Motivation involves a number of different factors in our lives from emotional to biological  which activate the motivation inside of us. Motivation is the ultimate reason behind human actions. Why you chose to workout, eat healthier, go back for your degree, start that business or any other thing in your life to improve yourself. 

There are three theories of motivation that explain we find motivation due to instincts, drives and needs or arousal of feeling in life. 

When it comes to instincts, these are behaviors that are propelled by our biological factors such as survival or eating healthier. When it comes to drive and needs this can also be driven by biology but more so fulfill their drive. What motivates them is their ultimate drive. Finally, there are arousal levels which make a person decide between a nice calming vacation or someone who is going sky-diving and out every second of the day. 

Because of this, it is often hard to find that self motivation or help to start that company or you could feel stuck with no understanding of what next to do. When that happens, consumers typically find the best self motivational books to help them out of their unmotivated times or to understand the why behind it all. 

These are the top self motivation books on the market right now: 

Grit

What is Grit? Is it determination to never give up? Are you just not cut-out for whatever the task is? One psychologist decided to figure out what grit is. As a graduate student researching West Point freshman and new arrivals, one thing stuck out, these were the best students in the United States. These teenagers were the 4,000 chosen ones and yet most didn’t make it through the first week of college. Why is that? 

After research, talking to students and faculty one thing kept coming up - when times get hard people start to fall apart. Is that when grit starts to take over to help people succeed? Do you have the grit inside of yourself to succeed? 

You Are A Badass 

The day-to-day life cycle can start to be too much and even monotonous. You go to work, come home, workout, do the parenting thing and go to bed just to do it all over again. The everyday chaos and motions start to get old. You start to wonder, “Is this all that there is for me?” 

You Are A Badass starts with Jen’s own story of coming to find out there was so much more out there for her. As she states, “I felt like I was going through the motions of living my lukewarm life with the occasional flare-ups of awesomeness here and there. And the most painful part was that deep down I KNEW I was a total rock star.” 

We’ve all been there. But, how do you start to overcome living this luke-warm life to start living and acting like a total badass Kiss rockstar you are? Figure out what makes YOU happy, motivated and your purpose in this lifetime! 

The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck

This book is different than all the others because it unleashes the truth about self-motivation that often correlates with the happy go-lucky you need to have a successful mentality.

“Our culture is obsessively focused on unrealistically positive expectations: Be happier. Be the best, better than the rest. Be smarter, faster, richer, sexier, more popular, more productive, more envied and admired. Be perfect…”

 Stop caring. You do not need to look like Kylie Jenner to be happy with yourself. Stop wasting this life you have on being jealous. This continues to go on to only come to the realization that is only fixating on what you don’t have versus what you possess. Just stop giving a f*ck, honestly. 

Emotional Intelligence 2.0 

Emotional Intelligence in the business world will never not be a trending topic. As a business manager, lead, supervisor or employee it’s imperative to understand others emotions. 

Emotional Intelligence is identified as taking one's own emotions and being able to harness those emotions to apply them into tasks like problem-solving and time-management. From there, the next step is the ability to take your emotions and others emotions around you and harness those emotions into tasks like problem-solving and time-management or the appropriate tasks that should be taken. 

How can you evaluate and make the best decision when you don’t even understand your own emotions? That’s where Emotional Intelligence 2.0 comes in. 

The book starts by talking about Butch. A man with a wife and kids who was an advent surfer. One morning his life changed when a Great White Shark attacked him. He fought back and in the moments of panic and fear hit the shark and used logic to stay alive. As the fight continued he was able to remain calm. How can anyone remain calm when a Great White Shark is attacking you?! 

This is the start of learning about controlling and adapting emotions with the situation. Would you have let the shark eat you alive because you were terrified? Would you fight back? Would you try to swim away as fast as possible? Or would your fear, panic, anxiety and other emotions inhibit you from making a decision? 

 Instead of letting the shark eat you, learn how to be a shark. Stop caring what others think. Stop thinking success is only defined in one way. And finally, realize you’re a badass. 

Any of these books can be bought on Amazon, Barnes n Nobles or any book store. Find the perfect self motivation books for your own journey and struggles!