The Best Self-Improvement Book You Never Heard Of
Why Kanye’s least favorite creation is Gold Digger featuring Jamie Fox
The Top 8 Self-Improvement Books of All Time
- Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
- The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
- The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
- The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People by Stephen Covey
- The Pathwork of Self-Transformation by Eva Pierrakos
- How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
- The Four Agreements by Miguel Ruiz
- Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins
Was there a book on the list that made you scratch your head and think, “huh?”
Was it The Pathwork of Self-Transformation by Eva Pierrakos?
Think and Grow Rich has 47,000+ reviews on Amazon. The Alchemist has 53,000+ reviews. The Pathwork has 114 — almost 100 more from when I first purchased the book.
I’ve read every book from the list, but Eva’s is the best (in my opinion) because it’s nuanced and had the most significant impact on my life.
Mainstream VS Nuanced Advice
If you want to sell more products, you have to make them more accessible and cheap (chips at grocery stores, liquor stores, and gas stations), a necessity (a smartphone), or easily digestible (content).
We ask the doctor for the “layman’s terms” to understand what the hell he or she is trying to say. A doctor, if they were to write a book, would probably sell very few. A marketer would have to paraphrase the doctor’s words so the masses can understand them.
Think and Grow Rich — layman’s terms.
The Pathwork — doctor’s terms.
But Eva’s work is far from challenging to understand. But it’s not as marketable as “think positive all time, and you’ll be successful.”
The Pathwork was recommended to me by one of my favorite YouTubers — Julien Blanc (real name) or Julienhimself (Youtube Channel). Julien reviewed books, and I almost didn’t watch his review of The Pathwork because the title was unfamiliar. Minutes into the video, I was hooked like the first time biting into a Recess Peanut Butter Cup. I bought the Kindle version immediately so I could read it as soon as possible.
The only negative about the book was that I was so fascinated by it I ignored my first class in the morning — Cognitive Psychology. The course was relatively easy and boring, so The Pathwork was my espresso shot that kept my head from collapsing on my folded arms.
But I didn’t stop reading after class. I read during breaks between classes. I’d even show up to class early to get some more pages in before the teacher began the lecture.
Concepts like The 3 Selves, Recreating Childhood Hurt, The False Concept of God, The Ideal Partnership of Love, Real Self, Real & False Needs, Meditation for 3 Voices, and Creative Emptiness were ones I’ve never read before.
The Pathwork felt like the one-stop-shop for self-improvement because it laid the path for the three most important goals in life: health, wealth, and love.
I realized from the book that I was attempting to improve myself to satisfy an “ideal image.” And that this image was an illusion that will forever change, and the only way to be whole is to accept all that is you right now, to integrate the aspects of your personality that you believe are “negative,” “inefficient,” or “inadequate.”
I learned psychotherapy and spiritual practices were ineffective because they didn’t pay significant attention to the many layers of ego-self.
I realized I was attracting partners that would hurt me the same way my mother did.
I understood the different forces controlling relationships and what quality I needed to actualize to achieve unity with a partner.
I discovered new methods of meditation that helped with the integration process and improved my empathy skills so I could connect better with others, myself, and create more helpful content.
I’ve read The Pathwork three times and have learned something new each readthrough. I’ll probably start reading it for a fourth time because this article is triggering my addiction.
Dive Deeper Like Kanye
Kanye West said his least favorite song he ever created was Gold Digger featuring Jamie Foxx. Interestingly, Gold Digger is his most popular song to date.
West’s favorite creation is Can’t Tell Me Nothin featuring Young Jeezy. While the song was a hit, it falls considerably short of Gold Diggers’ commercial success.
And it’s, for this reason, I believe Kanye’s favorite piece of work is the latter. And it’s also, for this reason, I choose to write, listen to, and read what dives deeper than the surface level and connects to the heart and soul.
But I digress.
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