Jim AfremowThe Champion's Mind: How Great Athletes Think, Train, and Thrive

The media could not be loaded. “Champion yourself. We all experience similar struggles and deal with demanding challenges in our pursuit of excellence, regardless of the sport or fitness activity. To be a champion, your true best self becomes key to personal and athletic greatness. You know, as we all do, that only those performers who think gold and never settle for silver will continue to strive for and reach their highest, or gold, level. A champion makes greatness happen, despite what may seem impossible odds.Of course most of us are not Olympians or professional athletes. But all of us can acquire a champion’s mind-set. Any athlete can learn to think like a champion. Every one of us can be peak performers in the game of life by achieving our own personal best. We can strive to be the best version of ourselves. It is possible for us to stay ‘professional’ whenever adversity strikes. It is possible to ingrain mental fortitude that drives us forward. And it is possible to take a championship approach.”x~ Jim Afremow from The Champion’s MindJim Afremow is one of the world’s leading sports psychologists who works with some of the top performers in all major sports.This is a great book—a collection of bite-size Big Ideas on how we can develop our Champion’s Mind covering everything from goal setting, visualization and self-talk to breath control, confidence and mental toughness.As I’ve mentioned in other Notes in our growing collection of sports +mental toughness books, I love sports books because sports are such a great metaphor for life.As Afremow puts it, we can all be “Peak performers in the game of life.”We can all be Champions.Here’s a fun little fact: Did you know the word champion comes from the medieval Latin campio(n-) which means “fighter”?Yep—which immediately makes me think of winning the ultimate combat Socrates talks about in The Gorgias: “I desire only to know the truth, and to live as well as I can... And, to the utmost of my power, I exhort all other men to do the same... I exhort you also to take part in the great combat, which is the combat of life, and greater than every other earthly conflict.”I'm excited to share some of my favorite Big Ideas:1. The Vision - of a Champion2. Mental Toughness - Let's define it.3. Ugly buy Effective - + God bad days.4. Sand in Your Hand - Squeeze it just right.5. Good, Better, Best- How to evaluate performance.Here’s to winning the ultimate fight and becoming Champions of our lives!More goodness— including PhilosophersNotes on 300+ books in our ​*OPTIMIZE*​ membership program. Find out more at brianjohnson . me.

Amazing Book!Recently I have been trying to find the perfect book that best fits my interests. I am currently a track and field athlete at Iowa State University, so I was trying to find a book that will give me motivation to perform better athletically. At the same time, I wanted to educate myself and learn how to be more confident and prepared while competing. Having the right mindset is essential for every athlete. Right now I would consider myself to be in a good place in my athletic career, but I am always wanting to learn how to have a strong mindset. Having the right mindset is one of the most important and necessary things that an athlete must have. Without this, the athlete might not be able to achieve to his or her greatest capacity.Quality of a positive mindsetAs a Division 1 athlete, having the right mindset helps me not only to compete better and stay relaxed, but also helps me to enjoy and appreciate my competitions more. Often athletes are too worried about thinking how they can improve physically; for example, how they can run/jump better, what they can do different to achieve certain objectives. However, they are forgetting on how to improve their mindset. Having a positive mindset is what athletes often miss. This book has helped me learn how to set specific goals. Goals don’t have to be too easy nor too hard; they must be realistic and achievable. Trying to accomplish those specific goals has allowed me to stay focused and concentrated on my game. It has also taught me that when competing I must stay relaxed, so in this way emotions do not affect my athletic performance.Importance of reading a bookReading, no matter what its content, is going to influence our lives in a positive way. For example, it is like how exercising transforms our body, reading good content to help us transform our mind by finding a perfect balance in our emotional development.I would definitely recommend this book. It helps athletes to stay focused and relaxed and teaches them to enjoy every part of the game. Being able to know that Olympic athletes and/or professional athletes operate in this way, helps to understand that having the right mental game is what matters the most.PriceThe price of this book is very affordable. I paid $8.49 for the hardcover. The seller also offers Kindle. But, I honestly think that the price does not matter when it’s a valuable book.

The book is easy to read and relaxing. I found it a great source for mental preparedness and motivation.Think gold should be your mantra, but to achieve it you must go through and live a gold life!