Do Hard Things
Why We Get Resilience Wrong and the Surprising Science of Real Toughness
-
- USD 15.99
-
- USD 15.99
Publisher Description
A NATIONAL BESTSELLER
"In Do Hard Things, Steve Magness beautifully and persuasively reimagines our understanding of toughness. This is a must-read for parents and coaches and anyone else looking to prepare for life's biggest challenges."—Malcolm Gladwell, author of Outliers and Talking to Strangers and host of the Revisionist History podcast
From beloved performance expert, executive coach, and coauthor of Peak Performance Steve Magness comes a radical rethinking of how we perceive toughness and what it means to achieve our high ambitions in the face of hard things.
Toughness has long been held as the key to overcoming a challenge and achieving greatness, whether it is on the sports field, at a boardroom, or at the dining room table. Yet, the prevailing model has promoted a mentality based on fear, false bravado, and hiding any sign of weakness. In other words, the old model of toughness has failed us.
Steve Magness, a performance scientist who coaches Olympic athletes, rebuilds our broken model of resilience with one grounded in the latest science and psychology. In Do Hard Things, Magness teaches us how we can work with our body – how experiencing discomfort, leaning in, paying attention, and creating space to take thoughtful action can be the true indications of cultivating inner strength. He offers four core pillars to cultivate such resilience:
Pillar 1: Ditch the Façade, Embrace Reality
Pillar 2: Listen to Your BodyPillar 3: Respond, Instead of ReactPillar 4: Transcend Discomfort
Smart and wise all at once, Magness flips the script on what it means to be resilient. Drawing from mindfulness, military case studies, sports psychology, neuroscience, psychology, and philosophy, he provides a roadmap for navigating life’s challenges and achieving high performance that makes us happier, more successful, and, ultimately, better people.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Performance coach Magness (The Passion Paradox) delivers a sensible guide to sticking with one's goals. Citing research in neuroscience and psychology, the author outlines how readers can overcome obstacles using his "four pillars of real toughness": "embrace reality," "listen to your body," "respond instead of react," and "transcend discomfort." Magness illustrates the importance of facing reality and accepting one's limits by telling the story of rock climber Alex Honnold, who aborted a challenging climb when he wasn't feeling up to it. To better control how one responds to adversity, the author advises creating "space between the stimulus and response so that we can better navigate what's going on," describing how brain imaging of experienced meditators shows that they can master their response to pain and lessen its mental toll. On transcending discomfort, Magness details studies that found internal motivation produces stronger perseverance than external rewards, and he encourages leaders to cultivate their followers' inner drives by offering support and room to grow. The author's nuanced approach elevates this program above similar guides, with recommendations to set "appropriate" goals and know "when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em" offering a welcome alternative to the traditional emphasis on "pushing through." Informative and entertaining, this has the power to help readers go the extra mile.
