Looking for daily routine books? I can already hear your wondering:
“What is the difference between a ‘daily habit and routine’ book and a normal ‘habit’ book“?
The short answer is both nothing and everything.
With a shorter list, I likely would have lumped these books in with the main habit books. There are many great books on this list about changing your habits. But these books typically tend to focus on the ritualization aspects, such as morning routines.
Alas, as our entire self-improvement book list grew in length, I had to make some categorization decisions.
The difference between these books and the first 25 is that, rather than discussing overarching ideas on habit change, they focus on more specific plans for how to improve your routines and habits on a day-to-day basis.
In my mind, that makes these books a little bit more actionable (something that I love). The books on this list deal with morning routines, action logs, killing procrastination, and creating daily rituals. Let’s get to it.
1. The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8AM) by Hal Elrod
This book teaches us that, to become successful, we must harness the potential power of a solid morning routine. It guarantees that your life will change for the better when you follow six principles, called Life S.A.V.E.R.S., to start your day. These stand for:
S – Silence. This is accomplished by doing inward-directed activities such as meditation, breathing exercises, and prayer. Silence, as part of your daily routine, imbues the rest of your day with calm and peacefulness.
A – Affirmations. These are the sayings or quotes that you choose to repeat to yourself on a regular basis. They are a way for us to reprogram our negative tendencies and develop a new mindset.
V – Visualization. Develop the habit of seeing in your mind the outcomes of the things you are working on in life. One powerful visualization tool that can help you with this is a vision board.
E – Exercise. Elrod believes that having a regular exercise regimen is crucial to success.
R – Reading. Learning from the experts is a sure way to improve your chances at success. (Want to read some highly recommended titles, but don’t have the time? The app Blinkist provides executive summaries of non-fiction books in an easy-to-understand format.)
S – Scribing. This means writing down your thoughts in a journal. Journaling has been proven to have a grounding and calming effect on your emotional state. In addition, journaling is one way to have a tangible record of the things that happen in your life, which you can look back on in the future. (If you're into bullet journaling, here are some ideas and examples for your morning routine bullet journal page.)
Elrod’s core message is that everyone deserves to achieve their fullest potential.
RELATED: 12 Good Morning Routine Habits
Want to build a success-focused morning routine? Well, watch this video to learn about the 12 morning routine habits of the world's most successful people.
2. The Compound Effect: Jumpstart Your Income, Your Life, Your Success by Darren Hardy
This highly rated book serves as a guide for goal creation and doing what’s necessary to reach success.
In this case, it focuses on the choices we make, our habits, obtaining momentum for success, exploring what influences our mindsets, and applying all of these in practical scenarios.
The premise of the book is something that should already be obvious: There is no magic formula that gives you the life you want overnight. We reach success by doing consistent and repeated actions that guarantee good results over time. This is what Hardy refers to as the “compound effect.”
Hardy writes in a casual style, pretty much like chatting with a friend who’s sharing some tried-and-tested strategies for navigating through life. He gives counsel that truly works—if you’re willing to commit to working hard toward the life that you’ve always wanted.
3. Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time by Brian Tracy
Is time management a constant challenge in your professional or personal life?
Is procrastination ruining your chances for success and happiness?
This book provides a collection of time-management strategies to help readers overcome their tendency to procrastinate.
Brian Tracy writes from experience, sharing techniques and strategies that get the most productive use of the same 24 hours allocated to each one of us. At every point, there are actionable exercises you can immediately try in your own situation.
The book’s title is taken from an expression often attributed to Mark Twain about eating a frog first thing in the morning, so that it might be the worst thing you’ll experience all day.
In the this book, Tracy likens our most important tasks to the “frog.” We must give our attention to the pressing matters of the day first thing in the morning to ensure that they get done. This way, we can go on with the rest of the day unburdened, and most likely not procrastinate on less challenging tasks.
4. Habit Stacking: 127 Small Changes to Improve Your Health, Wealth, and Happiness by S.J. Scott
Is your daily routine overwhelming you? This book explains how small changes can make a lasting difference.
It teaches you how to break down big goals into manageable tasks that take just a few minutes to complete. This way, you don’t get overwhelmed trying to accomplish a seemingly huge task that requires a lot of effort on your part.
Working on your life goals? This book can be a helpful guide. The simple, actionable, and effective suggestions for changing your daily habits are designed to give you positive results.
It will introduce you to 127 actions that, when applied into your daily routine, can greatly improve a number of areas of your life, such as relationships, finances, and health.
