Personal Effectiveness Toolkit

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” — Mahatma Gandhi

Welcome to the Personal Effectiveness Toolkit!

I’ve wasted an epic ton of money on so much stuff that didn’t work, so many infomercials, so many great ads that over-promise, under-deliver, and so many things that are more hype than help.

Along the way, I found some things that really do help.

Here is my one-stop shop page of resources for personal effectiveness.

This is a round-up of the best-of-the-best personal effectiveness resources to help you realize your potential and improve your personal effectiveness across mind, body, emotions, career, finance, relationships, and fun.

Top 3 Tools I Recommend for Personal Effectiveness

Here are the top 3 resources I find myself recommending the most to help people embark on the journey of personal growth and self-mastery:

1. Personal Power II

Personal Power II (Audio CDs), by Tony Robbins – This is a hard-core program that teaches you how to reprogram your mind, body, and emotions for success.

This is the the deepest personal development program I’ve ever experienced, and it’s Tony at his finest.

2. Goals

Goals! (Audio CD), by Brian Tracy – This is a no-nonsense, hard-core approach to setting and achieving your goals.

You’ll be amazed by what you can accomplish by clarifying what you want, identifying steps to take, and putting a simple feedback loop in place.

3. The Personal Mastery Program

The Personal Mastery Program, by Srikumar S. Rao (Audio CDs) – The Personal Mastery Program is one of the most powerful personal development programs I know.

This is one of the most effective guides for inner-engineering, building better habits, and changing how you respond to the world around you.

All the Tools for Your Personal Effectiveness Toolkit

Here is a round-up of my battle-tested tools for mind, body, emotions, career, finance, relationships, and fun to help you make the most of what you’ve got and to help you realize your full potential in all dimensions of your work and life.

Tools for Mastering Achievement

Personal Power II (Audio CDs), by Tony Robbins – Personal Power II is the program that really taught me how to model success, be more resourceful, realize my potential, and continuously improve key areas of my life.
Success Master Academy (Audio CDs), by Brian Tracy — Learn how to set your goals and objectives to maximize your performance and blast through your goals. This is an advanced program on personal success and achievement. It helps you become unstoppable in the pursuit of your goals. It helps you make progress fast, with calmness and confidence as you take continuous action to move toward your goals. What you get is a set of 16 CDs and a 90-page workbook to help you turn insights into actions.
The New Psychology of Achievement (Audio CDs), by Brian Tracy — Learn the 7 mental laws that determine your potential, the Law of incremental improvement, the keys to optimism, the keys to persuasion, the factors of motivation, the 12-step goal method and more.

Tools for Mastering Your Mindset and Changing Limiting Beliefs

Your beliefs can limit or enable you. Eliminate limiting beliefs and adopt a growth mindset so you can improve in all areas of your life.

Eliminate a Limiting Belief (Free Webinar), by Morty Lefkoe — Start eliminating a belief that limits you now. Eliminate the following limiting beliefs: “I’m not good enough,” “I’m not important,” or “Mistakes and failures are bad.”
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (Book), by Carol Dweck — Carol Dweck shares how a simple idea about the brain can create a love of learning and a resilience that is the basis of great accomplishment in every area of work and life.

Tools for Mastering Career Growth

One of the most important questions you can answer in life is, “What do you want to spend more time doing?”

As you think about your career, think in terms of jobs, careers, and life’s work. Jobs pay the bills, careers move up the ladder, but your life’s work is where you will find meaning and fulfillment.

John Thurman said it best when he said, “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

The Art of Work: A Proven Path to Discovering What You Were Meant to Do (Book), by Jeff Goins — The The Art of Work is about doing the work you love and living your work in a way that your work becomes your ultimate form of self-expression. When your life is one portfolio of your interests, passions, and activities, and you treat your calling as a lifestyle, your work becomes a never-ending source of inspiration and fulfillment.
Work from the Inside Out: Seven Steps to Loving What You Do (Book), by Nancy O’Hara — We can find meaning in our jobs—but the first thing we have to do is look within ourselves. After all, wherever we go, there we are. The grass might look greener, but we can turn any grass brown, if we don’t first change how we approach our work, from the inside out.

