There are some really great books out there, but sometimes it can be difficult to know where to start! So these are my personal top three books. I suggest that start with them and work from there. All of three of them are really easy to read, contain useful information and are readily available.
Cover | Author | Title | Description |
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Dweck, Carol | Mindset: Changing The Way You think To Fulfil Your Potential | If there is one book on this list that you read, make sure that it is this one! One of the most influential books in the area. It provides a great explanation of the Growth mindset. A concept that comes up time and time again. | |
Colvin, Goeff | Talent is overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else | A fascinating read and I couldn't put it down. Personally, I found the concept really liberating - the thought that your performance is only limit by the amount of time and effort you are willing to put in was a really eye opener! Forget about talents that you think you are born with - it is all about practice, hardwork and commitment. | |
Alred, Dave | The Pressure Principle: Handle Stress, Harness Energy, and Perform When It Counts | Very down to earth with some worked through examples. Stress impacts everyone differently and I found this book helped to understand how to adopt techniques to deal with it. I can't watch kickers in rubgy without thinking about this book. |
The key book here is Carol Dweck's book closely followed by Geoff Colvin's book. The ideas in these two books fit together really well.
Cover | Author | Title | Description |
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Syed, Matthew | Bounce: The Myth of Talent and the Power of Practice | Matthew Syed is known as Mr Ping Pong and this book covers Matthew's own experiences as a table tennis champion. This book re-iterates and reinforces a lot of the work in Colvin's book but from another angle. | |
Syed, Matthew | Black box thinking: Marginal gains and the secrets of high performance | This takes the Growth mindset and applies it to organisations as well as individuals. Great content on Cognitive Dissonance and self image. Interesting reading. | |
Syed, Matthew | You are awesome: Find Your Confidence and Dare to be Brilliant at (Almost) Anything | A brilliant introduction to the Growth mindset for younger readers. Very well written and well laid out. | |
Gladwell, Malcolm | Outliers: The story of success | Another book that reinforces the issue about talent being over-rated. I am a great Gladwell fan. Really easy to read. | |
Ericsson, Anders | Peak: How all of us can achieve extraordinary things | This uses some of the same base research as in Geoff Colvin's book, but takes it on to the next step. This book forms a power combination when read after Carol Dweck's book. | |
Marshall, Simon and Paterson, Lesley | The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occasion | Although aimed at the endurance athlete, it has some great in-depth sections on self-image as well as some great ideas on how to deal with stress. | |
Turner, Martin and Barker, Jamie | Tipping The Balance: The Mental Skills Handbook For Athletes | Lots of good practical advice as well as some relevant theory. It is a good book to dip into and it has good hints and tips. |
You will find a large number of books on the subject. Most will concentrate on process as a method for performing under pressure. There is a set of common themes that run through these books.
Cover | Author | Title | Description |
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Hudson, Rich | Pressure Myths: Understanding the Psychology of Performance | Description |
There really is only one book worth reading here and it is probably the one that most shotgun shooters will be familiar with.
Cover | Author | Title | Description |
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Bassham, Lanny | With winning in Mind | It is a great read and the audio version (just over 5 hours) is well worth downloading. I can't remember how times I have listened to it and every time I do, I hear something new. |
Being "in the zone" is a phrase you hear a lot. It is also sometimes referred to as "Flow" - this is when 100% of your focus is on the process and you lose track of everything else, even the outcome.
Cover | Author | Title | Description |
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Brolin, Clyde | In The Zone: How Champions Think and Win Big | Description | |
Jackson, Susan and Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly | Flow in Sports | Csikszentmihalyi is considered to be the person who first coined the phrase "flow". A surprisingly easy book to read. | |
Lardon, Michael | Finding your zone: Ten core lessons for achieving peak performance in sports and life | Description |
There used to be only one book on the subject (which was dated and difficult to read), but recently I came across a second which is much more accessible with some good exercises.
Cover | Author | Title | Description |
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Martin, Wayne F. | An insight to sports: Featuring trapshooting and golf | This can be a really difficult book to get hold of and even when you do, it can be hard going to read. But it is the only book in the area. | |
Kennedy, Wes | Sports Vision Training for Shooting Performance: A Guide For The Combat Athlete | Aimed more at combat sports, this short book does have some very shooting specific exercises. |