Changing Your Story

How To Take Control Of Your Life, Create Change And Achieve Your Goals

Bill Beswick is an applied performance psychologist who specializes in working with elite teams. As a gold-medal winner coaching the England basketball team in the Commonwealth Championships, Bill became the first performance psychologist operating fully in professional football, where he has worked with eight Premier and English Championship League teams, including Manchester United. This book is all about “changing your story” so you can “take control of your life, create change and achieve your goals.” It features 20 chapters featuring 20 life lessons drawn from elite sport we can apply to our lives. It’s packed with Big Ideas and I’m excited to share some of my favorites, so let’s jump straight in!

Big Ideas

“The key transformational moment in my long career in sport—playing, teaching, coaching, and supporting performance—was when I finally understood that the mind was the athlete and the body simply the means. How you think, and therefore feel, is vital in releasing positive energy and realizing your physical abilities to the full. Sport teaches you to understand yourself better and come to terms with the strength of character needed to face challenges and how to learn to overcome failures. In the end it’s not about what you achieve but who you become. The stories I tell in the pages of this book give insights into experiences such as decision-making, overcoming fear, feelings of worthlessness and vulnerability, and led to many instances of great success both in sport and elsewhere in life.

Everybody wants to be a top performer in their life, not just those involved in sport. However, what often happens is that the treadmill of life’s daily challenges wears down our good intentions and we accept a lesser life. … Because my work is about changing thinking and behavior, taking people from negative to positive, this book contains many lessons to help readers become mentally and emotionally stronger. The reason that athletes succeed is that they, as distinct from the general population, are taught the physical and mental strategies of building and maintaining high performance. My experiences allow you moments inside the arena with the elite athletes and would-be champions with whom I have worked. This gives you the opportunity to share the strategies and tactics that have helped athletes and their coaches overcome their stress and anxiety and meet challenges. I hope these processes are presented in ways that encourage you to adopt them in your own search for a more fulfilling life.”

~ Bill Beswick from Changing Your Story

Over the last several months, I’ve been spending more time working with some of the world’s most elite athletes and coaches.

In the process, I’ve been getting some great book recommendations and I’ve been having fun diving back into the art and science of mental toughness and peak performance. Thanks to Bryan on our team for the great recommendation this time around!

As per the title of the book, it’s all about “changing your story” so you can “take control of your life, create change and achieve your goals.” It features 20 chapters featuring 20 life lessons drawn from elite sport we can apply to our lives.

It’s packed with Big Ideas and I’m excited to share some of my favorites, so let’s jump straight in!

P.S. This book kinda reminds me of Donald Miller’s Hero on a Mission in that they both emphasize the need to go from being the victim of our story to the HERO of our story.

And, when I think of sports stories, I think of Darren Donnelly and his classic “Sports for the Soul” series which, as we’ve discussed many times, are a BRILLIANT way to share all the wisdom we discuss in the context of sports fables. Check out all seven of our Notes on his great books—starting with his first book Think Like a Warrior and his most recent book The Mental Game (which features a golfer struggling with going to the next level).