Treat yourself to a new you this Xmas with these books

These books could change your life this Christmas. Here are my top self help, life improving reads of 2012. Whether you buy in paper, Kindle or go off to Audible and purchase I know that you will not be disappointed with the wisdom and insight they offer.

The 4 Hour Work Week – Tim Ferris

The 4-Hour Work Week is a mater class in life style design (i.e. fitting work around your life and its passions rather than the other way round).This book takes you through the various stages of identifying and setting goals, focusing on what is important, automating tasks and delegation / outsourcing. Tim writes the book in a relaxed but fiercly optimistic tone which can be incredibly inspiring. In many ways iPad Money Maker is a product of these ideas and my interpreted application of what will work for me.

The $100 Startup – Chris Guillebeau

Where the 4 Hour Work Week is a manual in life style design the $100 startup is a bit more more of a nuts and bolts read. By providing this practical approach to starting a business, internet marketing new-comers will feel completely at home. What strikes you most about $100 startup is that your dream business is well within the grasp of ordinary solopreneurs. A great read and companion to the 4HWW.

Enchantment – Guy Kawasaki

Enchantment is a beautifully simple description about how you get and treat customers. This is the kind of marketing book that makes perfect sense from a business and customer perspective. Essentially enchantment teaches you how to get your customers to fall in love with your cause so that they trip over themselves to get a piece of it. Guy uses Apple as a shining example throughout but also smaller businesses who have tackled particular issues in an enchanting way

The Laptop Millionaire – Mark Anastasi

In a similar vain to 4HWW and $100 startup, The Laptop Millionaire runs through a number of ways that you can make money online with a laptop – and do it anywhere. Again this has been a big inspiration for me as I’m a big fan of being able to work anywhere. This book is worth the cover charge for the chapter on fiverr. I’ve used fiverr a few times since reading this book and I bet you will too once you’ve finished this read.