Read These  Books on Success to Achieve Your Goals in 2018.

01. Developing the Leader Within You 2.0 by John C. Maxwell

This is a classic business book updated for the digital age. While some of the 25-year-old lessons from the original still apply, there is so much more to be learned in relation to today’s environment. The book deals with all critical areas of leadership, including vision, influence and motivation.

By focusing on transformative leadership practices, Maxwell takes 40 years of professional experience and applies it to the new business models and ways of thinking. Together, the traditional and new perspectives on leadership align to deliver a relevant road map for today’s leaders, on everything from startups to large enterprises.

02. INSPIRED: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love by Marty Cagan

Everyone wants to create the next iPhone X. 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.

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.

03. Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges by Amy Cuddy

This book inspires you to reflect more on what you are capable of doing. It shows you how to channel your talents and unique qualities to take on all types of barriers that appear to be standing in your way. Cuddy’s 2012 TED Talk still stands as the second most watched TED Talk due to her ability to engage and inspire those in the audience. She brings that same passion and practical advice to this book.

The concept of presence hasn’t been discussed much, but it is one of the things that makes the difference between people who engage their audiences and those who don’t. Cuddy shows you how to develop presence and use it for all sorts of nerve-wracking situations you have to face in life—interviews, raise negotiations, business and investor pitches, and more.

04. 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? However, 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. The Reum brothers, 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.

05. The Million-Dollar, One-Person Business: Make Great Money. Work the Way You Like. Have the Life You Want. by Elaine Pofeldt

The gig economy has produced some wealthy freelancers, which means that a million-dollar business is not just for people who have a team of employees. In fact, there are one-person bands earning that lifestyle solo. If you are reaching for that goal, too, then this book is for you, because it includes advice from hundreds of people who have already achieved it.

You’ll learn how to identify and launch the types of businesses that have that potential. Plus, you’ll discover how you can keep growing your business to realize even greater success down the road.

06. Type R: Transformative Resilience for Thriving in a Turbulent World by Ama Marston and Stephanie Marston ​

For years, it seemed there were only Type A and Type B personalities. However, with so much changing radically about the world we live in, these authors believe it’s time to forge a new personality type: Type R, those resilient people, businesses and communities who are able to work through the chaos and crisis that have come to characterize so much of work and life today.

These resilient people set a strong example for how other personality types can work and thrive in tough conditions, too. To illustrate their point, the Marstons use numerous stories of Type R’s to show you how you can develop this personality trait and help your company or community do the same.

07. Outside Insight: Navigating a World Drowning in External Databy Jorn Lyseggen

Outside Insight delivers a different take on how to approach data as part of your daily business decision-making. Typically, this data comes from inside the organization, and it may not reveal the whole picture for business owners or company executives. This book delves into other places you can mine incredible information.

Lyseggen discusses how to decipher the “digital breadcrumbs” your competition has left for you to see. After reading these insights, you’ll be able to identify this external data, know how to collect and analyze it, and determine how to combine it with your internal data for a real advantage.

08. Crushing It!: How Great Entrepreneurs Build Their Business and Influence—and How You Can, Too by Gary Vaynerchuk

This newly released book provides you with the incredible ideas of 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.

09. Never Lose a Customer Again: Turn Any Sale Into Lifelong Loyalty in 100 Days by Joey Coleman

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.

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. How to Make Sh*t Happen: Make More Money. Get in Better Shape. Create Epic Relationships. Control Your Life. Do It Now. by Sean Whalen

Nearly all the topics that matter most to us also happen to be the things that the majority of our unmet annual resolutions, and they’re all covered in this book. 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.

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.

11. Superconnector: Stop Networking and Start Building Relationships That Matter by Scott Gerber and Ryan Paugh

You might not want to hear that you shouldn’t be networking in the way you have been accustomed to, 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.

12. Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don’t Have All the Facts by Annie Duke

If you play poker or follow the circuit, then Annie Duke is a very familiar name. What you may not know is that she parlayed that career and experience into a new career path as a business consultant. Considering what poker teaches you about people, communication and life, it makes sense that she is now helping business owners and executives improve their “game.”

In her book, Duke touches on something we have all faced as business owners or executives: having to make decisions with little or no information. This uncertainty often causes us to freeze or panic. Instead, Duke argues that it’s OK—and often necessary—to make decisions with such scant information. She shares tips on how to better assess situations in order to make the right decisions. I’d bet on this book being a relevant read for any decisions you plan on making.

13. The Book of Mistakes: 9 Secrets to Creating a Successful Future by Skip Prichard

Everyone makes mistakes in life and work. However, it seems like some people make fewer of them and bounce back faster. If rebounding from failure has been a struggle for you, then it’s time to read this book. Part parable, part self-help, part business strategy, the book follows a fictional character that you might see as yourself or as reflective of things you have done in your own life.

Prichard covers nine key mistakes that hold people back from success. Then, he shares how you can move past them and achieve whatever you set your sights on..

