Episode 34: 5 Best Personal Growth Books for Moms

Reading has always been a passion of mine. I learned how to read in kindergarten and ever since then, I can’t get enough. Over the years, I have developed fast reading skills. I am able to read 2 physical books a week, in addition to consuming an audiobook. Because of that, I have read many, many books over the years. When I walk into a bookstore, the first section I head to is the personal growth section. It is by far my favorite genre and I am excited to share with you my top 5 favorite personal growth books for moms.

Because I am fully aware that my reading speed is my superpower, I wanted to share my biggest takeaways from these top 5 books. Hopefully that will help point you in the direction of a book or two that you are excited to add to your list of books to read this year. 

At this point in time, I have probably read hundreds of personal growth books. The five books that I am going to share with you today have risen to the top for several reasons. Generally, they are books that spurred concrete action for me. They also felt relevant to moms and weren’t expecting me to alter my life in drastic ways that were unrealistic. And finally, they motivated me to think and dream bigger, in some way or another. 

If there is a book that sounds interesting to you, I highly recommend that you write it down in your MAP Book. I use a Goodreads account to organize my reading journey, including books that I want to read and have read. If you don’t have a Goodreads account yet, I highly recommend it! 

All that being said, let’s go ahead and start chatting about the 5 best personal growth books for moms!

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Best Personal Growth Books For Moms: Girl, Wash Your Face

The first book that we’re going to chat about today is Girl, Wash Your Face, by Rachel Hollis. While this was not the first personal growth book I ever read, it was the first one that I read that felt relevant to my life as a mom. This book is set-up as lies that we tell ourselves as women and as moms. Each chapter addresses that lie with a story from Hollis’ life. At the end of each chapter, Hollis includes action steps for overcoming this particular mindset or lie that we tell ourselves. 

I do feel as though I need to pause to make a disclaimer at this point. When I read this book, it was well-before Rachel Hollis made some inappropriate comments that I absolutely do not agree with. I’m not going to lie, I was pretty heartbroken when she fell from grace. A friend and I traveled to Texas in 2019 to see her in person at her Rise conference. It was a humbling and life-changing experience. While I am so grateful for Hollis’ inspiration, I no longer follow her work. I do hope to re-engage with her content in the future. However, I personally felt that I needed to take a pause to clarify my own opinions on a few matters before continuing to consume her content. 

Favorite Takeaways

OK, that being said – back to the book. Here were my favorite takeaways from the book: 

• Overcoming that voice that tells you that you should be further along by now. Until I read that chapter, I didn’t realize how much I actually did that. My big takeaway here was to remind myself that there are no time limits on creating your dream life vision and that you just need to start. I loved the idea of writing a list of everything that I have accomplished to be able to look back on it. This helped me so much on days that I struggled to realize how far I’ve come.
• This may be an unpopular opinion but in the second chapter, I was floored when Hollis pointed out that I need to be #1 on the priority list. Wait, what about my kids? What about my husband? What about my house? Nope, nope, nope! Hollis convinced me that if I want everyone around me to thrive, I need to thrive first. As soon as I internalized that, I got to work on it right away. And today, years later, I am still grateful for that advice. She gives the example of a flower vase of water and I picture that analogy at least once a week.
• This book gave me permission, in so many ways. It gave me permission to prioritize myself, choose the relationships that were healthy and to chase my dreams now. The last chapter spurred so much action in me, that I will forever be grateful for this book.

Book 2: 15 Laws of Invaluable Growth, John Maxwell

If you are looking for the perfect introduction to personal growth, this book was written for you! While it’s not quite as raw as Hollis’ book, Maxwell walks you through all of his well-founded beliefs about personal growth. I love this as a foundational book when you’re first getting started.

Favorite Takeaways

Here are my biggest takeaways from this book:

• The first one hits right out of the gate, when Maxwell tells a story about the first time he was asked what his plan was for personal growth. That story hit me hard. I am a planner by nature and it occurred to me that I had never once made a plan for my personal growth. Instead, I was assuming that growth would just happen. Maxwell’s whole first law is the law of intentionality, pointing out that growth doesn’t just happen and you need to take an active role in your own personal growth. Truth bombs all over the place! 
• The next takeaway from this book was the idea of consistency. This was my first time learning about the idea of consistency and it really hit home. I realized that this was the area that I struggled the most. I was able to dream the dream and make the plan. It was the daily follow-through where I struggled. By Maxwell holding this mirror up, I was able to see where I needed to focus my energy next.
• While there are literally dozens of other takeaways from this book, the final one that I will share here is the idea of systems. James Clear gets more into this in his book, Atomic Habits, that we’ll chat about in a moment but Maxwell highlighted the importance of designing systems around anything that was important in your life. This helped me to perfect my MAP Book system, my cleaning routine and dozens of other systems that I have created since reading this book. 

Book 3: Lucky Bitch, Denise Duffield-Thomas

I so wish I had discovered Denise Duffield-Thomas when I was younger! Isn’t that funny, how you discover an idea or a strategy and wonder how your life would be different if you had started sooner? Anyway, I digress.

Denise Duffield-Thomas is an entrepreneur but her life advice is spot on, even if you don’t have a business. Her first book, Lucky Bitch: A Guide for Exceptional Women to Create Outrageous Success is applicable to all women, whether you or a mom, a business owner or none of the above. I actually debated whether I wanted to purchase this book for quite awhile because I knew it had a lot to do with the idea of manifesting your dream life. 

