Best Goal Setting Books
Topic List16 books curated124 recommendations totalGoal Setting books, including titles recommended by Derek Sivers, Matt D’Avella and Alexis Ohanian. Most recommended here: Atomic Habits, How to Win Friends and Influence People and Measure What Matters.
Where to start: Goal Setting Books recommended most often
Recommended books, ranked by how many of the 92 people behind this list recommended each one.
- 1Atomic Habits52 recommendations · recommended by Trevor Ncube, Matthew Kobach and Nick Huber
- 2How to Win Friends and Influence People43 recommendations · recommended by Matthew Kobach, Sadia Badiei and Ankur Warikoo
- 3Measure What Matters20 recommendations · recommended by Alok Kejriwal, David Sinclair and Bill Gates
- 4The Third Door4 recommendations · recommended by Matt D’Avella, Alok Kejriwal and Elizabeth Filips
- 5Big Potential2 recommendations · recommended by Adam Grant and Sarah Drasner
An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones
Recommended by Trevor Ncube, Matthew Kobach, Nick Huber and 44 others
A practical system for behavior change built on the idea that tiny, incremental improvements compound into remarkable results. Clear avoids motivation-based advice and instead focuses on environment design, habit stacking, and identity-based change—making good habits frictionless while making bad ones inconvenient. The book is structured in short, actionable chapters, each ending with a cheat sheet, so you can skip around based on what you are trying to fix. It cares less about the psychology of why you procrastinate and more about the engineering of making procrastination harder.
Recommended by Matthew Kobach, Sadia Badiei, Ankur Warikoo and 29 others
Do you feel stuck in life, not knowing how to make it more successful? Do you wish to become more popular? Are you craving to earn more? Do you wish to expand your horizon, earn new clients and win people over with your ideas?
How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs
Recommended by Alok Kejriwal, David Sinclair, Bill Gates and 10 others
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 'For anyone interested in becoming a better manager' - Bill Gates -------- Discover the revolutionary movement behind the explosive growth of Intel, Google, Amazon and Uber.

The Wild Quest to Uncover How the World's Most Successful People Launched Their Careers
Recommended by Matt D’Avella, Alok Kejriwal, Elizabeth Filips and 1 other
The largerthanlife journey of an 18yearold college freshman who set out from his dorm room to track down Bill Gates, Lady Gaga, and dozens more of the world's most successful people to uncover how they broke through and launched their careers.The Third Door takes readers on an…

How Transforming the Pursuit of Success Raises Our Achievement, Happiness, and WellBeing
Recommended by Adam Grant and Sarah Drasner
Bestselling author Shawn Achor shows how to unlock hidden sources of potential in ourselves and others.In a world that thrives on competition and individual achievement, we are measuring and pursuing potential all wrong.

Written in mid-20th-century plain prose, this book delivers short chapters of earnest, faith-centered pep talks, affirmations, and anecdotal examples meant to lift outlook through repeated practice. The most useful moments are the memorable lines and simple routines you can borrow when you need a quick morale lift. Limitations: it leans heavily on faith as the primary remedy, repeats similar stories and lines, and uses dated phrasing that can feel simplistic to readers seeking contemporary psychological language or step-by-step techniques.

Achieving Your Wildly Important Goals
Recommended by Peep Laja

How to Get Everything You Want Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible
Why do some people achieve all their goals while others simply dream of having a better life With over 640,000 copies sold of this classic book on how to set and achieve goals comes the newest edition by bestselling author and motivational speaker Brian Tracy.
A picture book about the creative process, and the way in which "mistakes" can blossom into inspiration.One eye was bigger than the other. That was a mistake.The weird frogcatcow thing It made an excellent bush.And the inky smudges...
Show 4 more books with a single recommendation
Set Winning Goals and Live a Life of Abundance, Success and Achievement
Recommended Goal Setting Books by Alok Kejriwal
Alok Kejriwal recommends 2 books on this list. See all book recommendations by Alok Kejriwal
Recommended Goal Setting Books by Ankur Warikoo
Ankur Warikoo recommends 2 books on this list. See all book recommendations by Ankur Warikoo
Recommended Goal Setting Books by Derek Sivers
Derek Sivers recommends 2 books on this list. See all book recommendations by Derek Sivers
Goal Setting Books: common questions
- What are the most recommended goal setting books?
- Atomic Habits, How to Win Friends and Influence People and Measure What Matters are the most recommended goal setting books on BookMentions, ranked by how many people recommended them.
- Who recommends goal setting books?
- Alok Kejriwal, Ankur Warikoo, Derek Sivers and Matt D’Avella are among the people who recommend books on this list. Each name links to their full set of book recommendations.
- Which of these goal setting books should I read first?
- Atomic Habits is the most recommended here with 52 recommendations, which makes it the safest place to start.
Built from recommendation data, category signals, and source-backed book records. Use this list as a starting point; open any book to see proof, context, and Amazon options where available.
Explore more lists
Best Communication Skills Books
15 booksCommunication Skills books, including titles recommended by Derek Sivers, Alexis Ohanian and Sahil Lavingia. Most recommended here: How to Win Friends and Influence People, Never Split the Difference and Crucial Conversations.
Best Startup Books
79 booksThe startup books founders recommend most — lean methodology, venture funding, product-market fit and hiring. Plus the company histories worth reading before you repeat them.
Best Project Management Books
85 booksProject Management books, including titles recommended by Andrew Chen, Alexis Ohanian and David Cancel. Most recommended here: The Hard Thing About Hard Things, The Lean Startup and Good To Great.
Best Productivity Books
22 booksThe productivity books people actually finish and apply — focus, habits, time management and attention. Ranked by how many people recommended each title, with the source behind every pick.
Best Leadership Books
98 booksThe leadership books founders, executives and military officers recommend most — management, decision-making and organisational culture. Ranked by how many people recommended each title, not by publisher marketing.
Best Psychology Books
58 booksThe psychology books clinicians, researchers and writers recommend most — cognitive bias, behavioural economics, memory and trauma. Including the original studies behind the popular science, with a source for every recommendation.
About this list
This list aggregates books that appear in public recommendation sources, reader-interest signals, and category data. Books are ranked by their position from the source list; recommendation counts and ratings are shown where available. Open any book to see source-backed recommendation proof, editorial context, and Amazon options — the per-book detail page is where the trust signals live.
Recommended books by person: who recommends goal setting books
Books recommended by the people below. Open a profile to see everything they recommend, with the source behind each pick.
- Alok KejriwalBooks recommended by Alok: 2
- Ankur WarikooBooks recommended by Ankur: 2
- Derek SiversBooks recommended by Derek: 2

- Matt D’AvellaBooks recommended by Matt: 2
- Matthew KobachBooks recommended by Matthew: 2
- Nick HuberBooks recommended by Nick: 2
- Sadia BadieiBooks recommended by Sadia: 2
- Trevor NcubeBooks recommended by Trevor: 2
- Abhishek KarBooks recommended by Abhishek: 1
- Adam GrantBooks recommended by Adam: 1

- Akshay MBooks recommended by Akshay: 1
- Alex and BooksBooks recommended by Alex: 1


