders and continue to serve as role models.” Lessons are to be learned, but Lublin, a first-rate writer, makes the stories of this “unique elite” a pleasure to read.

17. UnBranding: 100 Branding Lessons for the Age of Disruption

By Scott Stratten and Alison Stratten

Given the shiny tools of the digital age, it’s easy to be distracted from those things that, shockingly, have not changed. In UnBranding, the husband-and-wife duo Alison and Scott Stratten explain that no new app can fix bad customer service, poor products or damaged branding. New business technologies and strategies work better when they are married to certain timeless values.

18. The Geography of Genius: A Search for the World’s Most Creative Places From Ancient Athens to Silicon Valley

By Eric Weiner

Renaissance Italy was a hotbed of creativity and innovation. Viennese coffee shops of the 19th century hosted a generation of intellectuals, such as Sigmund Freud. Ancient Greece birthed philosophers aplenty. Why? “Certain places, at certain times, produced a bumper crop of brilliant minds and good ideas,” writes Eric Weiner, author of the best-selling The Geography of Bliss. 

In The Geography of Genius, Weiner takes readers on a delightful armchair road trip to visit these genius “clusters” and learn about the relationship between culture, creativity, geography and history. Weiner’s snappy writing and unique observations round out the enjoyable adventure.

19. The Healthy Workplace: How to Improve the Well-Being of Your Employees—and Boost Your Company’s Bottom Line

By Leigh Stringer

Everyone would like to promote employee wellness, but does it really boost your bottom line? Leigh Stringer, a workplace strategy expert and founder of WomanUp, marshals impressive evidence that it does. Studies, she says, show that staring at computer screens, eating unhealthy meals at a work desk, long hours, stress and other consequences of squeezing employees too hard is bad strategy. Not only does it result in time and productivity lost to sick days, but it also reduces workers’ efficiency when they are on the job.

While vast numbers of workers “are already trying hard to be healthy at work,” most companies remain “fairly reactive when it comes to employee health.” In The Healthy Workplace, Stringer uses herself as a guinea pig, trying new techniques, nutritional ideas and up-to-date behavioral science. It’s a fun trip, but it’s also an effective way to provide lots of research and information. Stringer concludes with a detailed chapter called “The Business Case for Health” that convincingly argues that proactive health strategies result in an impressive return on investment.

20. Make Your Own Waves: The Surfer’s Rules for Innovators and Entrepreneurs

By Louis Patler

Surfers have produced a number of innovative products and successful businesses, including the GoPro camera. Louis Patler, who is both a consultant and surfer, offers a 10-point plan on how to develop the characteristics successful surfers and entrepreneurs share, beginning with learning to swim. The other nine include getting wet; deciding to ride; always looking outside; committing, charging and shredding; paddling back out; never turning your back on the ocean; daring big; never surfing alone; and staying stoked. These metaphors prove to be surprisingly powerful teaching tools that stick in the mind in Patler’s book, Make Your Own Waves.

21. Platform Revolution: How Networked Markets Are Transforming the Economy and How to Make Them Work for You

By Geoffrey Parker, Marshall Van Alstyne and Sangeet Paul Choudary

The authors of Platform Revolution, two academics and an analyst, argue that digital platforms will continue to disrupt legacy businesses for the foreseeable future. They acknowledge that this is not altogether good and can lead to unemployment, such as when Craigslist demolished newspaper classified advertising. But the shift will also generate billions in value and provide unforeseen opportunities for those who know how it works.

22. Scaling Lean: Mastering the Key Metrics for Startup Growth

By Ash Maurya

Just as almost no one waits for yesterday’s news to arrive on the doorstep, startups in the digital age cannot afford to rely on yesterday’s metrics. Ash Maurya, creator of the one-page business modeling tool Lean Canvas and author of the startup guide Running Lean, subjects every angle of business measurement to rigorous inquiry. The result is Scaling Lean, a book of efficient tools for entrepreneurs to measure the feasibility of their business models.

