I read a book a week and review it every Sunday.
Tim Grover is a world-renowned performance coach. He’s best known for his work as a trainer for elite athletes. His first client was Michael Jordan, whom he trained for fifteen years starting in 1989. While working at a Chicago health club making $3.35 per hour, Grover landed MJ as a client after he wrote a letter to every player on the Bulls roster excluding MJ (he figured he had no shot with Michael). MJ saw Grover’s letter in a teammate’s locker and had the Bulls trainer make contact. MJ initially gave Grover thirty days to impress him with results. The rest is history.
Since then, he has trained Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, Scottie Pippen, Hakeem Olajuwon, Charles Barkley, Tracy McGrady, and many others (Grover’s former intern is a longtime trainer for LeBron James). Grover is the founder of Attack Athletics, a company that provides training and conditioning services to top athletes, and has been a consultant to various NBA, NFL, and MLB teams as well as to entrepreneurs, business leaders, and elite achievers around the world. Grover has written several books, including a New York Times bestseller "Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable," which focuses on the mindset and approach necessary to achieve success at the highest level of performance. He is widely regarded as one of the top experts in the field of sports performance training and has been recognized for his contributions to the industry.
In W1inning, Grover lays out an action plan for winning and achieving a relentless mindset. How the greats—-MJ and Kobe; but also elite performers in business, Hollywood, etc.—-achieve elite status and attain the level of performance and dedication necessary to not just win once, but to do it again, again, and again. Winning once is unimaginably hard. Repeating is even harder, and requires you to dig deeper and to go higher. Your competition isn’t standing still, they see what you did so you have to do it even better the next time.
“Winning has its own language, and it doesn’t speak bullshit.” Motivation is for losers. If you need to be motivated to win, you won’t get there. The burning desire to win at your craft has to be there before you even step into a gym. MJ and Kobe didn’t need to be motivated to hire Grover. They sought him out. MJ was a trendsetter. At the time, NBA players didn’t hire personal trainers outside their teams. MJ needed to get stronger to get over the Detroit Pistons. Winners think differently. They are 100% focused on winning. They don’t care and aren’t distracted by bullshit.
Winning requires you to be different, and different scares people. Winners aren’t worried what others will say about them, others judging them, the sleep they’ll lose, friends and family being angry with them, birthdays and parties they won’t be able to attend, the lifestyle and life choices they will have to make. Winning means everything to them. They say ‘NO’ to things that don’t contribute to winning.
Losers don’t have the grit it takes to win. Losers care about their image and posting nice looking photos on Instagram more than they care about results. They are overcome with worry and fear and doubt. Most people don’t win because they don’t have what it takes to go through hell.
Winning wages war on the battlefield in your mind. Winning is the ultimate gamble on yourself. Winning isn’t heartless, but you’ll use your heart less. Winning belongs to them…and it’s your job to take it. Winning wants all of you; there’s no balance. Winning is selfish. Winning takes you to hell, and if you quit, that’s where you’ll stay. Winning is a test with no correct answers. Winning knows all your secrets. Winning never lies. Winning isn’t a marathon, it’s a sprint with no finish line. Winning is EVERYTHING.
Winners aren’t afraid to think originally, they aren’t worried about what others will think about their ‘crazy’ ideas. That whole BS about thinking outside the box is just that: BS. Winners don’t see the box. They see possibilities. They use their own decisions, successes, and failures as a springboard to elevate their thinking and results. Winners have a IDGAF muscle.
“Everybody wanted to be like Mike.
Mike did not want to be like anyone else.”
I read a book a week and review it every Sunday.