The Books That Shaped My 2025

60 Books that Helped Me Stop and Think about Life, Business, and Psychology

Every year, my reading list becomes a reflection of what’s been going on in my mind, in my life, and in my business.

Not just of what I want to learn—but of what I’m wrestling with, questioning, reclaiming, guiding clients through, and building.

In 2025, some of these books helped me slow down or recognize what felt off. Other books helped me to make sense of work, purpose, human behavior, psychology, leadership, and business.

I’m an avid audiobook junkie, and below you’ll see the 60 books I read (listened to) in 2025 that shaped my year, broken up by category.

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Purpose, Meaning & Life Direction

This year, the question underneath everything was simple, but one that people often wrestle with for a lifetime:

What actually matters in life?

These books are about listening internally—to values, to seasons, to the signals that often get drowned out by urgency and noise.

They reminded me that purpose isn’t something you “figure out once.” It’s something you return to, again and again, as life changes.

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Work, Career & Redefining Success

A lot of my reading this year pushed back on a subtle belief many people are carrying:

That meaningful work must always feel hard, heavy, or all-consuming.

These books helped me rethink the role work plays in a good life—and question the stories we’ve been handed about ambition, productivity, and worth.

Instead of asking, “How do I do more?” The better question became, “What’s most important to focus on?”

• The Good Enough Job: Reclaiming Life from Work by Simone Stolzoff
• Designing Your Work Life: How to Thrive and Change and Find Happiness at Work by Bill Burnett
• Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life by Bill Burnett
• Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving by Celeste Headlee
• I Didn’t Do the Thing Today: Letting Go of Productivity Guilt by Madeleine Dore
• Financial Freedom: A Proven Path to All the Money You Will Ever Need by Grant Sabatier
• The Career Manifesto: Discover Your Calling and Create an Extraordinary Life by Mike Steib
• The Psychology of Money: Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness by Morgan Housel
  

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Productivity, Focus & Energy

If there was one clear theme here, it was this:

Productivity should support your life, not compete with it.

These books reinforced something I see over and over in coaching: most people need less friction in different aspects of their lives.

Reducing friction could include less noise, fewer competing priorities, more clarity about what actually deserves their energy.

It’s about creating space to do fewer things—better.

• Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout by Cal Newport
• Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World by Cal Newport
• The 12 Week Year by Brian P. Moran
• The PLAN: Manage Your Time Like a Lazy Genius by Kendra Adachi
• Clockwork (Revised and Expanded): Design Your Business to Run Itself by Mike Michalowicz
• Win the Day: 7 Daily Habits to Help You Stress Less and Accomplish More by Mark Batterson
• The Friction Project: How Smart Leaders Make the Right Things Easier and the Wrong Things Harder by Robert I. Sutton
• Discipline Is Destiny: The Power of Self-Control by Ryan Holiday
• The Practice: Shipping Creative Work by Seth Godin
• Flip Thinking: The Life-Changing Art of Turning Problems into Opportunities by Berthold Gunster

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Business, Leadership & Building What Matters

On the business side, I was drawn to ideas that felt practical and aligned with how I want to do business.

Not a bunch of hype or hustle.

Thoughtful approaches to building things that last—teams, offers, systems, and cultures that don’t burn people out in the process.

These books reinforced a belief I hold deeply:

How you build matters just as much (if not more) as what you build.

• Million Dollar Weekend: The Surprisingly Simple Way to Launch a 7-Figure Business in 48 Hours by Noah Kagan
• Chill and Prosper: The New Way to Grow Your Business, Make Millions, and Change the World by Denise Duffield-Thomas
• The Vision Driven Leader: 10 Questions to Focus Your Efforts, Energize Your Team, and Scale Your Business by Michael Hyatt
• How to Build a Thriving Workplace by Beth Cabrera
• All In: How Great Leaders Build Unstoppable Teams by Mike Michalowicz
• Build Better Teams: Creating Winning Teams in the Digital Age by George Karseras
• The Effortless Experience: Conquering the New Battleground for Customer Loyalty by Matthew Dixon
• Alchemy: The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business, and Life by Rory Sutherland
• Radical Respect: How to Work Together Better by Kim Malone Scott
  

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Psychology, Behavior & Human Nature

This category reflects my ongoing curiosity about what actually drives us.

