10 Best Books for Claiming Your Everyday Power
Ah, power. We all want it. Its siren song escapes no one. Problem is, a lot of us say we want power but we’ve bungled up the goal and are missing it altogether.
For most of us, we think of it as the power to be, to do and to have what we want. It’s the power to control our unruly ourselves and the chaotic world of outcomes. We want power over things, people and circumstances. We want domination.
Power like this is not power at all. It’s force.
Force is most definitely not power.
Force requires a lot of energy output. It often has something to do with manipulation of people, things or circumstances – and that’s exhausting.
True power, everyday power, is more subtle and far more profound. Unlike force, power does not drain you of energy or require incredible reserves to create an effect. Power, when you’re tapped into it, is a self-renewing energy source, ever flowing, ever abundant.
And you can have power or be in your power even when things are falling apart.
It’s also free, available to every person on earth and requires no particular talent.
Sounds like an enchanting promise, no?
Though it might be free, it does have an entry requirement- one that few of us are willing to pay: The requirement is taking time to shut out the outside world, go within and listen. Consistently. Every day. Over a lifetime.
Don’t groan (I can hear you). Or roll your eyes. Take a deep breath and remember: This is about power. You say you want it. Do you really?
Ok, let’s get reading.
The books on this list are entry points and provide a variety of pathways that lead toward your goal. There is no one way. The way is the way you choose.
1. Power vs. Force: The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior, David R. Hawkins
No self-respecting book list about everyday power would leave this one off the list. At this book’s core is the science of kinesiology, which is based on the theory that all things have an energy field. However, its message is so much more and suggests that we have within us something far greater than force. We have power.
2. The Power of Full Engagement by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz
Time is a fixed quantity. We each have 24 hours, 7 days a week. The way to manage time is to manage your energy. Using 25 years of working with athletes to help them engage at higher states of performance, they give a roadmap for how to align yourself mentally, emotionally and spiritually to perform at your most powerful.
3. Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman
Self-awareness, self-discipline and empathy are the unsung heros of some of the most successful among us. And there is immense power is these qualities. This is a guidebook to understanding yourself and your emotions using brain and behavioral science, real life examples and applicable solutions. It gives you an intelligent way know and manage your emotions for your own good and those around you.
4. The Law of Divine Compensation by Marianne Williamson
You are what you pay attention to. Meaning, what ideas, beliefs and opinions you reinforce through repetitive thought form becomes the lens through which you experience the world. This book invites you to take a look at your work, prosperity, success and money through a new lens thereby rising to new heights of power.
5. The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer
This book explores and provides answers to the questions like, “What would it be like to be free from limitations and soar beyond your boundaries?” and “What can you do each day to find this kind of inner peace and freedom?” It provides a path inward to help you connect with where true power lies.
There is nothing worse for a reader to hear than listening to someone say they lost track of the book. You need to finish the book as a tradition in book reading; otherwise you will never know what the book entails or what it’s really about.
6. Do More Great Work by Michael Bungay Staneir
Most people spend most of their time being busy. And most people feel a lack of meaning in their lives, too. Doing work that engages, and expands you, and that has impact and meaning, is a powerful path toward creating success rooted in your own ecosystem of values and desires. This book is a simple roadmap to creating that work for yourself.
7. The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg
We are our habits. A fascinating look into what habits are, how we form them and how to change them. The first 2-3 chapters are the strongest and hold the information most of us are looking for: How to change our habits. This book is rife with strong examples of how people and businesses changed their habits and ultimately makes a case for how we can all change our habits to better support what we want most.
8. Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself, Joe Dispenza
Using quantum physics, neuroscience, brain chemistry, biology, and genetics, this book provides not only the science behind how our brains work but the how to/application tools to help you make the changes you want to make, as well. As one reviewer says, this is a “manual for rewiring your mental and emotional circuitry.”
9. Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink
Living and working from a heightened state of excellence isn’t always easy. It requires both inspiration (internally driven) and motivation (externally driven) factors. This book focuses on the latter, examining it from the lens of the workplace. There’s a bit of padding in the book, but it’s an important read to understand what motivation is and what motivates you.
10. Re-Create Your Life, by Morty Lefkoe
Most, if not all, of our problems are caused by repetitive destructive beliefs. What Lefkoe offers is a method that gives people a way to “quickly and permanently eliminate the beliefs that are responsible for virtually all…undesirable behavior and emotions.” This is a book, like the others, that gets underneath the surface and directly to the source of power, which lies within you.
Power is now yours for the claiming. Reading and applying the lessons and methods from just one of the books will change your life. Read all ten and you’ll be supersonic. But know, this list is by no means a complete one. There are so many resources available to you...just begin.