Tools for Mastering Courage and Confidence

Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead (Book), by Brene Brown — What if vulnerability was a strength, not a weakness?Based on twelve years of research, Dr. Brené Brown dispels the myth that vulnerability is weakness and argues that it is, in truth, our most accurate measure of courage.

The Science of Self-Confidence Training Kit, by Brian Tracy — Brian Tracy teaches you how to think the way people with self-confidence think, how to become empowered, and how to eliminate your doubts and fears, in every area of your life.

Tools for Mastering Creativity

Thinkertoys: A Handbook of Creative-Thinking Techniques (Book), by Michael Michalko – This is the ultimate handbook for creative thinking. It’s a massive collection of creative thinking techniques that you can immediately apply to solve problems in business and in life. It helps you rethink the way you think.
Thinkpak: A Brainstorming Card Deck (Toolkit), by Michael Michalko — This is a deck of illustrated cars of techniques for creative thinking. Spark fresh insights and stimulate ideas as you shuffle, mix, and match the cards.

Tools for Mastering Emotional Intelligence

Emotional Intelligence (Book), by Daniel Goleman — We have “two minds” — the rational and the emotional — and together they shape our destiny and impact our success and happiness. Learn 5 crucial skills of emotional intelligence to improve your well-being, your success, and your relationships in work and life.
Search Inside Yourself: The Unexpected Path to Achieving Success, Happiness (and World Peace) (Book), by Chade-Meng Tan – This is a surprisingly simple, and surprisingly insightful guide to mastering Emotional Intelligence through meditation and inner-engineering. Tan masterfully shows you how to work on yourself from the inside out, to focus on what you control and let the rest go. You’ll find that the world reflects back at you, the calmness, clarity, and compassion that you create on the inside.

Tools for Mastering Financial Fitness

Getting Started

The Total Money Makeover: Classic Edition: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness (Book), by Dave Ramsey — This is a simple and straightforward game plan for completely making over your money habits. And it’s based on results, not pie-in-the-sky fantasies. Design a sure-fire plan for paying off all debt, recognize the 10 most dangerous money myths, and secure a nest egg for emergencies and retirement.

Core

Financial Peace University (DVD Home Study), by Dave Ramsey — Learn the Seven Baby Steps to saving money, how to relate to money, how to do cash flow planning, how to dump your debt, how to be a conscious consumer, how to evaluate the role of insurance in your life, how to plan for college and retirment, how to win when buying or selling your home, and how to improve your finances, business, and relationships through generosity.
Suze Orman’s Financial Guidebook: Put the 9 Steps to Work (Book), by Suze Orman – This is a hands-on guide to taking control of your financial situation. Learn the most important points in 9 Steps. Use the work sheets and self-assessment tests for each step so you can take full inventory of your spending habits and attitudes toward money.

Advanced

MONEY Master the Game: 7 Simple Steps to Financial Freedom (Book), by Tony Robbins — Tony Robbins walks you through the steps to become financially free by creating a lifetime income plan. It’s a big book, but Tony uses metaphors and story throughout the book to make complex financial concepts simple and actionable.
The Intelligent Investor (Book), by Benjamin Graham — No gimmicks, no guarantees, no fluff — just solid insight and action at the core of all good portfolio management.

Tools for Mastering Personal Fitness

The best exercise programs are the ones you actually do. If it’s too long, too far, too complex, you won’t stick with it.

In general, I try to optimize around a home gym experience, and I look for routines that are 30 minutes or less so that I can stick with it, and so that they are more effective and efficient.

I also focus on building lean functional muscle (think “Navy Seal” vs. “Body Builder”.) Lean muscle burns fat, and helps you perform every day things better, faster, and easier.

Aside from building our a great fitness library, the real key is finding the workouts that you enjoy, match your needs, and help you achieve your health and fitness goals.

Getting Started

Slim in 6 with Debbie Siebers – This is a great way to get started exercising in your living room. Debbie has a quiet, focused approach that gets results. This program is a combo of low-impact cardio moves and light resistance.
Tai Cheng Workout — Master 18 Fundamental moves of Tai Chi. This is a great low-impact way to improve your energy and balance. This is the same routine I used to help my Mom get her health and strength back.