23. Simplify: How the Best Businesses in the World Succeed

By Richard Koch and Greg Lockwood

The prescription Richard Koch delivers in Simplify boils down to two tactics. The first, “price simplifying,” means ease of manufacture, minimal product variety and the widest sales distribution possible. For example, at the beginning, McDonald’s shrank the traditional diner menu to nine items, eliminated waitstaff and co-opted customers into clearing their own tables. Henry Ford and IKEA are well-known price simplifiers too.

The second principle, “proposition simplifying,” has three components—a product should be intuitive, useful and beautiful. The master of this was Steve Jobs, who famously simplified Apple products by removing controls, leaving out software features and discarding interface options. Other companies that have used this principle include Uber and Google. Simplify is a practical book that can help entrepreneurs improve their business.

24. Superbosses: How Exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of Talent

By Sydney Finkelstein

Sydney Finkelstein possesses a big brain, gaudy credentials (consultant, speaker, professor of management at Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business) and a clear, entertaining writing style. Perhaps the most striking thing about Superbosses is how optimistic—even sunny—Finkelstein’s tone is. An influential restaurateur and chef, Finkelstein spent 10 years investigating business leadership in search of patterns across a range of industries.

And he found them. A superboss is not what Finkelstein calls a “bossy boss,” the Donald Trump-style of outsized personalities who “crack the whip and push employees to their limits.” A superboss, regardless of other qualities, is someone who develops talent. Finkelstein identifies 18 primary superbosses and a few dozen “likely superbosses,” including comedy’s Lorne Michaels and Jon Stewart, musician Miles Davis, NFL coach Bill Walsh and fashion’s Ralph Lauren. Each has spawned generations of talented leaders. What’s more, Superbosses is that rare business book that does more than inform. It’s positively hard to put down.

Photo credit: PIC SNIPE/Courtesy of Shutterstock

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Best time management books

Part of struggling with time management is deciding which tasks to focus on each day. With seemingly unlimited options and distractions, finding your priorities can be challenging. 

Below, we look at 10 of the best time management books, both classics and current bestsellers, each with its own system of prioritization and structure. Take a look and find one with time management strategies that will work best for you.

1. Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World

By Cal Newport

In Newport’s Deep Work, readers learn how to find and cultivate a capacity for deep focus on important tasks. The book’s first part makes a case for how we have lost the ability to focus on complex problems and allow too many things to distract us. The second part offers strategies to help increase your deep work while maintaining your busy schedule. Instead of saying that all distractions are bad, Newport focuses more on incorporating intense focus when required by implementing four rules that help readers transform their habits. 

2. Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals

By Oliver Burkeman

The premise of Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals is that if you live to 80, you’ll have 4,000 weeks to accomplish your goals and priorities. We all know we have limited time, so Burkeman argues that we should focus more on how we will fill our (hopefully) 4,000 weeks with meaning rather than just to-do lists, emails and distractions. Although the book focuses on a spiritual and philosophical approach to time management, it offers tools for constructing a meaningful life and rejecting the idea that we can, or should, do it all.

3. Stress-Free Productivity: A Personalized Toolkit to Become Your Most Efficient and Creative Self

By Alice Boyes, Ph.D.

If a one-size-fits-all approach to time management doesn’t feel like it would be helpful, give Stress-Free Productivity a try. In it, Boyes argues that everyone has their unique productivity quirks that help them accomplish tasks. And because everyone has their own way of being effective, rigid systems probably won’t work. Instead, Boyes offers a framework to help you develop a personal system from the latest research on productivity and provides quizzes to help you find your productivity strengths.

4. The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results

By Gary Keller and Jay Papasan

Many think time management means widening their focus to do as much as possible. Keller and Papasan argue that successful people focus on one thing at a time. Once you establish your main priority, whether career, family or financial goals, you can remove distractions that don’t move you closer to your “one thing.” The book covers tips on learning how to say no, building momentum, staying on track and finding what matters most because discovering your “one thing” can help you find more time for what counts in life. 

