Whether it’s health, training, parenting, work, or leadership, many of us are trying to do the right thing without a clear framework for how to think or who to listen to. There’s more information than ever, yet clarity feels harder to find.
As we head into 2026, many people are looking for something simple yet solid, and for good reason. Better thinking, better habits, and a clearer way to live, train, and lead without getting lost in the noise.
In 2020, when the world shifted, many of us were forced to take responsibility for things we had previously outsourced. We were introduced to what was called “the new normal,” and whether we liked it or not, it demanded a different level of ownership.
As a coach, a father, and a business owner, I felt that responsibility deeply, not just for myself, but for the people who trusted me to guide them. That was the year I made a decision! That decision was that if you were willing to take an hour out of your day to train and work on yourself, then I owed it to you to be better equipped to help. Not just physically, but emotionally, mentally, and spiritually as well.
Reading stopped being a hobby and became a responsibility.
Since then, I’ve read over 250 books and built a library of more than 400 — not because more information makes us wiser, but because the right information helps us understand who we are, why we struggle, and what to do about it. As the saying goes, reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.
In this blog, I’m going to share 10 books I believe you should read in 2026 if you want to level up the way you think, train, lead, and live. These aren’t trendy reads or quick wins. They’re books that help you build clarity, discipline, perspective, and a framework for becoming extraordinary.
1) Transcend — Scott Barry Kaufman
I’ll probably say this a few times, but I love this book. Ive read it 3 times!
Kaufman takes Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and modernises it. The big idea is that “self-actualisation” isn’t the finish line. Real fulfilment comes from integration (knowing yourself honestly) and transcendence (contributing beyond yourself). It’s psychology, but it reads like a blueprint for human development.
Most people are stuck in survival mode without realising it. They are chasing comfort, approval, certainty, or quick fixes. This book gives language to the difference between coping and thriving. It helps you identify what you’re actually pursuing, and whether it’s making you better or just busier.
2) The Slight Edge — Jeff Olson
Another multiple read for number 2. This is a book about how it’s not your big decisions that shape your life. It’s the tiny ones that feel like they don’t matter, such as water or soft drink, train or skip, phone in bed or sleep, protein or snack. They’re “easy to do” and also “easy not to do,” and that’s why they decide everything.
This book helps us remove the lie that you need motivation, intensity, or a perfect plan. It shows you how results are built through compounding and how people accidentally compound the wrong things by underestimating the power of daily choices.
3) The Infinite Game — Simon Sinek
This is a must if you struggle with competition. Some games are finite: rules are clear, there’s a winner, and it ends.
But health, leadership, relationships, and business are infinite games. The game never ends. The goal is to keep playing, keep improving, and keep staying true to your values over the long haul.
This book is well worth reading because it helps you avoid making short-term decisions that sabotage long-term success. Most people crash because they treat life like a sprint… get ripped fast, fix everything now, hustle until burnout. Infinite thinking shifts you into sustainability.
If you train like an infinite player, and approach life like an infinite player, you avoid stupid injuries, you recover properly, you build real capacity, and you stop measuring your worth by a single week or a single number on a barbell.
4) Cult Status — Tim Duggan
How do brands become movements? What is your brand? And what do you stand for? Duggan breaks down what creates loyalty and belonging, in business and personally. How to find your clear identity, consistency, symbolism, shared language, shared rituals, and the feeling that “these are my people.”
I have always enjoyed reading this because it reinforces how your environment shapes you. If you want to become extraordinary, you need to be in a culture that rewards the right things. This book helps you see what makes communities strong, and what makes them fake. How to know which path you are on and how to stay on it, being loyal to yourself.
VSC was built on Duggan’s sense of community and standards back in 2020. This book explains why that mattered so much to us, and how people don’t transform alone but transform in a tribe of like-minded individuals.
5) Built to Serve — Evan Carmichael
This book changed how I saw my life and what it truly meant to be alive. Leadership isn’t status. It’s a service. Carmichael’s core message is that people become powerful when they align with a mission bigger than themselves and organise their life around contribution, serving others, rather than expecting people to do as you say and follow.
