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Best Inner Game Books

I was slow to realise the inner game of business owners and entrepreneurs is vital to their success.

Losing in their heads means they are not winning with customers, competitors, employees or suppliers.

Where Business Owners Can Lose The Internal Game

Common problems can be:

– no clear direction
– uncertain priorities
– fear of failure, fear of success or fear of the new, stepping outside the comfort zone
– poor concentration, chasing bright shining objects and silver bullets
– giving p too easily
– feeling guilty
– procrastinating
– no control of the use of time
– no clear goals or plans
– building up obstacles to why they can’t do something
– jumping into a decision without thinking first, being reckless
– unable to overcome knocks and setbacks
– feeling inadequate, lacking confidence
– being too confident when the situation is uncertain
– a reluctance to think through causes and effects
– a failure to think critically or creatively
– listening to that negative voice in your head and believing what it says, other limiting beliefs
– struggling to communicate effectively
– not holding yourself accountable and accepting your own poor excuses
– being unable to trust others or unable to inspire trust in others.

No wonder business owners can struggle and get stuck. This is without knowing about accounting, understanding finance, marketing, copywriting, selling, recruiting and managing employees and the specific skills needed to operate your particular profession, trade or industry.

Where You Can Find Help

– get a friend or family member to be your mentor.
– find another business owner to become your accountability partner.
– join or even form your own mastermind.
– work with a coach or small business advisor.

It’s easier to have a strong inner game when you have someone else to lean on when things get tough and who can point you back in the right direction.

And then there are the books.

The Best Inner Game Books

You will only see the books I’ve rated at Four Stars (meaning good and well worth reading) and Five Stars (excellent and very highly recommended). Reviews of lower rated books appear on Amazon.co.uk but I haven’t brought the reviews across to my own website.

If you read my reviews, you’ll see I try to explain why I like them but also to identify any weaknesses. My job as a reviewer is to help you to find the most appropriate books rather than to help sell more books.

On that note, if you do decide to buy, I’d appreciate it if you could click through to Amazon on my links as (hopefully) I’ll earn a small referral commission.

Some of these books can be very expensive so, if you’re happy with a hard back or paperback book, take a look at the second hand options on Amazon. Personally I only buy if the condition is described as “As New” or “Very Good” unless I’m really keen and forced to drop down to “Good”.

Five Star Inner Game Books

The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey by Ken Blanchard

If you already have staff, this book helps to explain why you don’t have more time.

Profits Aren’t Everything They’re the Only Thing by George Cloutier

This isn’t a nice book but the hard-nosed financial approach gives you plenty to think about how being mice might be costing you money… a lot of money.

Think Smarter by Michael Kallett

Thinking is hard so too often, people avoid it and then make bad decisions and poor choices.

Four Star Inner Game Books

What To Do When You Are Stuck by Richard Dotts

Secrets Of The Millionaire Mind by T Harv Eker

No B.S. Time Management for Entrepreneurs by Dan Kennedy

Chase One Rabbit by Philip Kim

Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki

How to Become Unstoppable by Glenn Livingston

The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur by Mike Michalowicz

SuperCoach by Michael Neill

The Halo Effect by Phil Rosenzweig

Getting Unstuck by Cara Stein

The 80/20 Rule by Ron Taylor

Meet and Grow Rich by Joe Vitale and Bill Hibbler

Other Business Book Categories That May Interest You

Business Books For WomenBusiness NovelsBusiness PlanningBusiness Start-UpCoachingGetting UnstuckKPI & Performance MeasurementLeading Your TeamPersuasionProfit ImprovementSocial MediaSpecific Niche MarketsThinking

Paul Simister is a business coach who helps business owners who are stuck, get unstuck. If your business is based in the UK, you can have a free Business SOS consultation with me to help you get unstuck.

Who am I? by Steven Reiss

The full title of this book by Steven Reiss is

Who am I?: 16 Basic Desires that Motivate Our Actions Define Our Personalities

In my review posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave the book a 5 Stars rating. This means it is Excellent.

Here is my book review.

Fascinating with very wide implications

This is a fascinating book for understanding yourself and others.

The 16 desires are present to varying degrees in all of us. It is the strength and direction of the desire along with the combinations that make us who we are. This then underpins or weakens our relationships as our desires complement or clash with others. [continue reading…]

in 2 – Your Inner Game, Best Business Books

The Positive Power of Negative Emotions by Tim Lomas

The full title of this book by Dr Tim Lomas is

The Positive Power of Negative Emotions: How harnessing your darker feelings can help you see a brighter dawn

In my review posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave the book a 4 Stars rating. This means it is Good to Very Good.

Here is my book review.