Core

Chalene Johnson’s PiYo Deluxe Kit – PiYo combines the muscle-sculpting and core-strengthening benefits from Pilates with strength and flexibility benefits from Yoga. It’s low -impact so it’s another way to get started.

Advanced

ChaLEAN Extreme – This is a powerful home workout by Chalene Johnson. In this workout, Chalene focuses on building lean functional muscle.
P90X3 with Tony Horton – Like the name implies, it’s an extreme workout. It combines exercises they use for athletes and the military. It’s a 30-minute workout, six days a week, with a focus on strength, balance, and agility.

Supporting Equipment for Your Home Gym

SelectTech Adjustable Dumbbells – This is the smartest key to my home gym. While bands can work, I get much better results with dumbbells. SelectTech Dumbbells are compact and they are 15 weights in one. I can effectively dial a weight, from 5 pounds to 52.5 pounds. The coolest thing is when I lift the weight from its base, it sounds like I’m unsheathing a sword.

Tools for Mastering Goals

Getting Started

Goals: Setting And Achieving Them On Schedule (Audio CDs) by Zig Ziglar — Zig breaks down goal setting into a 7-step formula for defining your immediate and long-term goals and then how to realize your dreams. He can help you turn ideas into action and results.

Core

Goals! (Audio CD), by Brian Tracy – Learn the basics of goal setting and action planning. Tracy shows you how to get everything you want – faster than you ever thought possible.

Advanced

Goal Mastery for Personal and Financial Achievement, by Brian Tracy – Master the fundamentals of goal setting and action planning. A proven process for developing a powerful new mindset to finally achieve your financial, personal and professional goals-in 90 days or less. Master the seven key elements of goal setting and the 12 steps that are necessary for you to set and accomplish any goal, any size.

Tools for Mastering Influence and Change

Getting Started

How To Win Friends and Influence People (Book), by Dale Carnegie — This is a classic and it’s a great way to learn the fundamentals. Learn how to deal with people so that they feel important and appreciated. Learn how to make people like you, win people over to your way of thinking, and change people without causing offense or arousing resentment.

Core

Insiders Guide to the Art of Persuasion (Audio CDs), by Dr. Rick Kirschner — This is probably the most comprehensive and effective interpersonal skills and influence program there is. It’s 6.5 hours (8 volumes, 32 tracks) of hard-core training delivered in a fun and simple way. It covers scenarios like how to motivate people to change their minds and behavior, how to gain useful insights into how people think and feel, how to shape your ideas to speak to the interests and needs of others, how to deal with questions, objections, and outright opposition, and how to become more calm, confident, and relaxed when speaking up and speaking out.

Advanced

Fearless Change Patterns (Book), by by Mary Lynn Manns, Ph.D. and Linda Rising, Ph.D. – What I find helpful is it creates a shared vocabulary for some of the situations and scenarios we run into during change and transformation. It’s nice to have simple labels for the ideas and concepts (the patterns.) It also helps inspire people with ideas on how to successfully share an idea, build coalitions, deal with resistance, find their courage, and take bold action or champion a cause – with skill. (Check out the free “Fearless Change Flashcards”)
More Fearless Change: Strategies for Making Your Ideas Happen (Book), by Mary Lynn Mannis, Ph.D. and Linda Rising, Ph.D. — This adds new patterns to the change patterns collection, as well as 15 new change leadership strategies. Whether you are a change agent, a change leader, a change artist, or you find yourself on the receiving end of change and transformation, this book will arm you with a vast collection of actionable insights and nuggets to better understand the art and science of change.

Tools for Mastering Interpersonal and People Skills

Getting Started

Dealing with People You Can’t Stand: How to Bring Out the Best in People at Their Worst (Book), by Dr. Rick Brinkman and Dr. Rick Kirschner — Learn how to get things done and get along when you’re dealing with people who have the uncanny ability to sabotage, derail, and interfere with your plans, needs, and wants.

