How’s your mindset?

If you strive to continue growing as a creative entrepreneur, you’ll have to upgrade your belief system every time you reach a new level. Mindset work is an ongoing process. Luckily, there are plenty of books on the subject.

In this episode, I’m sharing my 5 favorite books about mindset.

You are A Badass By Jen Sincero

The Gist: Your thoughts are stopping you from living an awesome life.

If you’ve never done any mindset work, You Are A Badass is a great starting point because it covers everything from self-love and gratitude to meditation and forgiveness.

Jen Sincero wrote the type of book that I hope to write one day soon. Her writing is approachable, witty, and just enough kick in the pants to not feel like it’s too fluffy.

The core premise of this book can be summed up in this quote, “It’s just as easy to believe we’re awesome as it is to believe we’re giant sucking things.”

Reading this book feels like getting a much needed pep talk from a friend.

You Are A Badass At Making Money By Jen Sincero

The Gist: Your negative beliefs about money are keeping you broke.

“We’ve been raised to believe that you have to work hard to make money, and certainly there are times when this is true, but the real secret is you have to take huge, uncomfy risks. You have to do stuff you’ve never done before, to make yourself visible, to acknowledge your own awesomeness, to risk looking stupid.”

Jen Sincero touched on money mindset in the original You Are A Badass, but this book goes deeper and offers activities after every chapter.

My favorite quote – “The walls of your comfort zone are lovingly decorated with your lifelong collection of favorite excuses.” ― Jen Sincero

Unf*ck Yourself By Gary John Bishop

The Gist: Nobody is standing in your way except for yourself.

This book is a short read at only 9 chapters but I like that each chapter explains a different assertion.

My favorite assertions:

I am willing – “It starts with you and ends with you. No one can make you willing, and you cannot move forward until you really are willing to make the next move.”

I am relentless – This resonated with me because of the work I’ve through KCTS. When someone asks me to explain what it means to chase the stars, I always say it’s to be “In relentless pursuit of your passions”. This chapter affirms that.

Mindset By Carol Dweck

The Gist: There are 2 mindsets, fixed and growth.

Of all of the mindset books that I’ve shared, this one was the most technical. Dr. Carol Dweck talks about having a fixed mindset vs a growth mindset.

People with a fixed mindset assume that intelligence and creative ability are static. Basically, what you’re born with is what you’ve got and we can’t change it.

On the other hand, people with a growth mindset believe that their basic abilities can be developed by working at it—brains and talent are just the starting point.

This book is a great reminder that talent isn’t everything. You can work to get better and make improvements continually throughout life.

Atomic Habits By James Clear

The Gist: Making tiny improvements every day can have a compounding effect over time.

This book isn’t directly about mindset, but there is some overlap in how mindset affects how willing you are to change your habits.

James Clear talks a lot about how what you believe (your identity) drives your actions. It’s hard to change your habits if you don’t change the underlying beliefs that lead to your previous poor habits.

My 3 Favorite Reading Apps

Do you have a library card? If so, you can probably find all of the books that I shared digitally through your local library.

  • Overdrive – OverDrive lets you access your local library’s digital collection including ebooks, audiobooks, and videos.
  • Hoopla – Hoopla has a pretty good selection of audiobooks in the mindset/ personal development space. There are no holds, books are available to checkout instantly.
  • Libby – Libby was created by OverDrive so they serve the same function but it’s got a nicer interface.