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Best Goal Setting Books

Topic List16 books curated124 recommendations total

Goal 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.

Curated list content

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.

  1. 1Atomic Habits52 recommendations · recommended by Trevor Ncube, Matthew Kobach and Nick Huber
  2. 2How to Win Friends and Influence People43 recommendations · recommended by Matthew Kobach, Sadia Badiei and Ankur Warikoo
  3. 3Measure What Matters20 recommendations · recommended by Alok Kejriwal, David Sinclair and Bill Gates
  4. 4The Third Door4 recommendations · recommended by Matt D’Avella, Alok Kejriwal and Elizabeth Filips
  5. 5Big Potential2 recommendations · recommended by Adam Grant and Sarah Drasner
1
Book cover for “Atomic Habits”
Atomic Habits

An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones

52 recommendations

Recommended by Trevor Ncube, Matthew Kobach, Nick Huber and 44 others

Book Summary

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.

2
Book cover for “How to Win Friends and Influence People”
Description

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?

3
Book cover for “Measure What Matters”
Measure What Matters

How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs

20 recommendations

Recommended by Alok Kejriwal, David Sinclair, Bill Gates and 10 others

Description

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.

4
Book cover for “The Third Door”
The Third Door

The Wild Quest to Uncover How the World's Most Successful People Launched Their Careers

4 recommendations

Recommended by Matt D’Avella, Alok Kejriwal, Elizabeth Filips and 1 other

Description

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…

5
Book cover for “Big Potential”
Big Potential

How Transforming the Pursuit of Success Raises Our Achievement, Happiness, and WellBeing

2 recommendations

Recommended by Adam Grant and Sarah Drasner

Description

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.

6
Book cover for “The Power of Positive Thinking”
2 recommendations

Recommended by Steve Harvey

Book Summary

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.

7
Book cover for “The 4 Disciplines of Execution”
The 4 Disciplines of Execution

Achieving Your Wildly Important Goals

1 recommendation

Recommended by Peep Laja

8
Book cover for “Goals!”
Goals!

How to Get Everything You Want Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible

Description

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.

9
No coverThe Book of Mistakes
Description

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...

10
No coverCreating Your Best Life
11
Book cover for “Hard Goals”
Hard Goals

The Secret to Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be

Show 4 more books with a single recommendation
13
No coverThe Art Of Setting Smart Goals
The Art Of Setting Smart Goals

Set Winning Goals and Live a Life of Abundance, Success and Achievement

14
No coverThe Desire Map
The Desire Map

A Guide to Creating Goals with Soul

15
No coverThe Magic Lamp
The Magic Lamp

Goal Setting for People Who Hate Setting Goals

16
Book cover for “Your Best Year Ever”
Your Best Year Ever

A 5Step Plan for Achieving Your Most Important Goals

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.

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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.