Core

How to Click with People: The Secret to Better Relationships in Business and in Life (Book), by Dr. Rick Kirschner – Learn from the master of interpersonal skills. With some people, you just click. With others you don’t. What if you could click with more people? While clicking might seem like an instantaneous thing, where it happens or it doesn’t, it’s not. According to Dr. Rick Kirschner, this connection isn’t a magical phenomenon — it’s a communication skill that can be learned with specific steps and techniques.
How To Win Friends and Influence People (Book), by Dale Carnegie — This is a classic and it’s a great way to learn the fundamentals. Learn how to deal with people so that they feel important and appreciated. Learn how to make people like you, win people over to your way of thinking, and change people without causing offense or arousing resentment.

Advanced

Antipatterns: Identification, Refactoring, and Management (Book), by Phillip Laplante and Colin Neill — This is a catalog of 48 bad management practices and environments. It covers antipatterns of management, along with environmental/cultural antipatterns and personality antipatterns/phenotypes. The classification helps you correctly identify problems in your work environment and take action to correct them.
Coping with Difficult Bosses (Book), by Robert Bramson – Bramson helps anyone who has ever been demoralized, disconcerted, or mildly depressed by tyrannical bosses who bully, buffalo, sneak, and otherwise weasel their way into their employees’ lives.

Tools for Mastering Leadership

As John Maxwell puts it, “Leadership is influence.” Don’t think of leadership as a position. It’s a way of being. Leadership is for everyone, and everyone can be a leader. When you lead, lead from the inside out. Start with yourself – personal leadership. Expand your sphere of influence to your team, your organization, your community, etc.

Getting Started

The Leadership Challenge: How to Make Extraordinary Things Happen in Organizations (Book), by James Kouzes and Barry Posner – Learn the 5 practices and the 10 commitments that build better leaders. Learn how to Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act, and Encourage the Heart.

Core

The Inner Edge: The 10 Practices of Personal Leadership (Book) by Joelle K. Jay – This book is perhaps one of the greatest deep dives into how you can use personal leadership to achieve more meaning in your work and create the life you want. It’s a book about having it all in a sustainable and fulfilling way in work and life. Here is my Book Review of The Inner Edge.
The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You (Book), by John Maxwell – Be a better leader. Learn the fundamentals of leadership including THE LAW OF THE LID, THE LAW OF INFLUENCE, THE LAW OF PROCESS, and more.

Advanced

Intelligent Leadership: What You Need to Know to Unlock Your Full Potential (Book), by John Mattone – This is one of the deepest leadership and personal development books since Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, and Tony Robbins’Unlimited Power. Here is my Book Review of Intelligent Leadership.
The 5 Levels of Leadership: Proven Steps to Maximize Your Potential (Book), by John Maxwell — Learn the 5 Levels of Leadership: 1) Position – People follow because they have to, 2) Permission – People follow because they want to, 3) Production – People follow because of what you have done for the organization, 4) People Development – People follow because of what you have done for them personally, 5) Pinnacle – People follow because of who you are and what you represent.

Tools for Mastering Your Mind and Developing Intellectual Horsepower

How To Have A Beautiful Mind (Book), be Edward de Bono — No matter how you look, if you have a mind that’s fascinating, creative, exciting – if you’re a good thinker – you can be beautiful. Use your imagination and creativity to be a better thinker.
The Mechanism of Mind (Book) by Edward de Bon — Understand how your mind works, so you can maximize your memory and your creative potential. One part of the book is like an owner’s manual, while the other part of the book is more like a driver’s guide with tips and insights on how to make the most of it.

Tools for Mastering Motivation

Getting Started

How to Stay Motivated, Volume 1: Developing the Qualities of Success (Audio CDs) by Zig Ziglar – Whether you’re down in the dumps, stuck in a rut, or just need to light your fire, Zig can help you tap your inner sources of motivation in a sustainable way.

Core

Live Your Dreams: Say “YES” To Life (Book), by Les Brown – Stories and insights from the master of motivation.
Up Thoughts For Down Times (Book), by Les Brown – A very fast read with instant inspiration and insight.
Zig Ziglar’s Life Lifters (Book), by Zig Ziglar – This is a very special collection of some of the best motivational insights you will find, and Zig’s delivery is fun and filled with enthusiasm.

Tools for Mastering Personal Development

Getting Started

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change (Book), by Stephen Covey – This book gives you a simple foundation of habits you can practice to improve your personal effectiveness and realize your potential.