It provides vital information about:
5. Act Now! A Daily Action Log for Achieving Your Goals in 90 Days by Peter D. Winiarski
Are you often overwhelmed by goal-setting? Winiarksi will guide you on how to do it more easily. The wisdom he shares in this book is your roadmap for getting results within 90 days.
Whether you’re looking for a way to improve your team’s performance or experience more successes in your personal life, the wisdom Winiarski shares in this book will help you.
This slim volume is packed with valuable information and sound suggestions for the things you can do to live a richer, more meaningful life.
6. The Rhythm of Life: Living Everyday with Passion & Purpose by Matthew Kelly
For many of us, the journey to self-awareness is a long and challenging one. This book serves as a roadmap for discovering your true self and your life’s purpose.
Kelly guides his readers in uncovering their inner motivation, their potential, and their needs in order to thrive. Delivered in a refreshing and clear style of writing, the book’s content is relatable to anyone who has ever embarked on a quest for true happiness and fulfillment.
The book is divided into seven parts, each one dealing with ways that bring you closer to a better version of yourself. These include:
There are several “timeless creeds” that serve as guide posts for anyone who wishes to follow a life of purpose. These include:
7. Vision to Reality: How Short-Term Massive Action Equals Long-Term Maximum Results by Honorée Corder
This book shares a process for identifying and living the life you’ve always dreamed of.
Perhaps your whole attention is so focused on getting your urgent tasks done that you fail to spend time working on the important things. Have you always delayed the fulfillment of your dreams in favor of taking care of other people’s needs?
This book will show you how to use daily actions in order to arrive at the life you want.
The information in this book is of great value for those who are stuck in a rut. It fires up their motivation and excitement for living again.
8. The 5 AM Miracle: Dominate Your Day Before Breakfast by Jeff Sanders
If you are wondering how you can increase your productivity, this book is a good source of information. It isn’t just about getting up at five in the morning—the author makes that clear from the get-go. However, Sanders does advocate getting up earlier that you currently do in order to take advantage of the time of day when your energy is at its peak.
In this book, Sanders explains the benefits of waking up earlier than usual. He also provides easy-to-follow instructions on how you can become a morning person. Furthermore, he introduces life-long morning routine habits that gear you up for long-term success.
Towards the end of every chapter, an action plan is introduced, providing a summary of the points discussed and a way for the reader to apply them in their life.
9. Take Control Of Your Life: A 2-Hour Plan to Help You Set and Reach Your Goals by Rachel Rofé
Most of the books featured today show how you can meet your goals by doing small actions that build upon each other and create a big positive impact.
This book also advocates that approach, and readers will appreciate how Rofé goes about doing it. Her voice and writing style make the information she shares accessible and straight to the point.
She makes sure that you aren’t overwhelmed by the information she shares. Instead, she provides practical exercises so that you can immediately apply the goal-setting strategies she includes in the book.
Rofé believes that if you are willing to commit just two hours, you can discover the life you really want and create a plan for achieving it. She presents a six-step process for getting the life you’ve always dreamed of:
10. Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey
This book reveals the ways notable artistic and creative individuals have balanced the demands of daily life (such as their jobs, marriages, social obligations, etc.) and their commitment to their craft.
Currey allows us a glimpse into a world where hard work and extreme dedication are necessary to produce masterpieces.
The book shows that, even with this type of dedication to the arts, the creators did not neglect their obligations to the everyday aspects of life. Their routines ensured that they remained functioning and contributing members of society while being steadfast to their true calling as artists.
This book is ideal for creatives searching for inspiration on how they can manage their time in order to produce their own masterpieces.
The book is well-researched and features a diverse selection of individuals from different areas of the arts and sciences.
11. Manage Your Day-to-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus, and Sharpen Your Creative Mind by 99U, Edited by Jocelyn K. Glei
With so many things to do on in ordinary workday, it is no surprise that it’s often the most important things that remain unfinished. With the sheer volume of things that you need to “get done,” the pressure to be productive often becomes overwhelming.
This book might be the answer to managing your schedule in order to crush those daily goals.
The concepts presented in the book are easy to grasp. Furthermore, there are key takeaways at the end of every chapter to drive home the core messages.
Although this is a tiny book, it is filled with useful information and actionable ideas that can truly improve your productivity and help you become more efficient and effective in the work that you do.
Conclusion
Are there daily routine books missing from this list? Are there books on routines that shouldn't be here? Do you find this list useful? Do you have any favorites? Make sure to let me know in the comments on the the main page of the 250+ Best Habit Books List
Finally, if you want the perfect morning routine, then check out this seven-step process for creating a morning routine that will become a vital part of your daily life.)