5. Time Management

By Brian Tracy

In his book, Tracy focuses on practical time management tips to accomplish big tasks. Many people wish for just an extra hour or two in their day, but most of us don’t believe it’s possible to achieve. However, Tracy provides 21 strategies to help people find up to two hours daily using tips like batching tasks, avoiding procrastination and identifying key result areas. At just 112 pages, it’s a quick read to help you get a little more done each day.

6. 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think

By Laura Vanderkam

Vanderkam is well-known for her time management strategies. Her first of several books, 168 Hours is a classic for those looking to maximize their accomplishments. While everyone has the same 168 hours in a week (24 hours in a day, seven days in a week), Vanderkam noticed that successful people use their time differently. Rather than let important tasks like exercise or family time slip when daily life gets in the way, they use their 168 hours effectively to fit everything into their day. By rearranging your schedule, you’ll have more time for what matters most.

7. Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time

By Brian Tracy

Tracy’s second time management book on our list focuses on reducing procrastination so you can get more done. The title comes from a quote often attributed to Mark Twain: “If it’s your job to eat a frog, best do it first thing in the morning.” Whether or not Mark Twain said it is up for debate, but tackling your most significant problem or most important task (i.e., your “frog”) first thing in the morning to get it out of the way can be a helpful strategy. Tracy provides techniques like breaking a task into smaller pieces and focusing on a single aspect to help you manage your daily “frogs.”

8. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change

By Stephen R. Covey

A classic in personal development and time management, this book details daily habits for readers to incorporate into their lives. The seven habits include being proactive, putting first things first, beginning with the end in mind and sharpening the saw. With Covey’s principles, readers can learn to handle change, take action, develop proactive responses and become more effective in their personal and professional lives. 

9. Stop Procrastinating: A Simple Guide to Hacking Laziness, Building Self Discipline, and Overcoming Procrastination

By Nils Salzgeber

Severe procrastinators may find this time management book helpful. Salzgeber helps people overcome procrastination and the guilt that can come with it. He explains the difference between procrastinators and non-procrastinators and offers more than 20 strategies to help get things done—even when you don’t feel like it. If you’ve ever felt criticized or beaten yourself up for procrastinating too much, this book can help you rethink your struggle and find the motivation to complete necessary tasks.

10. Tranquility by Tuesday: 9 Ways to Calm the Chaos and Make Time for What Matters

By Laura Vanderkam

If the last few years have taught us anything, it’s that the world and life are unpredictable. In Vanderkam’s book Tranquility by Tuesday, she argues that if you want something to happen, you must design your life to make it happen. While you can’t predict every work crisis, child emergency or car repair, you can lay the groundwork to help you prioritize critical tasks. By developing a resilient schedule instead of a perfect schedule, you can prioritize what’s essential and handle the chaos of everyday life.

Bottom line

While each book focuses on different time management techniques, most have the common themes of determining your priorities and establishing a system that works for you. As you read these books, look for a time management system that resonates with you and work on adapting it to fit your life.

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There’s a reason why only 36 people have survived a fall off the Golden Gate Bridge. The bridge is about 245 feet above the water—equivalent to a 25-story building—and the four-second drop has you hitting the water at around 80 miles per hour. Regretting his decision in the millisecond his hands left the rail, Hines managed to position himself so that his feet hit the water first. Then, as if in some fractured fairy tale, a sea lion kept him afloat until the Coast Guard arrived. 

The Kevin Hines story

A lot has changed since that fateful day, but Hines’ commitment as an advocate for mental health has never faltered. In his work as a global public speaker, author and award-winning documentary filmmaker, Hines uses the power of storytelling to empower people to seek the help that will save their lives. His documentary film, Suicide: The Ripple Effect, which he co-wrote and starred in, won the award for Best Story at the Nice International Film Festival in 2018, and his story has reached hundreds of millions of people around the world. 