Core

Personal Development for Smart People (Book), by Steve Pavlina – This is a great book for building a strong foundation in personal development. Learn the seven universal principles behind all successful growth efforts: truth, love, power, oneness, authority, courage, and intelligence. Learn how to apply the principles to real-world challenges including health, relationships, career, finances, and more.
The Personal Mastery Program, by Srikumar S. Rao (Audio CDs) – The Personal Mastery Program is one of the most powerful personal development programs I know when it comes to inner-engineering, building better habits, and changing how you respond to the world around you.
Unlimited Power (Book), by Tony Robbins – This is a great book for learning how to master your mind, body, and emotions to produce better results. You’ll also learn how to use role models to accelerate your success by modeling their success.

Advanced

Anthony Robbin’s Personal Power II (Audio CDs) – Personal Power II is the program that really taught me how to model success, be more resourceful, unleash more of what I’m capable of, and continuously improve key areas of my life.

Jim Rohn’s Classic Collection (DVDs) – This is a timeless collection that teaches you some of the greatest success principles and recipes for success the world has ever known. The Classic Collection is a combo set (18 DVDs and 18 CDs) compiled from the original videotapes from Jim’s 2-day leadership weekend seminar. The CD are a treasure-trove of Jim’s best lessons and life-changing ideas.

Tools for Mastering Productivity

Getting Started

Getting Results the Agile Way: A Personal Results System for Work and Life (Book), by J.D. Meier – Learn a simple system for achieving better results in work and life. Use your best energy for your best results, and learn how value is the ultimate short-cut. Design your ideal day and ideal week so that you spend more time in your strengths, and less time in things that drain you.

Core

30 Days of Getting Results (Self-Paced Training) by J.D. Meier – Master time management, work-life balance, and productivity through simple, daily lessons and exercises. 30 Days of Getting Results combines the best practices I’ve learned for thinking, feeling, and taking action. It’s the same system I use to mentor individuals, leaders, and teams for improving their results.
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity (Book), by David Allen – Learn the fundamentals of personal productivity and managing tasks. Improve your focus and workflow and actually finish what you start.
Personal Kanban: Mapping Work | Navigating Life (Book), by Tonianne DeMaria Barry and Jim Benson – A Kanban helps you visualize workflow and limit work in progress. You can apply these concepts to work and life to flow more value and have a balcony view of what you’re working on, what matters, and where the bottlenecks are.

Advanced

Overachievement: The New Science of Working Less to Accomplish More (Book), by John Elliot – John Elliot is a sports psychologist and coach that teaches you how to embrace pressure and use it to your advantage. He uses cutting-edge research and real-world coaching techniques to help you be YOUR best.
Patterns of High Performance: Discovering the Ways People Work Best (Book), by Jerry Fletcher – We all have our own unique recipes for our best results. Learn how to use your personal process for achieving more, better, faster, easier.
The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich (Book), by Tim Ferris — Learn how to live more and work less. Learn ways to work smarter, not harder, and to achieve more in less time. The expanded edition includes more than 50 practical tips and case studies from readers (including families) who have doubled income, overcome common sticking points, and reinvented themselves using the original book as a starting point.

Tools for Mastering Relationships

Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus: Practical Guide for Improving Communication (Book), by John Gray — Gray provides a better way to communicate by acknowledging differences in needs, desires, and behaviors. You can use Gray’s evidence-based insight to help you strengthen and nurture your relationships for life.
Love and Passion: Ultimate Relationship Program (Audio CDs), by Tony Robbins — Experience what’s possible when you transform your beliefs, eliminate your fears and master the fundamental skills necessary to create your ultimate relationship. Tony and Sage Robbins share the tools, insights and principles to figure out where you really are in your relationships, where you want to be and what’s stopping you from having it all. Learn a results-oriented approach for attracting your ideal life partner, strengthening your relationship and reignite the passion you and your partner once shared.

Remember that the ultimate tool is always your mind, and it’s not what you’ve got, it’s how you use it. Also, remember that with knowledge, its not what you know, it’s what you apply. Knowledge is only power if you apply it.

Disclosure: Please note that some of the links above are affiliate links. Please understand that I have experience with all of these products and I recommend them because I found them useful or insightful. Please don’t spend any money on products unless you think they will help you achieve your goals.