On the Two Halves of Life, Winning Forever, and the Last Lecture
Books that changed my thinking, my behaviors, and my life
Hello all!
This week’s Three Book Thursday includes books that significantly transformed my thinking and behaviors. Here is your weekly dose of goodness:
1. Personal development
Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life
Summary
Every once in a while you read a book that speaks to your circumstance so clearly that it has the ability to transform, expand and elevate your worldview for the rest of your life. This is one of those.
Insight: Why do spiritual teachers tell you to "believe" or "trust" or "hold on"? They are telling you to hold on until you can go on the further journey for yourself, and they are telling you that the whole spiritual journey is, in fact, for real-which you cannot possibly know yet.
Insight: The opposite of rational is not always irrational, but it can also be transrational or bigger than the rational mind can process; things like love, death, suffering, God, and infinity are transrational experiences. The transrational has the capacity to keep us inside an open system, and a larger horizon so that the soul, the heart, and the mind do not close down inside of small and constricted space. The merely rational mind is invariably dualistic, and divides the field of almost every moment between what it can presently understand and what it then deems wrong or untrue. Because the rational mind cannot process love or suffering, for example, it tends to either avoid them, or blame somebody for them, when in fact they are the greatest spiritual teachers of all, if we but allow them.
Quote: One cannot live in the afternoon of life according to the program of life's morning; for what was greatest in the morning will be of little importance in the evening, and what in the morning was true will at evening have become a lie. -Carl Jung
Quote: It is often when the ego is most deconstructed that we can hear things anew and begin some honest reconstruction, even if it is only half heard and half hearted.
Quote: Many of us learn to do our survival dance, but we never get to our actual sacred dance. -Richard Rohr
Author: Richard Rohr
Themes: Personal development, Living a full life, Philosophy
My personal notes from the book
2. Leadership
Win Forever
Summary
One of the core books that shaped my thinking about athletic competition not only for the team I coach, the Salt Lake Stars, but for how my two kids approach their athletic challenges. This is a spectacular book that focuses on leadership as a coach and player, peak performance, and human psychology. I believe it is one of the most influential playbooks on team culture and leadership in college and pro sports.
Principle: Let no one think that it is impossible because it is difficult. It is the highest goal, and it is no wonder that the highest effort should be necessary to attain it.
Principle: When players know that they have mastered the rigors of training, whether on the football field or in the weight room or classroom, then their confidence leads to an unusual focus, free from distractions, doubt, or fear. This attentiveness, also known as the quieted mind, clears the way for athletes to perform at their highest potential.
Principle: The greatest detractor of high performance is fear: fear that you are not prepared, fear that you are in over your head, fear that you are not worthy, and ultimately, fear of failure. If you can eliminate that fear–not through arrogance or just wishing difficulties away, but though hard work and preparation–you will put yourself in an incredibly powerful position to take on the challenge you face.
Insight: What if my job as a coach isn't so much to force or coerce performance as it is to create situations where players develop the confidence to set their talents free and pursue their potential to its full extent? What if my job as a coach is really to prove to these kids how good they already are, how good they could possibly become and that they are truly capable of high-level performance.
Insight: Human beings tend to enter a state of doubt when faced with the unknown or uncertainty. When that occurs we instinctively overtighten. Physically, when we doubt our ability, we will tend to overtighten our muscles. Mentally, we fear failure and can become emotional and distracted.
Author: Pete Carroll
Themes: Leadership, Peak performance, Human psychology, Culture
My personal notes from the book
3. Living a full life
The Last Lecture
Summary
The author, Randy Pausch, was a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon. It was tradition at the university for retiring professors to give a “last lecture” before sailing off into the sunset. The twist here is that when Pausch gave his last lecture, it truly was his last. He had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. His last lecture was titled, “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams"--but it wasn't about dying. It was about the importance of overcoming obstacles, of enabling the dreams of others, of seizing every moment (because "time is all you have...and you may find one day that you have less than you think"). It was a summation of everything Pausch had come to believe. It was about living.
Principle: When there is an elephant in the room, introduce it.
Insight: Just because you are in the driver's seat doesn't mean you have to run over people.
Quote: The brick walls are there to give us a chance to see how badly we want something. There're there to stop the other people. -Randy Pausch
Authors: Randy Pausch
Themes: Living a full life, On living and dying
My personal notes from the book
That’s a wrap. Thanks for reading!
Please continue to share with me the books that changed your life!
Best,
Adam
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