Sometimes all it takes is a good book to change your perspective. After reading it, you feel empowered, renewed, and motivated. Here are 5 books that every athlete should read for motivation:
- Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable by Tim Grover
“For more than two decades, legendary trainer Tim Grover has taken the greats—Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, and dozens more—and made them greater. Now, for the first time ever, he reveals what it takes to get those results, showing you how to be relentless and achieve whatever you desire.”
In Relentless, Grover reveals the necessary characteristics shared by the most intense competitors and achievers in sports and all walks of life. Relentless shows you how to trust your instincts and get “in the zone.” You’ll learn how to control and adapt to any situation.
2. Bring Your “A” Game: A Young Athlete’s Guide to Mental Toughness by Jennifer L. Etnier
Bring Your “A” Game was written specifically for young athletes interested in improving their performance and reaching their potential in sport.
This book introduces key strategies for mental training, such as goal setting, pre-performance routines, and confidence building. Each of the chapters focuses on a particular mental skill with exercises designed to reinforce the concepts. This book encourages athletes to incorporate mental skills into their daily lives and practice sessions so that it becomes second nature to them during competition.
3. Mind Gym: An Athlete’s Guide to Inner Excellence
In Mind Gym, noted sports psychology consultant Gary Mack describes how your mind influences your performance on the field or on the court every bit as much as your physical skill does, if not more.
Mind Gym offers forty lessons and inspirational anecdotes from prominent athletes – many of whom he has worked with. You have the opportunity to learn the same techniques and exercises Mack uses to help elite athletes build mental “muscle.”
4. Failing Forward: Turning Mistakes into Stepping Stones for Success by John C. Maxwell
“The difference between average people and achieving people is their perception of and response to failure.”
Most people are never prepared to deal with failure. Maxwell says that if you are like him, coming out of school, you feared it, misunderstood it, and ran away from it. But Maxwell has learned to make failure his friend, and he teaches you to do the same in his book, Failing Forward.
“I want to help you learn how to confidently look the prospect of failure in the eye and move forward anyway,” says Maxwell. “Because in life, the question is not if you will have problems, but how you are going to deal with them. Stop failing backward and start failing forward!
5. Unleash Your True Athletic Potential by Julianne Soviero
Unleash Your True Athletic Potential is considered an essential resource for coaches and parents of athletes. It addresses all the factors that affect athletic performance including nutrition, sleep, hydration, cross-training, injury prevention, muscle recovery and so much more.
This book, a product of over a decade of research, is designed to help all athletes – from professional athletes to fitness enthusiasts and complete novices. It includes interviewing some of the best coaches, athletes, trainers, physical therapists and social workers that the world has to offer.