In general, I struggle with the idea of manifesting, although the law of attraction aligns perfectly with a lot of my beliefs. My main hang up is I don’t appreciate when personal growth gurus preach that if you wish it, it will come. There is so much hustle and consistency behind that, I just can’t appreciate when that isn’t made crystal clear. 

Favorite Takeaways

This book lived up to the hype and then some. The majority of this book was about mindset and shifting from a lack mindset to an abundance mindset, which I found I desperately needed. Here are my favorite takeaways: 

• Think about the life upgrades that you would make if you won the lottery. Now stop and think about how you can make some of those things happen now, sans lottery winnings. If you want to live an abundant life, you need to make space for it in your current life. This was eye-opening for me, especially as a frugal, penny-pincher. Duffield-Thomas helped me to see that there are things worth investing in, such as yourself, and you need to do it now.
• After I read this book, I dove 100% into mantras. Before, I had always felt stupid making statements outloud that I didn’t fully believe were true. After reading this book though, I threw inhibitions to the curb and used mantras to strengthen my mindset and raise my high vibrations. 
• And finally, my last takeaway from this book is the idea that good is good enough. As a recovering perfectionist, I have struggled with this. I never want to start a project or put it out into the world until I know it will be 100% successful. Obviously, in the business world, that doesn’t work. This book helped me to see that and is the reason you are listening to this podcast right now. Duffield-Thomas gave me the confidence that done is better than perfect and the learning that happens along the way is the ultimate reward. 

Best Personal Growth Books For Moms: Atomic Habits, James Clear 

The fourth book that I would recommend in my list of 5 best personal growth books for moms is James Clear’s book, Atomic Habits. I actually read this book fairly recently, so I did have a solid handle on the idea of the compound effect and habit creation. This book did a great job of building on all of that prior knowledge in a new way.

Favorite Takeaways

Here are my biggest takeaways from this book: 

• Systems, systems, systems! After reading John Maxwell’s book that I mentioned above, I had opened my mind to the idea of systems. That being said, I wasn’t entirely sure where to start. Clear taps into the science of habit creation and helped me to see how I could create systems that would make my habits happen on auto-pilot. 
• One of my favorite aspects about this book was that it reminded me about the importance of being patient. In his examples and his own life, Clear stresses the idea that small actions over time can create huge results. He points out that “we convince ourselves that massive success requires massive action” and that is just not true. He also reminds us that “your outcomes are a lagging measure of your habits” and 1% better every day will lead to success. As a person who often gets frustrated by not seeing results right away, I truly appreciated this reminder.
• Finally, habit stacking was my third big takeaway from this book. Clear talks about how to take something you are currently doing every day, like brushing your teeth, and adding a new habit that is triggered when you brush your teeth. So for example, while you brush your teeth, you might think of 3 things you are grateful for. Boom, habit stack. Clear explains it so much more eloquently than I did, so you’ll want to get your hands on the book to dive deeper into this idea. 

Book 5: 168 Hours, Laura VanderKamm

It was so hard to narrow this list down to the 5 best personal growth books for moms. I could probably make a list of at least 12 and be barely scratching the surface. But when clients come to me, wanting recommendations for books to help them launch their personal growth journey, I can’t leave out Laura VanderKamm’s book, 168 hours. 

Favorite Takeaways

My biggest takeaways from this book include:

• I had never truly tracked my time before I read this book. VanderKamm encourages it early on and walks you through how to do it effectively. I remember when I read this book, I was home on maternity leave with my oldest daughter. I tracked my time on Google Sheets and it is so interesting to look back and see how things have changed. This exercise taught me a lot about my perceptions of how I spend my time versus the realities of where it actually goes. Even if you don’t read this book, I highly recommend practicing tracking your time a few times a year, just as a measure of how you spend your days. 
• My second favorite takeaway is the idea that you don’t have to do it all. While I know this on the surface, this book really dug deeply into the idea of outsourcing and having honest conversations with your partner about how you spend your time and your energy.
• Finally, this book really helped me understand the idea of time maximization in relation to being a mom, not time management. I remember making schedules and thinking about time management in elementary school. I love time management! But when I became a mom, my time was no longer completely my own and an adjustment needed to be made. Laura VanderKamm is a mom first, so that really showed up in her book and helped me to make that mental adjustment as well. 

So there you have it, my top 5 best personal growth books for moms. I sincerely hope you find something on this list that you want to check out. Be sure to follow me on Goodreads too, I’d love to see what you’re reading these days! 

Let’s Make a Plan!

Which one of these books piqued your interest? Are there are that you would add to the list of best personal growth books for moms? Take a moment to add this book to your MAP Book, Goodreads account or your wishlist on Amazon. You’ll be glad you did in a few months when you’re trying to remember the title! 

If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe on Spotify or YouTube so you don’t miss next week’s episode, which is all about how to set boundaries at work. When I first began to experience burnout as a teacher, I implemented a few systems to protect myself and to encourage my own growth. I’m excited to share these with you!  

Finally, if you want to connect between episodes, be sure to give me a follow over on Instagram – @sharonlegercoaching. I would love to support you on your personal growth journey! 

Did You Love This Episode?

If so, be sure to share it with a friend – this helps busy moms like you to find me!

And finally, you can also check out these related episodes that I think you’ll be obsessed with:

How a 99¢ Notebook Saved My Life

How to Priority Plan When You’re Overwhelmed

Creating a 10-Year Family Vision