Dale Carnegie Best Books to Inspire and Motivate You
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Dale Carnegie lived from 1888 to 1955, but his influence is felt around the world today. He was born in Missouri, but lived and worked in New York, where he developed his worldwide training programs from his beginnings as a lecturer and public speaking teacher. Carnegie developed his first training course in 1912 from the public speaking classes he taught at the YMCA. His works and legacy were carried on after his death by his wife Dorothy, who compiled some of his writings for training courses and books and pamphlets. Today Dale Carnegie’s works still help people around the world with Dale Carnegie & Associates, Inc., providing easily access to all the training materials in modern formats including traditional books, online, live online, and in-person courses.
The Dale Carnegie Course in 1912 has evolved into certified training in leadership, sales management, customer service, employee engagement, and organizational development, among other important business subjects. He wrote many books and training materials about public speaking, living with confidence, and business and social success.
Employers and business people worldwide routinely utilize Dale Carnegie training to improve confidence and success factors for employees and businesses. But everyone can benefit from reading about how to overcome fear of public speaking and talking to people in business and social settings.
Read these Dale Carnegie best books if you want to feel more at ease with public speaking and people at work and in social situations, and get more enjoyment out of every day.
Related Article: Hone Your Persuasive Speaking Techniques With These Simple Tips That Actually Works
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This self-help book published in 1936 has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide and is one of the best-selling books of all time. It was developed from Carnegie’s coursework on public speaking and has consistently sold very well from the very beginning. It was number 19 in Time Magazine’s list of 100 most influential books in 2011. How to Win Friends and Influence People was revised in 1981 and still read around the world today.
The content focuses on improving personal popularity, influence, productivity, earning power, work and social interactions, conversational and public speaking, and understanding psychology. Sections on handling people, making people like you, convincing others of your point of view, and being a leader make this a comprehensive primer for positive interactions.
Learn how to avoid negative interaction and inspire others to appreciate your sincerity and honesty. Carnegie explains specific ways to make people like you and get them to agree with you to start using right away. He shows you how to be a leader with positive reinforcement and no negativity. If you are looking for a roadmap or a step-by-step guide book for improving your people skills, learning how to develop great relationships, or influence others for work or sales, read this book.
A big takeaway: Carnegie reminds us to remember and use peoples’ names to charm them and win them over.
How to Stop Worrying and Start Living
How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, written in 1948, is an in-depth look at worry but it’s also about happiness. Carnegie discusses worry and techniques to deal with it in eight sections that discuss all aspects of worry. It starts with facts about worry, including a three-step formula for dealing with worry, then moves on to techniques to analyze worry, and how to break the habit of worrying by keeping busy and figuring out and accepting what we worry about that can’t be changed.
Carnegie offers seven ways to reach a positive mental attitude that counteracts and defeats worrying. He recommends focusing on the positives in your life and working to make others happy as ways to cure depression and be happy. Carnegie posits that spirituality is an ideal way to overcome worry, as he saw in his own family with his mother and father.
Carnegie talks about doing your best, getting enough sleep, and banishing boredom as antidotes to the worry that puts a damper on happiness. He presents useful, proven tips in this book that have been used throughout history, presenting stories about people using them. This book is an action plan for how to make changes right now if worry is a problem in your life, or if you want to be happier, or both.
The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking — Modern Techniques for Dynamic Communication
This 1990 edition of a Dale Carnegie classic teaches how to speak in any situation you need to convince others of your objectives. Carnegie promotes learning public speaking and clear communication, as it doesn’t come naturally to most people but is of utmost importance for success in personal, social, and business arenas.
At 224 pages, The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking, is an easy read, but it’s a perfect step-by-step instructional for learning and improving your speaking skills. Presented in five logical sections, the content starts with the basics of preparation, subject matter for speaking, looking at fear of public speaking, and connecting with your audience.
Carnegie presents a thorough analysis of all aspects of speaking, including short formats, types of speaking, prepared and impromptu talks, self-consciousness, sincerity, enthusiasm, and feelings, and more. He even includes instruction in everyday conversation and speaking techniques for work, encouraging readers to look for opportunities for public speaking.
You can take a comprehensive in-person course on public speaking and communication, but reading this book will jump-start your speaking skills and confidence almost instantly and get you talking effectively in front of people today.
How to Enjoy Your Life and Your Job
Written in 1936 and updated in 1970 and 1985, How to Enjoy Your Life and Your Job is a primer for a better overall life. It’s meant to help you recognize and start using your strengths and abilities with a new approach. Add fun and excitement with tactics like making others sincerely feel valued, avoiding tension, getting people to say yes, avoiding making enemies, and turn your everyday tasks into interesting opportunities.
Carnegie talks about what to do about boredom, criticism, fatigue, and worry to find peace and happiness. This book includes treasures mined from one of Carnegies’ other books, How to Win Friends and Influence People, revisiting issues like how to make people like you instantly. There is a lot of discussion of how to make other people feel good to get cooperation and avoid creating resentments and disagreements.
If you feel like something’s missing, or something’s wrong with your life or job, but just haven’t been able to put your finger on it, pick up this book. Things will start to make sense and click immediately if you take Carnegie’s advice.
How to Develop Self Confidence and Influence People by Public Speaking
How to Develop Self Confidence and Influence People by Public Speaking was written in 1926 to help people overcome the fear of public speaking and learn to enjoy it. Successful speaking requires poise, self-confidence, a good memory, clear meaning, an interest in your audience, ability to influence people, and ability to effectively begin and end a talk. Learn the secrets of memory power and good delivery to keep your audience’s attention and persuade them of your objectives.
Carnegie emphasizes preparation, speaking with passion and feeling, telling stories, eliminating distractions for the audience, making a powerful opening, and planning your finish to close talks. He also discusses public speaking fails and pitfalls, such as trying to open with humor or being apologetic. He illustrates successful and failed openings with actual speaker’s experiences, such as Woodrow Wilson’s short and succinct opening to his address to Congress in 23 targeted words, and National Cash Register Company’s sales manager’s 3 sentence introduction. This Carnegie book covers the ins and outs of speaking from start to finish, so your talks will be effective and successful. Preparation, attention to details at the podium and in the audience, powerful words and ideas, and using stories for interest and entertainment will elevate your communications and presentations as meaningfully now as they did for Carnegie’s audience in his lifetime.
If you need to polish your speaking abilities, learn how to craft powerful openings, and want to understand how to hold your audience’s attention, Carnegie’s books provide all this and more. His books and training courses teach not just how to speak in front of people, but how to improve your confidence and eliminate your fear of public speaking, as well as how to prepare to talk in front of people, craft powerful and memorable words and presentations, and the importance of opening and finishing strong. His public speaking classes in 1912 have evolved into a powerful business training enterprise that has helped countless people throughout the years and is as relevant today as it was when he first began.
