5 Best Books for Mindset: Resilience
Are our champions and idols superheroes who are extraordinary? Or are they just ordinary people who do extra?
Sometimes we like to think that amazing people, have been and always will be amazing, and that we are the unfortunate ones who are left behind. It wasn’t our choice, right? And that helps us sleep at night. But ask any successful person you know, and what you might find is that luck and good genetics are very rarely the sole cause of greatness.
No, “it’s the hours and hours of beating on your craft” as Will Smith says, or the ability to “train hard and fight easy” like Mohammad Ali. “The heart of a champion isn’t a light switch that goes on and off, it’s always on”, so Greg Plitt says. The more I read, the more I understand…
The mind is an incredibly complex concept. The brain itself contains 100 billion neurons, all sending messages back and forth and making decisions we aren’t even aware of. This multitude of reactions creates the thought patterns and the concept we know as the mind.
Why we make the decisions we do is something that has sparked thought debates for as long as humans have existed. From Philosophy to psychology, to neuroscience, to watching athletes, we try to understand what is going on in the 6 inches of real estate between our ears.
In my years on this planet I have only scratched the surface of understanding the mind, and during this study, I have come across 5 books that have stood out to me to teach me a more resilient and determined mindset.
This list is not definitive, but it is my best selection for the moment.
So, without further ado, my 5 best books for a strong and resilient mindset…
Carol Dweck – Mindset:
One day I asked North Melbourne AFL Coach Brad Scott what his number one book for a positive mindset was, and this was his answer. Carol Dweck is a psychology professor at Stanford University and this is considered by many to be some of her best work. This book categorises us into two main groups of thinkers… You are either a growth mindset thinker, or stuck in a fixed mindset.
In a nutshell, here are some differences between the two types…
Thought… Fixed Mindset Growth Mindset
Difficult challenges… Scare me Excite me
What I am capable of now… Is the best I will be Is up to me to change
Feedback of a poor performance Is negative, avoid! Is a chance to improve!
When I fail, I… Give up, I’m no good Try, try again!
When I did well, it was… Luck, a fluke! Hard work, persistence!
Easy Challenges Make me feel good Don’t make me better
This book provides some amazing examples of successful people across a range of disciplines including education, sport and music, and shows how a growth mindset can help anybody achieve success. It is an easy read, inspiring, and interesting, all in one!
Lesson: This book will help you to accept failure as a necessary part of success and assist you to take on those challenges that seem too big and scary!
Quote: “It’s not always the people who start out the smartest, who end up the smartest”
Nando Parrado - Miracle in the Andes:
You may have heard of this story. Nando Parrado was on board a plane that crashed in the Andes Mountains in Argentina in 1972. Nando’s mother and sister were on board and died upon impact, Nando was one of the 28 who survived. Over the next 72 days, Nando endured freezing temperatures and howling winds, before he decided to march through the snow-buried mountains to find help.
On the surface, this book is an inspiring story of survival and resilience, however as you read, you uncover more… Nando’s love for his father drives him to endure anything, so that he can return home and see his father again. His love for his friends drives him to overcome seemingly impossible challenges, so that they too may be saved.
Lesson 1: Nando teaches us that love can motivate us to overcome any challenge that is put in front of us.
Lesson 2: Life is a precious gift, it is our responsibility to do the best we can in the time we have.
Quote: “Savour every moment. Live your existence. Do not waste a breath.”
Eckhart Tolle – A New Earth
This book followed on from Eckhart Tolle’s hugely successfully book “The Power of Now”, which was unlucky not to make this list.
To make the most out of this book you need to be willing to accept your surroundings and yourself without any judgement. Once you are ready, this book will take you on a journey deep to the core of your decision making and who you are.
This book is about the ego, and the role that it plays in shaping our subconscious decisions. It is an incredibly liberating read that allows you to become so much more aware of your thoughts, and consequently, your actions.
Lesson: Your ego is subconsciously relentlessly jostling for power. Once you can be aware of this, the stresses of your life start to fade away.
Quote: “Sometimes letting things go is an act of far greater power than defending or hanging on.”
John Green - The Fault in our Stars:
A seemingly odd addition to this list. This book is a fictional tale of two terminally ill teenagers who fall in love. This book is set out to be a tragedy from the start, and yet, throughout the intense hardship, the main characters share an amazing journey filled with laughter and love amongst pain and fear.
This book will have you laughing out loud, and then sobbing in tears, all within the same chapter! It teaches a multitude of life lessons regardless of the situations that you have faced and is an emotional rollercoaster ride of finding light in the darkest places.
The Fault in Our Stars shows us that challenging situations are thrown at us, but that a negative situation doesn’t always have to have a negative response, the key to a resilient mind.
Lesson: That living life and feeling emotion is more important than any negative that will inevitably be thrown back from it.
Quote: “Grief does not change you, it reveals you”
My Fight Your Fight – Ronda Rousey:
Perhaps the most well-known individual within this list. My Fight, Your Fight is an incredibly well written autobiography by UFC World Champion and Olympic Bronze medallist Ronda Rousey. Ronda’s story is jam-packed with challenges and obstacles from losing her father as a child, to failing to achieve her dreams in the 2004 Athens Olympics, to an abusive relationship, through to an absurd idea to be one of the first females to join a mixed martial arts competition.
Ronda shows us that the best way to achieve your goals is to be 100% committed to the cause, and to make habitual changes to your lifestyle. After all, “anything of value has to be earned”. Ronda teaches us her tough-as-nails attitude towards life and forces a way through to her goals when the odds seem insurmountable.
Lesson: Tragedy precedes success
Quote: “Someone has to be the best in the world, why not you?”
The heroes journey involves facing challenges you never knew existed. All of these books will help you to face your darkest, most anxious, frightening moments, and step forward into the challenge. From there, you can achieve anything you set your mind to!
