Anytime Mark Batterson writes something, I get it because I know it will be golden! Soul Print was pure gold. For me, it was one of those books I read and it happens to be  the perfect time in my life to read it.

I’ve been studying a lot on having a healthy self-image. Soul Print is all about finding out who you are in Christ. Finding your true value and worth. It helped me immensely. I’d recommend this book for anyone who is a student of themselves. Who wants to discover who they are in Christ. Mark walks us through the life of David to help us find ourselves in Christ. He did an incredible job in doing so.

My rule of thumb is if Batterson writes it, you need to read it. Get this book!

Some Highlights:

• There has never been and never will be anyone else like you.
• You aren’t good enough or gifted enough to get where God wants you to go. Not without His help.
• You were created to worship God in a way that no one else can.
• It’s never too late to be who you might have been.
• God doesn’t just set us free from who we were. He sets us free to become who we were meant to be.
• God’s primary concern is who you’re becoming.
• God sets us free from who we’re not so we can become who we are destined to become!
• Singles: Don’t focus on finding the right person, focus on becoming the right person.
• God wants you to get where God wants you to go more than you want to get where God wants you to go!
• Most of our emotional problems are symptoms of one deep rooted spiritual problem: lack of trust in the sovereign God.
• You don’t really care about people until you don’t care what they think
• Most of us spend most of our lives trying to prove ourselves to people, when all we have to do is prove ourselves to God.

The book has plenty of more fantastic nuggets to dwell on! Get this book!

See You at the Top by Zig Ziglar is a success classic. This was the first book I’ve read by Zig. It was incredible.

This book really helped me realize that so much of my “weaknesses” in life are due to a poor self-image. This book devotes an entire section to building a healthy self-image. That section alone was enough to make this a life changing book for me.

I also really enjoyed the Goal-setting section. It gave me really practical advice on how to set goals and turn them into daily actions.

I would definitely say this is a must read for everyone that is breathing. I hope you’ll read it!

Some Highlights:

• “When you sow an action, you reap a habit; when you sow a habit, you reap a character; and when you sow a character, you reap a destiny.”
• what you get by reaching your destination isn’t nearly as important as what you become by reaching that destination.
• You are the only one who can use your ability. It is an awesome responsibility.
• Once you accept yourself, it will no longer be a matter of life or death for others to accept you. At that point you will not only be accepted, but you will be welcomed wherever you go.
• “A lot of people have gone further than they thought they could because someone else thought they could.”
• the most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother, and the most important thing a mother can do for her children is to love their father.
• discipline is something you do for a child and not to a child.
• To build your self-image, make a list of your positive qualities on a card and keep it handy for reference. Ask your friends to list the things they like about you and keep that list handy.
• “You are somebody because God doesn’t take time to make a nobody. And once you learn how much you matter to God, you don’t have to go out and show the world how much you matter.”
• no one on the face of this earth can make you feel inferior without your permission,
• One man who earns $100,000 a year could well be judged a failure if he is capable of earning five times that amount.
• Motivation, goal setting, positive thinking, etc., won’t work for you until you accept yourself. You must feel you “deserve” success, happiness, etc., before those things will be yours.
• The starting point for both success and happiness is a healthy self-image.
• You cannot consistently perform in a manner that is inconsistent with the way you see yourself.
• when your image improves, your performance improves.
• any person who does not believe in himself and fully utilize his ability is literally stealing from himself, from his loved ones, and, in the process, because of reduced productivity, he also steals from society.
• you can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want.
• The person who knows but won’t use success principles and information is no better off than the person who doesn’t know them.
• learning without action isn’t learning.
• “You are where you are because that’s exactly where you want to be.”
• the price of success is much lower than the price of failure.
• When you choose a habit, you often choose the end result of that habit.
• go as far as you can see, and when you get there you will always be able to see further.
• History proves that if we give our children heroes and moral principles to live up to, they will.
• you don’t pay a price for good health—you enjoy the benefits.
• “Doing your best is more important than being the best.”
• there’s no such thing as a lazy person; he’s either sick or uninspired.
• President Calvin Coolidge wrote, “Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not. Nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not. Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not. The world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence, determination, and hard work makes the difference.”
• A man or woman is seldom really happy unless he or she is sustaining him or herself and making a contribution to others.

I finally got around to reading this classic  by Dale Carnegie! Theodore Roosevelt said, “The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people.”

I believe that. Because I believe that, I want to do everything I can to become better at connecting with people. I believe that anyone can learn to be charismatic. I believe anyone can learn  to win friends and influence people. I also believe we all need to develop our people skills as often and as much as we can.

For anyone who is looking to become better with connecting with people, this is hands down a must read!

Buy this Book Here: How To Win Friends and Influence People

Some Highlights:

• 15 percent of one’s financial success is due to one’s technical knowledge and about 85 percent is due to skill in human engineering—to personality and the ability to lead people.

• Dr. Johnson said: “God himself, sir, does not propose to judge man until the end of his days.” Why should you and I?

• Sigmund Freud said that everything you and I do springs from two motives: the sex urge and the desire to be great.

• If you tell me how you get your feeling of importance, I’ll tell you what you are. That determines your character. That is the most significant thing about you.I shall pass this way but once; any good, therefore, that I can do or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.

• Emerson said: “Every man I meet is my superior in some way. In that, I learn of him.”

• “If there is any one secret of success,” said Henry Ford, “it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of view and see things from that person’s angle as well as from your own.”

• You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.

• Jim Farley discovered early in life that the average person is more interested in his or her own name than in all the other names on earth put together.

• Whenever Roosevelt expected a visitor, he sat up late the night before, reading up on the subject in which he knew his guest was particularly interested.

• William James said: “The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated.”There is an old saying: “Give a dog a bad name and you may as well hang him.” But give him a good name—and see what happens!