10 Books That'll Help You Up Your Productivity

Struggle with procrastination? Need to learn how to make better use of your time? Want to figure out how to get more done each day? These are the books I recommend:

1. Do the Work by Steven Pressfield: This should be required reading for everyone. I rate it as my favorite productivity-related book. If you haven’t read it, do yourself a favor and buy a copy now. You’ll thank me.

2. The War of Art by Steven Pressfield: Yeah, I really like this author. A LOT. This one will help you break through all those inner demons and obstacles so you can get to your creative work.

3. Manage Your Day-to-Day: This fun read is a book compiled of different essays from some of the movers and shakers in the time-management field such as Tony Schwartz and Scott Belsky.

4. Your Brain at Work by David Rock: If you want a little insight into the science of how your brain works, this is the book for you. You’ll figure out why your brain sometimes feels overtaxed, why it’s so hard to focus, and so much more.

5. The Willpower Instinct by Kelly McGonigal: This one isn’t focused on time-managment, but you need to increase your willpower if you want to get more done each day. Why? When evening hits and you really want to work on your side business but you feel too exhausted, you need your willpower to kick in, right? This book is also amazing if you want to kick a habit.

6. Switch by Chip and Dan Heath: This book is one of my favorite nonfiction books. It will help you make changes that are freaking hard to make and stick with. You’ll learn why certain techniques don’t work and which ones do.

7. The Power of Full Engagement by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz: Have you ever realized that when you try to push through when you’re running on empty, the work you get done is filled with errors or is just cruddy? Well, these authors will tell you why you should be managing your energy–not your time–and they’ll tell you exactly how to do it. This book completely changed how I manage my time on workdays.

8. Talent is Overrated by Geoff Colvin: This book will help you realize WHAT you should be spending your time on to become world-class at what you do. I’ve read this one twice.

9. The Art of Doing by Camille Sweeney and Josh Gosfield: This book is unlike a lot of others, because it delves into specific people who are classified as “super achievers” and how they get so much done. You’ll learn a little something from each person’s story.

10. 168 Hours by Laura Vanderkam: You have the same amount of hours each week as Oprah and Barack Obama. How much do you get done compared with them? This book will walk you through making better use of those 168 hours each week.

Is your favorite productivity book missing from this list? Add it in the comments below!