The Led2Win team wishes you a very Happy Black History Month. As a black-owned business, we take pride in lifting black voices and we honor the contributions of African Americans to the United States and the world. As we are a motivation and self-improvement platform, here are 10 motivational books written by African Americans to get right now!
1. Everyday Millionaires How Ordinary People Built Extraordinary Wealth — and How You Can Too by Chris Hogan
In Everyday Millionaires, #1 national best-selling author Chris Hoganwill show you how ordinary people built extraordinary wealth — and how you can too. You’ll learn how millionaires live on less than they make, avoid debt, invest, are disciplined and responsible!
This book is based on the largest study EVER conducted on 10,000 U.S. millionaires — and the results will shock you! You’ll learn that building wealth has almost NOTHING to do with your income or your background! It doesn’t matter where you come from. It matters where you’re going.
Most people think it takes crazy investing knowledge, a giant salary, a streak of luck, or a huge inheritance to become a millionaire. But that couldn’t be further from the truth! Here’s what you need to understand: if you’re willing to do the work — if you’ll follow the stuff we teach, if you’ll commit to our plan — then you CAN become a millionaire. (Goodreads)
2. Powershift Transform Any Situation, Close Any Deal, and Achieve Any Outcome by Daymond John
Bestselling author and Shark Tank star Daymond John reveals the secrets to cultivating influence, building relationships, and negotiating your way to any deal or outcome.
Getting what you want in life is all about relationships: establishing them, leveraging them at the right time, and continuing to nurture them long afterwards. In Powershift, bestselling author, founder and CEO of FUBU, and star of ABC’s Shark Tank Daymond John shares the recipe. First, you need to establish a reputation and create a sphere of influence. Then, you’ll learn how to secure the best possible deal. Finally, you’ll learn how to maintain those essential, career-defining relationships so you can call on them later on.
Drawing on never-before-told stories from his life and career, Daymond shares the lessons and principles that got him to where he is today: from how he remade his public image as he made the unlikely transition from clothing mogul to television personality, to new negotiation strategies he honed “in the tank,” to how he learned to navigate a new web of relationships as a serial entrepreneur. Whether you’re a seasoned professional trying to land the next big client, an entrepreneur trying to close a round of funding, or a recent graduate negotiating your first salary, Powershift will show you how to achieve any outcome, big or small. (Goodreads)
3. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Sent by their mother to live with their devout, self-sufficient grandmother in a small Southern town, Maya and her brother, Bailey, endure the ache of abandonment and the prejudice of the local “powhitetrash.” At eight years old and back at her mother’s side in St. Louis, Maya is attacked by a man many times her age — and has to live with the consequences for a lifetime. Years later, in San Francisco, Maya learns that love for herself, the kindness of others, her own strong spirit, and the ideas of great authors (“I met and fell in love with William Shakespeare”) will allow her to be free instead of imprisoned.
Poetic and powerful, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings will touch hearts and change minds for as long as people read. (Goodreads)
“The average monthly student loan payment for someone in their twenties is $351.15 If that student avoided student loans, started his or her career without that payment, and invested that $351 into a mutual fund every month instead, they’d have almost $3 million by age 65.16” — Chris Hogan, Everyday Millionaires
4. The Path Made Clear Discovering Your Life’s Direction and Purpose by Oprah Winfrey
Everyone has a purpose. And, according to Oprah Winfrey, “Your real job in life is to figure out as soon as possible what that is, who you are meant to be, and begin to honor your calling in the best way possible.”
That journey starts right here.
In her latest book, The Path Made Clear, Oprah shares what she sees as a guide for activating your deepest vision of yourself, offering the framework for creating not just a life of success, but one of significance. The book’s ten chapters are organized to help you recognize the important milestones along the road to self-discovery, laying out what you really need in order to achieve personal contentment, and what life’s detours are there to teach us.
Oprah opens each chapter by sharing her own key lessons and the personal stories that helped set the course for her best life. She then brings together wisdom and insights from luminaries in a wide array of fields, inspiring readers to consider what they’re meant to do in the world and how to pursue it with passion and focus. These renowned figures share the greatest lessons from their own journeys toward a life filled with purpose.
Paired with over 100 awe-inspiring photographs to help illuminate the wisdom of these messages, The Path Made Clear provides readers with a beautiful resource for achieving a life lived in service of your calling — whatever it may be. (Goodreads)
5. Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun, and Be Your Own Person by Shonda Rhimes
In this poignant, hilarious and deeply intimate call to arms, Hollywood’s most powerful woman, the mega-talented creator of Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal and executive producer of How to Get Away with Murder and Catch, reveals how saying YES changed her life — and how it can change yours too. W
ith three hit shows on television and three children at home, Shonda Rhimes had lots of good reasons to say no when invitations arrived. Hollywood party? No. Speaking engagement? No. Media appearances? No. And to an introvert like Shonda, who describes herself as ‘hugging the walls’ at social events and experiencing panic attacks before press interviews, there was a particular benefit to saying no: nothing new to fear. Then came Thanksgiving 2013, when Shonda’s sister Delorse muttered six little words at her: You never say yes to anything. Profound, impassioned and laugh-out-loud funny, in Year of Yes Shonda Rhimes reveals how saying YES changed — and saved — her life. And inspires readers everywhere to change their own lives with one little word: Yes. (Goodreads)
6. Living Over Existing: How to Push Past the Mental Barriers That Are Holding You Back from Success by Alisha Robertson
What is stopping you from building the brand of your dreams? Not having the time, the money or maybe you’re just unsure HOW to get started? What if you were told that lack of know-how is typically the least of your worries when it comes to turning your idea into a profitable business and that you are actually the reason why your dreams haven’t been turned into reality? What if you were told that what holds most creative women back from uncovering what they were called to do and making an income doing what they love, are the different mental obstacles like fear, comparison and self-doubt?