Fascinating look at understanding emotions at a deeper level

A mentor emphasised to me that moving away from pain is a major source of motivation in getting a task started. [continue reading…]

in 2 – Your Inner Game, Best Business Books

Get Out of Your Rut Now by Willem Gous

The full title of this book by Willem Gous is

Get Out of Your Rut Now: A 20-minute Guide with Proven Tactics To Overcome Procrastination, Achieve Your Goals and Get The Results You Really Want and Need Right Now

In my review posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave the book 4 Stars. This means it is Good and Well Worth Reading.

Here is my review.

The talk you probably need to hear

The book starts with the author admitting he’s writing the book because he’s in a rut and has set himself two days to follow a process to reduce procrastination and achieve a goal.

This could be a very short book which never reaches the end. [continue reading…]

in Best Business Books

The Psychology of Success by James Wilson

The full title of this book by James Wilson is

The Psychology of Success: Wantpower Versus Willpower

In my review posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave the book Four Stars. This means it is Good and Well Worth Reading.

Here is my book review.

Get motivated

This is a very short book that takes about 20 minutes to read.

It argued that we’ve been taught the wrong lessons to achieve success. We’re urged to work hard, be self disciplined etc to strive for what we want.

Another problem is that we’re not clear on what we want. We have vague dreams and fantasies of what it would be like to be rich. [continue reading…]

in Best Business Books

Chase One Rabbit by Philip Kim

The full title of this book by Dr Philip Kim is

Chase One Rabbit: 10 Habits that Move You from Failure to Success“.

In my review at Amazon.co.uk, I rated the book at the Four Stars level, this means that I consider it to be good to very good.

This is what I posted.

A fine first book for someone interested in “self help”

I was drawn to this book because, in my coaching when I talk about focus, I quote a Confucius saying “the man who chases two rabbits, catches neither.” [continue reading…]

in Best Business Books

The Halo Effect by Phil Rosenzweig

The full title of this book by Phil Rosenzweig is

The Halo Effect: How Managers let Themselves be Deceived.”

In my review at Amazon.co.uk, I rated it at the Four Stars level, which means I consider the book to be good to very good.

Here is what I posted.

Can you trust what business books tell you?

As a business coach and advisor, I read a lot of business books looking for extra ideas on how to improve businesses.

This book provides a major warning that recipes for success in these books are often misleading. It’s particularly critical of best sellers like “In Search Of Excellence“, “Built To Last” and “Good To Great” for their research methods and extravagant claims.

The problem is the title of the book – the halo effect. It seems that generally people assess successful, growing, profitable companies as having a wide range of virtues while struggling companies must be weak at many things. It sounds sensible but problems occur when a good company becomes bad, despite carrying on with all the virtues. [continue reading…]

in Best Business Books

What To Do When You Are Stuck by Richard Dotts

The full title of this book by Richard Dotts is

What To Do When You Are Stuck And Nothing Seems To Work

In my review at Amazon.co.uk, I rated it as a FOUR Stars book, this means I think it is good to very good.

Here is what I posted.

Focuses on your inner game

This book focuses on what I call your inner game, how your thoughts, beliefs and emotions control your actions or inactions. [continue reading…]

in Best Business Books

The 80/20 Rule by Ron Taylor

The full title of this book by Ron Taylor is

The 80/20 Rule: Putting the Power of the Pareto Principle to Work in Your Strategic Planning and Business Development“.

In my review posted on Amazon.co.uk, I rated the book at the Four Stars level, meaning that I think it is good to very good.

Here is what I wrote.

An 80/20 business parable

In theory, I like the idea of a business parable, that is a novel style story that carries business lessons. In practice, my experience is that they can be hit and miss. I’ve come across some where the “plot” and dreadful dialogue get in the way of learning by making reading the book a painful and distracting experience. [continue reading…]

in Best Business Books

SuperCoach by Michael Neill

The full title of this book by MIchael Neill is

“Supercoach: 10 Secrets to Transform Anyone’s Life”.

In my review at Amazon.co.uk, I rated this as a Four Stars book, which means I consider it to be in the good to very good range.

This is what I wrote.

A very helpful guide to review your life

I’ve been looking for a book to help my clients with what I call the inner game. This is how they see their role in the world and how, by changing their thoughts and actions, they can live a better, more satisfying life. [continue reading…]

in Best Business Books

Getting Unstuck by Cara Stein

The full title of this book by Cara Stein is

Getting Unstuck: How to transform your life one step at a time“.

In my review on Amazon.co.uk, I rated this book at the Four Stars level. This means I consider to be in the good to very good range.

Here is my review.

A very helpful book to get your life unstuck

I’ve been reading and reviewing books about how to get a business unstuck but this time I have stepped into looking at how someone gets their life unstuck. There is some crossover as a stuck business owner will cause the business to be stuck and vice versa, business problems spill into personal lives. [continue reading…]

in Best Business Books