New PN: The Golden Rules
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Finding World-Class Excellence in Your Life and Workby Bob Bowman |
“It’s pretty simple: The more consistency you bring to your daily work, the more predictable your success will be, whether you’re chasing football titles, Olympic medals, or wins in your day-to-day life.”BOB BOWMAN |
FROM THE BOOK“Achieving excellence should not be drudgery.
It should excite you; darn, you’re going after something you want—savor every moment. As you’ll see, the Method wants the process to be as satisfying as the reward is lasting. After nearly three decades of coaching athletes and other people, I’ve assembled strategies that, I believe, can lead anyone to personal fulfillment on the road to achieving his dream vision. Yes, effort is required, along with careful planning, the right attitude, teamwork, and a mentality that combats those monsters, Anxiety and Stress, when they close in. But they shouldn’t diminish the joy of the chase.
The Method has worked for dozens of world-class swimmers—and I’m confident that it will work for non-swimmers as well, including you. It’s part of my personal mission: to help people realize that the best moments in our lives are built around achieving everyday, and long-lasting excellence.
So are you ready to pursue something special? Excellent. Let’s go.”
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Brian's Notes
I’ve admired Bob Bowman for years but I didn’t know he had a book until I was invited to join a roundtable podcast discussion with him and another one of my favorite coaches: George Mumford (Kobe and Jordan’s mindfulness/mental toughness coach).
That podcast was hosted by Ryan Sweeney who is creating a platform called The Inner Game which is bringing Tim Gallwey’s wisdom to the next level.
The roundtable discussion was AWESOME. I’ll share more on that soon.
And... This book is AWESOME. As per the subtitle, Bob walks us through The Golden Rules on “Finding World-Class Excellence in Your Life and Work.”
He shares the hard-earned wisdom he’s gained in his decades-long Hall of Fame career—coaching not only the greatest Olympian in history but countless other world-class athletes.
He’s currently the Director of Swimming and Diving and Head Men’s Coach at The University of Texas where he’s the reigning national champion. Before that, he transformed the Arizona State team into a national champion over nine seasons. He was also the head men’s coach for Team USA at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
And...
He’s an INTENSE human being who fired me up when we were on stage together and with every page of his book which is PACKED with Big Ideas.
I’m excited to share some of my favorites and help you apply that wisdom to your life TODAY so let’s jump straight in.
P.S. Did I mention that Bob coached THE greatest Olympian in history?
Yep. Bob’s the legendary coach who saw Michael Phelps’ potential before he was a teenager (!) and then spent decades helping him actualize his Heroic potential.
As you probably know... Phelps won 28 Olympic medals (including 23 gold medals!) which makes him THE most decorated Olympian in history.
And... Here’s a fun fact: Phelps’ 23 gold medals are more than the all-time-gold-medal total of roughly 150 COUNTRIES! (I typed that with a joyful laugh. That’s INSANE.)
Phelps wrote the foreword to this book and tells us: “Without Bob, my story is different—100 percent different. Without Bob, I have no shot at achieving the records I’ve achieved or winning the medals I’ve won.”
He continues by saying: “I don’t believe any other coach could have brought me to where I am today. Bob is one of a kind. He made me see the value of pursuing excellence and what it could bring. And what was that? No, not medals or records, but memories born of dreams.”
P.P.S. We talked about Bob and his wisdom in our Notes on Michael Phelps’ great book No Limits. We’ve also featured George Mumford’s wisdom in our Notes on The Mindful Athlete and Unlocked. And, check out the Notes on Tim Gallwey’s The Inner Game of Tennis.
As I read this book, I thought of some other GREAT peak performance books. Check out our Notes on: How Champions Think by Bob Rotella, The Confident Mind by Nate Zinsser, Chasing Excellence by Ben Bergeron, The Way of Excellence by Brad Stulberg, and Stay Sane in an Insane World by Greg Harden.
Big Ideas
01: THE METHOD
02: RULE #1
03: RULE #4
04: RULE #10
05: I SEE HEROES
“Suspending belief is necessary when setting a vision for yourself or for those you work with. You want to establish a ‘reach,’ and then figure out a way to reach it.”BOB BOWMAN |
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