In a world with so many books and so little time, we simply have to turn to curators. There are probably thousands of goal setting books but there are only a few really good ones. The following books are my personal favorites and go-to books for setting goals.
Naturally, you don’t have to read all of them. Pick the one you think suits you best and get going. Set your goals and plans on how to achieve them and it’s go time.
Do not dwell in the planning and reading phase for too long.
If you need inspiration, read my article Realistic Goals – List of 20 Examples
The Best Goal Setting Books:
- Goals!: How to Get Everything You Want — Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible by Brian Tracy
- Life-Changing Habits Series: Your Personal Blueprint For Success And Happiness by Thibaut Meurisse
- S.M.A.R.T. Goals Made Simple – 10 Steps to Master Your Personal and Career Goals by S.J. Scott
- Your Best Year Ever: A 5-Step Plan for Achieving Your Most Important Goals by Michael Hyatt
- Upgrade Yourself: Simple Strategies to Transform Your Mindset, Improve Your Habits and Change Your Life by Thibaut Meurisse
Goals!: How to Get Everything You Want — Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible by Brian Tracy
The second edition of Brian Tracy’s bestseller. In this goal setting book, Tracy presents a simple, powerful, and effective system for setting and achieving goals—a method that has been used by more than one million people to achieve extraordinary things. By using the 21 strategies Tracy outlines, you’ll be able to accomplish any goal you set for yourself – big or small.
The first edition of this book sold in hundreds of thousands of copies and has been published in more than twenty languages. It has become the bestselling book on goal setting in history.
Goals! is a lengthy, thorough and thoughtful book on why a goal without a plan is nothing more than a wish and it was and still is a go-to book on goal setting.
Life-Changing Habits Series: Your Personal Blueprint For Success And Happiness by Thibaut Meurisse
In this Life-Changing Habits Series that includes Goal Setting, Habits That Stick and Productivity Beast, you’ll learn:
- How to Set Deeply Satisfying Goals Using the S.M.A.R.T.E.S.T. Goal Method
- The 7 Deadly Mistakes That Prevent You From Achieving Your Goals (And How to Avoid Them)
- How to Align Your Goals With Your Values And Never Run Out Of Motivation
- Why You’re Wasting Your Willpower (and What You Can Do About It)
- How to Implement Life-Long Habits with Minimum Effort
- The REAL Reason You Struggle With Productivity
- Why Productivity Hacks Don’t work
- How to Overcome Procrastination
- How to Use the 1 X 1 X 1 Rule to Supercharge Your Productivity
- And Much More
You’ll find many books on goal setting out there. But Thibaut Meurisses’s series includes a step-by-step workbook.
This is actually the first volume of books (1-3). There is also volume 2 (4-6).
S.M.A.R.T. Goals Made Simple – 10 Steps to Master Your Personal and Career Goals by S.J. Scott
Steve Scott is a bestselling non-fiction author of self-help books focusing on habits. He has 42 books available right now under Steve Scott and SJ Scott.
In the book, “S.M.A.R.T. Goals Made Simple”, you’ll get a ten-step plan for setting and achieving your goals. Unlike other titles, this book will teach you how to turn any idea into an actionable plan. Not only will you get an overview of S.M.A.R.T. goals, but you’ll also get a blueprint for turning them into daily routines.
Goal setting doesn’t have to be difficult. You can achieve any major goal by following the right plan. And “S.M.A.R.T. Goals Made Simple” can help you do this.
Here are some stellar reviews from Amazon:
Reading it while relocating to another state. Reading it to get my life back on track after two-years of chaos. Reading it to make a positive fresh start in our new location. Reading it section by section with notebook in hand chewing on every bite…like eating an elephant one bite at a time.
M.S. Hansen
First, this isn’t the first book by S.J. Scott that I’ve read nor will it be the last. S.J. is a master at distilling usable information into a form that readers can ingest and implement in as little as an hour.
Nancy H.
Your Best Year Ever: A 5-Step Plan for Achieving Your Most Important Goals by Michael Hyatt
Michael Hyatt is the former Chairman & CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers and also a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today Bestselling author of 3 books.
In Your Best Year Ever, Hyatt shares a powerful, proven, research-driven system for setting and achieving goals. Readers learn how to design their best year ever in just five hours.
- Three simple ways to triple the likelihood of achieving their goals
- How to quit-proof their goals
- What to do when they feel stuck
- And much more
Anyone who is tired of not seeing progress in their personal, intellectual, business, relationship, or financial goals will treasure the field-tested wisdom found in these pages.
Upgrade Yourself: Simple Strategies to Transform Your Mindset, Improve Your Habits and Change Your Life by Thibaut Meurisse
This prolific french author has many books on goal setting. Thibaut Meurisse is a blogger, author and founder of Whatispersonaldevelopment.org. He has been featured on major personal development websites such as Goalcast, Lifehack, MotivationGrid, TinyBuddha or PickTheBrain.
In Upgrade Yourself, you’ll learn simple habits and strategies to transform your mindset and change your life for the better.
You’ll be introduced to the core, and only the core, of what you need to know to become the best version of yourself.
