5 Favorite Coaching Books
Recently I was asked to share my favorite coaching-related books, and after shuffling my pile and perusing my shelves, I've finally narrowed it down.
1. The Way of Integrity by Martha Beck
I’ve read almost all of Martha Beck’s books and became certified through her Wayfinder Life Coach Training, so it's safe to say I find tremendous value in her work. This, her most recent book, is my favorite yet. It’s filled with loving, no-nonsense wisdom and thoughtful exercises designed to get you closer to the life your essential self longs for.
It doesn’t hurt that the book follows the arc of Dante’s Divine Comedy. The Inferno is one of my top 3 books of all time, so my nerdy little heart was tickled by this Dante/Beck mashup.
A highlight:
Integrity is the cure for unhappiness. Period.
Of all the strategies and skills I’ve ever learned the ones that actually work are those that help people see where they’ve abandoned their own deep sense of truth and follow some other set of directives.
2. Untamed by Glennon Doyle
I’ve given this book as a gift more than any other; I sent a client a copy just last week. Love, integrity, and courage are once again big themes.
Two highlights:
Integrity means having only one self…I am myself wherever I am, and I let the world adjust.
And:
Why do women find it honorable to dismiss ourselves?
Why do we decide that denying our longing is the responsible thing to do?
Why do we believe that what will thrill and fulfill us will hurt our people?
Why do we mistrust ourselves so completely?"
Does that give you chills or what?
3. Loving What Is by Byron Katie
Byron Katie developed a life-changing set of questions called The Work. Loving What Is takes you through the questions that form the backbone of The Work, and includes a number of illustrative transcripts of Katie taking people through it.
Two highlights:
If self-realization didn’t make things lighter, who would want it?
And:
There’s only one thing harder than accepting this, and that is not accepting it. Reality rules, whether we’re aware of it or not.
4. Playing Big by Tara Mohr
Playing Big was so transformative for me that I completed Tara Mohr’s Playing Big Facilitators Training last year. I mean, just look at the titles of the first four chapters: The Inner Critic, The Voice of Inner Wisdom, A Very Old New Way of Looking at Fear, Unhooking from Praise and Criticism. That’s just the start!
A highlight:
Why is noticing and naming the voice of self-doubt so powerful? Liberating yourself from the influence of the inner critic depends on a very simple insight. You are not the critical voice. You are the person aware of the critical voice.
5. Do Less by Kate Northrup
After reading the first 20 pages of a library book, I promptly returned it and bought my own copy so I could mark it up and reference it often. This is the book that taught me, among other things, how to tune into cycles (menstrual, lunar) and learn to work with them rather than steamroll over them.
A highlight:
When we begin to perceive our bodies, our energy, and time as cyclical instead of linear, we not only feel relaxed on a cellular level in a way most of us have never experienced, we also begin to pick up momentum without having to struggle.
If you read these books and do the exercises, I promise you will see positive changes in your life. They’ve been instrumental in helping me shape mine, and they feature many tools I frequently use with clients.
But here’s the problem: every single one of these books – indeed, most coaching books I have found – was written by a white woman.
Part of me wanted to hold off on sharing this roundup until I’d diversified my reading list, but that felt disingenuous.
Instead, I’d love to know: Do you have recommendations for coaching-related books by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) authors?
There’s a wealth of wisdom we all miss out on when we only learn from people in one group, and I want to do better.
In the coming months, I’ll be digging into your recommendations and other reads I find, and I plan a follow-up installment later this year.