This book was a direct punch in the face to my own modern selfishness, and came at the exact time I needed it. It shifted my whole view of business and personal contribution from “How do I win?” to “How do I become useful?” And started me down the path of servitude as a leader, taking responsibility for who I am and what I was doing in this world, and, most importantly, what, from my past, contributed to who this person is writing this blog today.
Life is servitude. Great coaches serve. Great members also serve by contributing energy, encouragement, accountability, and raising standards. This book deepens the identity we’re trying to build at VSC and what we have become in 2025 and beyond.
6) Boundaries — Henry Cloud & John Townsend
I’m a big believer and actioner of Boundaries. If you don’t set boundaries, you’ll either become resentful, burnt out, or controlled by other people’s expectations. Boundaries are not selfish; they’re the structure required for a healthy life.
Because most people don’t have a time problem, they have a permission problem. They say yes when they mean no. They overgive. They overwork. They overtrain. And then they wonder why they’re exhausted and inconsistent. And if this resonates with you, you NEED to read this book this year!
7) How to Think Like Socrates — Donald Robertson
Socratic thinking isn’t about being clever. It’s about learning how to question your assumptions, examine your beliefs, and develop wisdom and calm through reasoned thinking. It connects philosophy to real-life decisions.
If I had a dollar for the number of people I know who are being emotionally dragged around by their thoughts, I’d probably have $100. This book teaches you how to slow down and ask: Is this true? Is this approach helpful? What would a wiser version of me do right now?
8) Big Magic — Elizabeth Gilbert
Yep, this is the lady who wrote Eat Pray Love, but she also wrote a nonfiction book. Gilbert discusses in this book how creativity isn’t a personality trait. It’s a practice. Gilbert teaches that fear is normal, but fear doesn’t drive. The goal isn’t perfection, it’s participation and courage.
Because self-consciousness is the biggest killer of progress, people don’t start. Don’t try. Don’t commit. They wait to feel ready. This book helps people act despite fear. Becoming extraordinary requires experimenting! New habits, new identity, new training standards. If you’re paralysed by fear of failure or looking silly, you’ll stay average… Don’t ignore the call.
9) Unreasonable Hospitality — Will Guidara
This book is where VSc changed to the business it is today. A book my mother-in-law was told is excellent by a man at an airport who sells wine as a rep. I was hesitant, but glad I picked it up!
This is a book that takes you on a journey about how excellence isn’t an abstract value; it’s a thousand small decisions, and that everything you do in your business should be about how you make people feel. Guidara shows how world-class experiences are created through attention, care, and going beyond expectations, and how important it is to make people feel special.
Because “good enough” is the silent enemy of extraordinary. This book upgrades your standards; it upgraded mine. It makes you notice details. It makes you ask: What would it look like to do this properly?
10) 12 Rules for Life — Jordan Peterson
What this book is really about is order, responsibility, meaning, and truth. Peterson’s argument is that life is suffering, but it becomes bearable and purposeful when you take responsibility, speak truth, aim upward, and carry your load.
Unfortunately, we all know life doesn’t pamper you. It challenges you. You have to confront chaos and start to build order, build structure, and stop lying to yourself. For a lot of people, that’s exactly what they need. This book reinforces that training is a responsibility in physical form. You don’t get strong by wishing. You get strong by doing what’s required. This book supports the same ethic: discipline, truth, standards, and self-respect. Solid!
There is a saying that the person who can read and chooses not to is no better off than the person who cannot read at all. We already understand the value of working on ourselves physically. That training builds strength, confidence, resilience, and it absolutely supports our mental health. But learning to work on our emotional intelligence, our thinking, and our understanding of who we are adds an entirely different layer to life.
Books allow us to borrow the lessons, mistakes, and wisdom of others, helping us make sense of ourselves and the world around us. They give us language for things we feel but can’t quite explain. And over time, they quietly shape how we respond to pressure, challenge, relationships, and responsibility.
These ten books are not the only ones worth reading. But they’re a very good place to start. If 2026 is the year you want to become stronger, clearer, more grounded, and more capable, not just physically, but mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, start here, and see where your reading journey takes you.
Get up. Get after it. BECOME EXTRAORDINARY!