Hines experienced the power of storytelling first-hand, shortly after his attempt off the Golden Gate Bridge. When Hines gave his first talk—speaking to a group of 120 seventh and eighth graders—he had no intention of sharing his story with anyone. “I was so embarrassed for what I did, and how much I hurt my family and friends with what I did, that I was ready to keep silent for the rest of my life,” Hines recalls.

Yet, immediately following that talk, Hines recalls how several students raised their hands and asked intuitive and empowering questions about mental health. The students were later encouraged to send letters to Hines, and in six of those letters, students wrote about their active suicidal crises. As they were minors, parents and teachers screened those letters and could take action. “Those kids were given the help they needed, and they’re alive today,” Hines notes. 

Kevin Hines’ new book: The Art of Being Broken

Most recently, Hines released the second in a three-part memoir series entitled, The Art of Being Broken: How Storytelling Saves Lives. In his first of the series, Cracked, Not Broken: Surviving and Thriving After a Suicide Attempt, Hines delves into the factors that contributed to his attempted suicide and the fallout that followed. As Hines describes, his first memoir tells the story of his life journey and how, despite being placed in foster care and later adopted, he was diagnosed with the same brain disease (bipolar depression) that both his biological parents had. 

Available now, The Art of Being Broken: How Storytelling Saves Lives centers on how people can manage their hurt to become unbroken. In addition to Hines sharing more of his personal journey toward recovery, he gives voice to six other contributing authors who also share their stories of triumph over incredible adversity. “These contributing authors are genuine out there doing the work to change the lives of other people every single day,” Hines explains. 

Giving other storytellers a platform creates a ripple effect in which Hines’ message can reach as many people as possible. As Hines shares, stories are 22 times more memorable than statistics or facts, and when somebody tells their story—whether on a podcast, in an article or some other medium—their brains sync up with the storytelling, and the neurons and synapses in the brain fire in the same way. “You’re feeling a sense of empathy that is visceral and palpable, and that’s why I wrote this book with these contributing authors—because their stories are just as important as mine,” he says. 

When the emotional pain is overbearing

In his teachings, Hines stresses that suicide does not end the pain; it just takes away the entire possibility for things to change or get better. For those who are experiencing suicidal ideations, Hines advises to first look into a mirror and say, “My thoughts do not have to become my actions,” and second, to turn to someone near you—whether you know them or not—and say four simple words: “I need help, now.” 

“You may be in the greatest lethal emotional pain you’ve ever experienced right now, but just because you’re in a world of pain today does not mean you don’t get to have that beautiful tomorrow,” he shares. His biggest motto is “Be here, tomorrow.”

Visit www.suicide.org for suicide awareness, prevention and support.

Photo courtesy of Kevin Hines.

The post Kevin Hines’ New Book Shares How Storytelling Can Save Lives appeared first on SUCCESS.

Today, understanding the basics of personal development has become more important than ever. As with learning any new skill, personal growth takes skill and effort. But with so many book options available, it’s easier than ever to read more.

With that in mind, let’s look at the 12 best personal development books to help you optimize the most important person in your life: you.

Classic personal development books

1. The Art of Exceptional Living

By Jim Rohn

With both humor and directness, Rohn lays the groundwork for personal development and professional success. More than 30 years of human behavior studies and a celebrated career as a top motivational speaker provide him with a legacy of authority. Yet, his intimate anecdotes and wit make this work inviting for all readers seeking a strategy to improve their lives.

Buy this book on Amazon.

2. Think and Grow Rich

By Napoleon Hill

This timeless classic remains as relevant today as when it took the world by storm in 1937. Flawlessly merging practical wisdom with motivational insights, Hill empowers readers to harness their thoughts and actions to unlock the secrets to lasting prosperity. Drawing from interviews with hundreds of successful individuals, his book presents a roadmap for readers to achieve their personal and professional development goals.

Buy this book on Amazon.

3. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

By Stephen Covey

Developing a growth mindset helps us gain traction on the road to success. But rather than a simple switch that we turn on to “think positive,” it requires building the right mental habits of achievement. In this New York Times bestseller, Covey lays out the methods and practices needed to set goals, prioritize, take action, think to win and much more.

Buy this book on Amazon.

4. How to Win Friends & Influence People

By Dale Carnegie

Some things never change. Personal influence still drives success. But influence requires knowing how to communicate effectively in order to build meaningful relationships. Yet, the pitfalls are many. A strong approach can lead people to feel manipulated and turn from you. In this timeless classic, Carnegie lays the groundwork for gaining the confidence and trust of others.

Buy this book on Amazon.

5. Awaken the Giant Within

By Tony Robbins

Individuals are complicated. To operate at peak performance, we must first master ourselves. That includes mastery of our mental, emotional, physical and even financial condition. Psychology expert Robbins helps you gain this control through fundamental strategies and step-by-step methods outlined in this book, which has been used by millions in their individual personal development journey.

Buy this book on Amazon.

6. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success

By Carol S. Dweck

A catalyst in the development of the growth mindset model, Mindset set the standard for a new approach in personal growth. Authored by Stanford University psychologist Dweck, Ph.D., this classic book first distinguished growth versus fixed mindsets and created a new genre in personal development and fulfillment. Limit self-doubt, build your resilience and grow with this bestseller.

Buy this book on Amazon.

Recent personal development books

1. Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance

By Angela Duckworth

In this New York Times bestseller, Duckworth invites readers on a journey to explore how people cope in some of the most challenging situations. From visiting cadets surviving their first days at West Point to interviews with high achievers such as JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon, Grit explores the passions and perseverance that drive success.

Buy this book on Amazon.

2. Hidden Genius

By Polina Marinova Pompliano

The world’s most successful people often seem mysterious to us. Published in 2023, Hidden Genius pulls back the curtain and unlocks the mental frameworks of what drives high achievers to success. More importantly, she unpackages the secrets of their methods of problems-solving, high creativity and performance under pressure.

Buy this book on Amazon.

3. Atomic Habits

By James Clear

Daily practice, both good and bad, can become habits. Building the best daily habits is key to personal growth. In Atomic Habits, Clear dives deep into the power of how even seemingly small habits and incremental changes can help us achieve our dreams. A New York Times bestseller, Atomic Habits is a personal development book that has helped more than 10 million readers become a happier, more resilient version of themselves.

Buy this book on Amazon.

4. The Five Second Rule

By Mel Robbins

Entrepreneur, talk show host and in-demand motivational speaker Robbins wants you to transform your life with confidence and courage. Most importantly, she knows the proven strategies and tools to get you there. Whether lack of motivation, negative self-talk or self-doubt hold you back, Robbins provides science-backed methods to defeat procrastination and take action for success.

Buy this book on Amazon.

5. Daring Greatly

By Brené Brown

Personal development and growth don’t mean we need to be perfect. On the contrary, Brown teaches readers that expecting perfection from ourselves leads to paralysis, inaction, stress and unhappiness. Daring Greatly provides a framework to help readers accept their vulnerabilities to become more mindful and transform the ways in which we live, love, lead and flourish.

Buy this book on Amazon.

6. What Color is Your Parachute?

By Richard N. Bolles

With a focus on job-hunting and career success, What Color is Your Parachute? is somewhat of an outlier on our list of best personal development books. Yet, knowing how to find and land the right job is key to overall happiness and success. And the lessons are transferable. Here, Bolles teaches practical methods for success ranging from self-inventory to unveil your passions to negotiating the right salary.

Buy this book on Amazon.

Supplement your personal development reading by enrolling in the Win the Day Accelerator, a comprehensive, 8-part program designed to help you unlock your full potential. Covering topics such as purpose, stress management, awareness and more, it will help you achieve a Winning Life.

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