5 Habit Books That Will Change Your Life

Whether you want to build a better business, budget, or body — habits are the building blocks for change. Little by little, day-by-day you can become stronger, faster, and more confident in any area you want to see improvement. Instead of wasting your time reading tons of sub-par books to find the gold, we’ve done the hard work for you. After hours of reading and research, these are the top 5 habit books that get our Learn Stash stamp of approval.

High-Performance Habits by Brendon Burchard tops our list of the best habit books with his comprehensive take on habit building. In his book, you’ll discover the HP6 model — which is simply his code name for the 6 habits he’s discovered all high performers have in common. Backed by mountains of research and his experience working with people like Oprah Winfrey — this book easily backs up its claims.

Why it works:

Brendon has spent years building one of the world’s largest pools of data featuring high performers. From this massive data set, he’s distilled it into 6 foundational habits. Along the way, Brendon even offers free resources for better defining your habits and personalizing the HP6.

Who it’s for:

Everyone. Seriously, this habit book checks all the boxes and stays out of the weeds. Brendon has an approachable writing style and has created an extremely easy-to-read book. High-Performance Habits covers practical topics like finding clarity, generating energy, increasing productivity, and building influence. These are principles you’ll encounter every single day so you’ll be able to put them into action immediately.

With a name like Atomic Habits, it shouldn’t be a surprise this book made it to the top of the habit books list. In Atomic Habits, James Clear provides some well-researched habit building principles that are must-know if you want to take things to the next level. He covers the psychology of habit building in the most accessible way possible and provides loads of habit “hacks” that will make your healthier habits more attainable than ever before.

Why it works:

James Clear has discovered the exact reasons why some of our habits stick and others don’t. By reverse-engineering both healthy and unhealthy habits, James will help you get to the root of the behaviors you want to correct and improve.

Who it’s for:

Anyone wanting to develop a strong, dependable habit system. If you geek out on psychology and methods for getting your mind to work for you, you’ll love this book.

Limitless by Jim Kwik is a brilliant crash course on unlocking your brain’s full potential. Throughout the book you’ll discover the secret powers of your mindset, motivation, and methods. As you read through you’ll learn about the true “limitless” potential of your mind and even some nutritional tips to better care for your brain.

Why it works:

Jim Kwik is a world-renowned “brain coach” and has trained top performers like Will Smith. He breaks down the concepts as simple as possible and then supplies sticky phrases to ensure you never forget.

Who it’s for:

Anyone can appreciate this book — but this book speaks straight to the hearts of productivity nerds and life hackers. Throughout the book, you’ll discover tips on memorization, speed reading, and even brain foods.

Elastic Habits is a simple, no-BS book entirely focused on Stephen Guise’s elastic habits system. What makes this book stand out is the approachability and flexibility of the elastic habits system.

Why it works:

Building healthier habits isn’t easy and it can be downright disappointing if you let yourself down several days in the row. The elastic habits system addresses this problem head-on by recommending you set multiple goals with ascending and descending difficulty. With an elastic habit, your worst day might mean simply a walk around the block, but on your best day, it might mean stretching your habit to a mile run.

Who it’s for:

This book is great for habit building beginners and those who are ready to give up on their habit-building abilities. In Elastic Habits, you’ll learn the foundations of better habits as well as the most effective methods for staying flexible and adaptable along your self-improvement journey.

The One Thing by Gary Keller helps you find habit-building success by teaching you to simply do… One. Thing. At. A. Time. After reading this book you’ll know how to break down even your most ambitious goals into manageable, bite-sized pieces.

Why it works:

The One Thing tackles one of the biggest hurdles of habit building. The human mind is meant to focus on single tasks and can easily be overwhelmed by too many options or too many steps. The One Thing gets this better than any other book out there and will help you set realistic goals and follow through with massive action.

Who it’s for:

This book is great for anyone wanting to set ambitious goals and will be especially helpful to those in leadership & management as the “One Thing” concept can apply to virtually any goal you have in mind.

Whatever goals you have in mind, one thing is for sure — they’ll each be achieved one day at a time. If you’re serious about building better habits you can’t go wrong here. Grab one (or all) of these habit books and get to reading! A better you tomorrow starts with better habits today.