5 Books That Can Actually Change Your Life

I’ll be honest with you: I am not a big reader. I love to write, but reading? It doesn’t happen nearly as often as I’d like — and before you ask, audiobooks aren’t my thing either.

But the few books I have picked up have changed my life in ways I never expected. They taught me how to be my own person. How to step back from my business and protect my mental health. How to stop making excuses for the things I hadn’t done, and how to stop apologizing for wanting what I want.

These five are the ones that did it. A couple of them I’m even re-reading right now. I hope they do for you what they did for me.

1. Girl Code — Cara Alwill Leyba

I’ve had this book since the day it came out, and it’s still the one I recommend first.

Girl Code is what made me stop living by everyone else’s rules and start writing my own. It’s about empowering women — mindset shifts, confidence, and the reality that the business world can pit women against each other when it should be doing the exact opposite. It’s also the reason I’ve met some incredible women in this space, women I still talk to today.

This one is my must-read. I’m reading it again right now, because that’s how good it is.

2. Buy Yourself the Damn Flowers — Tam Kaur

I found Tam Kaur in my late twenties through one of her YouTube videos, and I’ve been hooked ever since. She’s built an entire brand around self-love and confidence, with this big-sister energy that makes you feel like she’s talking directly to you. I still put her videos on when I’m not working or blogging.

When she launched her book I couldn’t buy it — it wasn’t out in the US yet. So I listened to it on Spotify instead, and even as someone who does not do audio, I loved it.

Her whole message is to stop waiting for someone else to bring you flowers and go buy them yourself. That one hit me. I had to learn to love myself first, and to be alone first, before I could really understand myself and my ways. And yes — I’m buying the physical book and her three journals for my birthday next month. With flowers. Because I can.

3. Atomic Habits — James Clear

Nobody explains habits like James Clear.

I always knew about habit building. I just could never actually do it. This book is what finally made it click. It walks you through building your own habits step by step, but not the way you’d expect — instead of breaking one big goal into smaller goals, he keeps shrinking them until they’re almost laughably small. It’s less about discipline and more about changing how you think about the work in front of you.

Full disclosure: I haven’t finished it yet. It’s still a must-read.

4. The Freedom-Based Business Method — Natalie Ellis

This one showed up in my mailbox out of nowhere. I never ordered it. My fiancé told me I had a package and I genuinely had no idea what it was. I recognized the author’s name and still didn’t put two and two together.

Long story short: it arrived exactly when I needed it. I was lost, I was confused, and I had no idea what I actually wanted to do. My schedule was quietly wrecking me, mentally and physically.

The book is about stepping back. Taking real time for yourself, then returning to your business and honestly looking at where things went sideways — usually because you added things that never needed to be there in the first place. That was me. My plate had:

• my blog
• my podcast
• my YouTube channel
• my book
• my wedding
• and a whole lot of other things

So I took the break, for as long as I needed it. Then I came back and asked myself one question: what do I actually enjoy the most? The answer was writing. That’s why blogging is my main focus right now, alongside the wedding. YouTube and the podcast will come back — just not yet.

I’ve only had this book about a month, so everything above comes from the first two or three chapters. I’m still learning. And I already highly recommend it.

5. No Excuses! — Brian Tracy

Brian Tracy teaches you how to run a business and how to be a business person — two very different things.

No Excuses! is exactly what it sounds like. Stop making excuses for yourself. Stop saying “someday I’ll.” Stop listing all the reasons you can’t start. Just start. If you want to start a business, start it. If you want to start the blog, the channel, whatever it is — Nike it. Just do it.

And I know what you’re thinking: you need money, you need equipment, you need all of it lined up first. You don’t. I started this blog with $200. That covered my hosting, my domain (free with the hosting), my theme, and my email.

He also teaches you how to be a people person — how to actually listen to someone and find the solution. I’ve had this book since 2012 and it’s still on my shelf.

That’s the list. Five books, and not one of them left me the same as it found me.

If you’re picking just one, start with Girl Code. And if you do read one of these, come tell me — I want to know which one got you.