14. Big Potential: How Transforming the Pursuit of Success Raises Our Achievement, Happiness, and Well-Being by Shawn Achor

So much of the world operates on short-term thinking and delivery. We want instant gratification, established talent and immediate results. According to Achor, we should be more focused on the idea of potential, which means taking a long-term approach.

As a follow-up to The Happiness Advantage, this book helps you understand that success is not always about competition. Instead, Achor shows readers how human potential has so much more meaning, especially when applied to traits like intelligence, creativity and leadership. The book contains five strategies that you can use to add happiness and meaning to your life, while seeing success as a long-term goal.

15. 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. This book was written by the New York Times best-selling co-author of 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 gives you quizzes and questionnaires, making the practices relatable to your own life so you can enact change immediately.

16. The Financial Diet: A Total Beginner’s Guide to Getting Good with Money by Chelsea Fagan

Are you good with your money? It’s a challenge for a lot of us. Not many people have taken the time to learn about personal finance and how to save money. Whether you are trying to live on an entry-level salary or figure out how to survive starting a business, this book will show you how to leverage technology for budgets, investments and credit management.

Fagan incorporates the advice of many experts who share tips and tricks for living a budget-friendly life, being sensible with your money and planning for your future—rather than spending frivolously. The advice can be useful for those running a business, as well, because the money management skills Fagan shares also apply to your professional financial decisions.

17. 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 are often lost at work and in daily life. Penned by two White House social secretaries, this book is committed to bringing civility back so that we 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.

18. The Year of Less: How I Stopped Shopping, Gave Away My Belongings, and Discovered Life Is Worth More Than Anything You Can Buy in a Store by Cait Flanders

Today’s world and the newer generations are less about consumption and stuff and more about lean, sustainable living. This is a good perspective to add to your own life this year, especially after reading Flanders’ incredible journey of self-discovery. It reads like a novel, but what she experienced actually happened, which is what makes it so extraordinary.

The book shows what’s possible and what in life actually brings true happiness. Flanders also helps us understand why we shop and how these habits can be bad for us. Her intention is to help more people discover a more fulfilling life that goes well beyond things. Rise and Grind: Outperform, Outwork, and Outhustle Your Way to a More Successful and Rewarding Life by Daymond John

John went from working at Red Lobster to becoming the entrepreneur who started FUBU, the clothing line that earns billions of dollars in annual revenue. Since then, he has become the New York Times best-selling author of The Power of Broke. This latest book describes how he used persistence and a strong work ethic to get to the top of his game.

Besides relating his own stories about the need to work hard, John also shares the stories of others in various fields who have achieved similar success. It’s an inspiring read that shows you, too, how to work hard to get what you want.

19. Performance Partnerships: The Checkered Past, Changing Present, and Exciting Future of Affiliate Marketing by Robert Glazer

As a leader in affiliate marketing, 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 with you in this book.

Going 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.

20. Your Best Year Ever: A 5-Step Plan for Achieving Your Most Important Goals by Michael Hyatt

This book’s inspirational title 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 why 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.

21. Hug Your Haters: How to Embrace Complaints and Keep Your Customers by Jay Baer

No one wants to get a bad review or find out that customers don’t like their service experience. Yet these are the people you need to pay the closest attention to and give love to quickly before they turn other people off your brand and business. Baer has extensive experience with customers, what they like and don’t like, and how to handle their online and offline complaints.

In this book, you’ll learn about the two types of haters out there and what makes them respond to your brand the ways they do. To illustrate this for you, Baer uses detailed case studies so you can understand how other companies handled these haters, both well and not so well. No matter how large or small your company may be, this book is worth the read so you can convert the haters into happy customers.

22. The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups by Daniel Coyle

This is the latest book from the New York Timesbest-selling author of The Talent Code. Because groups, whether virtual or in-house, have become such an important part of work, it’s a relevant topic that deserves attention. To unify groups, there must be a culture that goes beyond the individual differences within them that often cause conflict or inhibit productivity.

To provide new perspectives on the much-discussed concept of culture, Coyle examines an array of organizations to illustrate how culture works to help groups. These include the U.S. Navy’s SEAL Team Six, Zappos and the San Antonio Spurs, to name a few. These stories about culture show both successes and failures, illustrating the type of approaches you can take with the groups that are part of your own organization.

23. 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 the book. 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.

24. The Motivation Myth: How High Achievers Really Set Themselves Up to Win by Jeff Haden

Every day, we read about motivation in articles that share various tips on how to achieve more in work and life. However, a lot of the advice is neither very inspiring nor motivational. That is, until Haden put together this insightful and practical guide on how to become more motivated to set goals and see them through.

Haden shows you how motivation is the result of, rather than the impetus for, achieving your goals. It’s a radical take on what we’ve always thought about motivation. He uses his own experiences, as well as those of others, to show you how to change the way you see motivation so you can start achieving more.