Through Living Over Existing, Alisha Robertson shares her journey from being hopelessly lost and feeling insecure around people who seemed to have it all together, to taking a leap of faith and building her own online business, all while still struggling with many of those mental obstacles that tend to keep us stagnant.With a focus on authentic storytelling, strengthening your faith and providing actionable steps, Alisha will help you to uncover your purpose and move past the different barriers that are currently holding you back from living your life and building your business on purpose. (Goodreads)
“To be left alone on the tightrope of youthful unknowing is to experience the excruciating beauty of full freedom and the threat of eternal indecision. Few, if any, survive their teens. Most surrender to the vague but murderous pressure of adult conformity. It becomes easier to die and avoid conflict than to maintain a constant battle with the superior forces of maturity.” ― Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
“I believe every one of us is born with a purpose. No matter who you are, what you do, or how far you think you have to go, you have been tapped by a force greater than yourself to step into your God-given calling. This goes far beyond what you do to earn your living. I’m talking about a supreme moment of destiny, the reason you are here on earth.” — Oprah Winfrey, The Path Made Clear Discovering Your Life’s Direction and Purpose
7. Can’t Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds by David Goggins
For David Goggins, childhood was a nightmare — poverty, prejudice, and physical abuse colored his days and haunted his nights. But through self-discipline, mental toughness, and hard work, Goggins transformed himself from a depressed, overweight young man with no future into a U.S. Armed Forces icon and one of the world’s top endurance athletes. The only man in history to complete elite training as a Navy SEAL, Army Ranger, and Air Force Tactical Air Controller, he went on to set records in numerous endurance events, inspiring Outside magazine to name him “The Fittest (Real) Man in America.”
In Can’t Hurt Me, he shares his astonishing life story and reveals that most of us tap into only 40% of our capabilities. Goggins calls this The 40% Rule, and his story illuminates a path that anyone can follow to push past pain, demolish fear, and reach their full potential. (Goodreads)
8. The Secret to Success by Eric Thomas
From homeless high school dropout to one of the most sought after motivational speakers in the country, Eric Thomas has truly found the Secret 2 Success. In this, his debut autobiography, Eric shares that secrets with the rest of the world. By chronicling his days sleeping in abandoned buildings in the unforgiving Detroit winters, to his rise as a successful husband, father, CEO, educator and motivational speaker, Eric inspires the masses to reach greatness.
In 2009 one of Eric’s entitled Secrets 2 Success surfaced on YouTube and quickly went viral reaching over 1 million views. It was the response to this video and the subsequent thousands of emails and phone calls from viewers ranging from high school teachers and students, to professional athletes and CEO’s of fortune 500 companies seeking Eric’s advice on how to reach their maximum potential that ultimately led to the writing of this book. In the book, Eric not only details his struggles and successes, he also provides invaluable advice on how anyone can take their life from its current state to places they never dreamed imaginable. (Goodreads)
9. Becoming by Michelle Obama
In a life filled with meaning and accomplishment, Michelle Obama has emerged as one of the most iconic and compelling women of our era. As First Lady of the United States of America — the first African American to serve in that role — she helped create the most welcoming and inclusive White House in history, while also establishing herself as a powerful advocate for women and girls in the U.S. and around the world, dramatically changing the ways that families pursue healthier and more active lives, and standing with her husband as he led America through some of its most harrowing moments. Along the way, she showed us a few dance moves, crushed Carpool Karaoke, and raised two down-to-earth daughters under an unforgiving media glare.
In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her — from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world’s most famous address. With unerring honesty and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private, telling her full story as she has lived it — in her own words and on her own terms. Warm, wise, and revelatory, Becoming is the deeply personal reckoning of a woman of soul and substance who has steadily defied expectations — and whose story inspires us to do the same. (Goodreads)
10. Live Your Dreams: Say Yes to Life by Les Brown
Here is Les Brown’s personal formula for success and happiness — positively charged thoughts, guidance, examples, plus an Action Planner to help you focus your thoughts on specific goals…and achieve them all. The answers are all here in this astonishing book — with one simple, powerful message: We may not always be able to control what is put in our path, but we can always control what we are…and what we will become. (Goodreads)