Why we get stuck, why change feels hard—even when we want it, and why insight alone isn’t enough.

These books helped me zoom out and see behavior as information.

They reminded me that most challenges, whether in work, relationships, or personal growth, make more sense when you understand what’s happening beneath the surface.

• Why You Are Who You Are: Investigations Into Human Personality by Mark R. Leary
• Mindreader: The New Science of Deciphering What People Really Think, What They Really Want, and Who They Really Are by David J. Lieberman
• Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi
• The Psychology of Performance: How to Be Your Best in Life by Eddie O’Connor
• The Learning Brain by Thad A. Polk
• The Science of Stuck: Breaking Through Inertia to Find Your Path Forward by Britt Frank
• The Attributes: 25 Hidden Drivers of Optimal Performance by Rich Diviney
• Hooked: Food, Free Will, and How the Food Giants Exploit Our Addictions by Michael Moss
• The Four Pivots: Reimagining Justice, Reimagining Ourselves by Shawn A. Ginwright

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Health, Mental Health, & Emotional Well-Being

Some of the most important books I read this year weren’t about improvement—they were about understanding different challenges many of my clients face.

They reinforced a truth I keep coming back to:

You can’t out-optimize a nervous system that needs care.

And many of the struggles people label as “discipline problems” are actually signals asking for compassion, support, and rest.

• The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt
• The Anatomy of Anxiety: Understanding and Overcoming the Body’s Fear Response by Ellen Vora
• The Cure for Burnout: How to Find Balance and Reclaim Your Life by Emily Ballesteros
• ADHD 2.0: New Science and Essential Strategies for Thriving with Distraction—from Childhood Through Adulthood by Edward M. Hallowell
• Run to the Finish: The Everyday Runner’s Guide to Avoiding Injury, Ignoring the Clock, and Loving the Run by Amanda Brooks

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Relationships, Communication & Influence

The final theme that kept showing up was connection.

How we listen, disagree, support without fixing, and influence.

These books reminded me that impact isn’t just about ideas—it’s about how those ideas move through relationships.

Progress doesn’t happen in isolation, it happens in community.

• Connect: Building Exceptional Relationships with Family, Friends, and Colleagues by David L. Bradford
• The Next Conversation: Argue Less, Talk More by Jefferson Fisher
• Talking Across the Divide: How to Communicate with People You Disagree With and Maybe Even Change the World by Justin Lee
• Humble Consulting: How to Provide Real Help Faster by Edgar H. Schein
• The Advice Trap: Be Humble, Stay Curious, and Change the Way You Lead Forever by Michael Bungay Stanier
• The Gift of Influence: Creating Life-Changing and Lasting Impact in Your Everyday Interactions by Tommy Spaulding
• Cues: Master the Secret Language of Charismatic Communication by Vanessa Van Edwards
• Motivational Interviewing (Fourth Edition): Helping People Change and Grow by William R. Miller
• The Let Them Theory: A Life-Changing Tool That Millions of People Can’t Stop Talking About by Mel Robbins
• Insecure in Love: How Anxious Attachment Can Make You Feel Jealous, Needy, and Worried and What You Can Do About It by Leslie Becker-Phelps
• Good Inside: A Practical Guide to Resilient Parenting Prioritizing Connection Over Correction by Becky Kennedy

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Closing Reflection

My reads (listens) this year were about making sense of a transition—personally, professionally, and internally.

Many of these books didn’t give me answers as much as they gave me better questions, which can deliver an even more intimate win than a quick fix strategy.

If you’re in a season of reevaluation…
Of slowing down…
Of re-orienting around what matters most…

Good. Create space for it. You’re not behind and you’re noticing what matters.

And sometimes, that’s the most productive thing you can do.