The Pressure Principle

The coach who taught Jonny Wilkinson how to deal with pressure now shows all of us how to cope with life's challenges Pressure is a constant in our lives. The pressure to hit a deadline, deliver that speech, interview for the job we really want - they are all challenges we need to meet. Like a footballer taking a penalty or a golfer making a putt, how we respond to pressure defines us at work and at home. Dave Alred is an elite performance coach who works with the world's top sports stars and teams - from rugby's Jonny Wilkinson to Premiership footballers and golfers - helping them deliver when the tension is at its most extreme. In The Pressure Principle he finally shares his eight groundbreaking principles and shows how we can all apply them to our lives. From how a child-like approach can help us through tough moments, to the best ways to face an audience, to why language is the ultimate performance-enhancing drug, Pressure is the definitive guide to dealing with our challenges. Packed with accessible stories and tips, it shows how we can harness pressure to produce our best at home, at work, and in our sport or exercise - by the man who has spent his life coaching the very best. 'Dave Alred is a genius. There is simply no-one around to match him in his field' - Jonny Wilkinson Dr Dave Alred MBE is an elite performance coach who has worked with some of the biggest names in sport. His clients have included rugby's Jonny Wilkinson, George Ford and Johnny Sexton, golfers Luke Donald, Brad Kennedy and Padraig Harrington, the England Rugby team (four World Cups), the British Lions (three tours), the Springboks, the England Cricket team, and Premiership sides Manchester City, Sunderland, Watford and Newcastle. He holds a PhD in Performing under Pressure from Loughborough University. A genuine pioneer in performance mindset and attitude, his approach optimises the abilities of sports and business people alike.

Be energized, but not overwhelmed What’s the most pressure you’ve ever been under? How did you react? What helped? What didn’t? Over the past five years, Dane Jensen has asked these questions of thousands of high performers—from Olympic gold medalists to Navy SEALs, politicians, executives and busy parents. What has emerged from these conversations is that while everyone’s experiences under pressure are unique, pressure follows patterns and develops in predictable ways. If we can recognize the patterns, we can improve our ability to sidestep the biological traps that can sabotage us—and use the energy that accompanies pressure to thrive. The Power of Pressure combines the insights gathered from Jensen’s work with the latest research in biology and neuroscience to help you understand and use the “pressure equation” of importance, uncertainty and volume escape the traps of pressure with effective tools and tactics be ambidextrous so that you can handle pressure both in peak pressure moments and over the long haul reduce tension, sleep better and have more energy so that you can meet challenges head-on recognize pressure moments so that you can prepare for when you will likely the feel the heat leverage strategies so that you can give everything you’ve got when it’s most important And more! How we navigate our highest-pressure moments has a huge impact on the overall trajectory of our lives, both in terms of how successful we are and how much we enjoy the journey along the way.

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • An engaging, deeply researched guide to flourishing in a world of increasing stress and negativity—the inspiration for one of the most popular TED Talks of all time “Powerful [and] charming . . . A book for just about anyone . . . The philosophies in this book are easily the best wire frames to build a happy and successful life.”—Medium Happiness is not the belief that we don’t need to change; it is the realization that we can. Our most commonly held formula for success is broken. Conventional wisdom holds that once we succeed, we’ll be happy; that once we get that great job, win that next promotion, lose those five pounds, happiness will follow. But the science reveals this formula to be backward: Happiness fuels success, not the other way around. Research shows that happy employees are more productive, more creative, and better problem solvers than their unhappy peers. And positive people are significantly healthier and less stressed and enjoy deeper social interaction than the less positive people around them. Drawing on original research—including one of the largest studies of happiness ever conducted—and work in boardrooms and classrooms across forty-two countries, Shawn Achor shows us how to rewire our brains for positivity and optimism to reap the happiness advantage in our lives, our careers, and even our health. His strategies include: • The Tetris Effect: how to retrain our brains to spot patterns of possibility so we can see and seize opportunities all around us • Social Investment: how to earn the dividends of a strong social support network • The Ripple Effect: how to spread positive change within our teams, companies, and families By turns fascinating, hopeful, and timely, The Happiness Advantage reveals how small shifts in our mind-set and habits can produce big gains at work, at home, and elsewhere.

In "The Breakout Principle," the bestselling author of "The Relaxation Response" delivers the ultimate self-help principle--simple instructions to activate a powerful biological trigger that converts conflict and confusion into clarity and extraordinary performance, a state athletes refer to as "the zone."

In The Improbability Principle, the renowned statistician David J. Hand argues that extraordinarily rare events are anything but. In fact, they're commonplace. Not only that, we should all expect to experience a miracle roughly once every month. But Hand is no believer in superstitions, prophecies, or the paranormal. His definition of "miracle" is thoroughly rational. No mystical or supernatural explanation is necessary to understand why someone is lucky enough to win the lottery twice, or is destined to be hit by lightning three times and still survive. All we need, Hand argues, is a firm grounding in a powerful set of laws: the laws of inevitability, of truly large numbers, of selection, of the probability lever, and of near enough. Together, these constitute Hand's groundbreaking Improbability Principle. And together, they explain why we should not be so surprised to bump into a friend in a foreign country, or to come across the same unfamiliar word four times in one day. Hand wrestles with seemingly less explicable questions as well: what the Bible and Shakespeare have in common, why financial crashes are par for the course, and why lightning does strike the same place (and the same person) twice. Along the way, he teaches us how to use the Improbability Principle in our own lives—including how to cash in at a casino and how to recognize when a medicine is truly effective. An irresistible adventure into the laws behind "chance" moments and a trusty guide for understanding the world and universe we live in, The Improbability Principle will transform how you think about serendipity and luck, whether it's in the world of business and finance or you're merely sitting in your backyard, tossing a ball into the air and wondering where it will land.

in Freud's view we are driven by the desire for pleasure as well as by the desire to avoid pain. But the pursuit of pleasure has never been a simple thing. Pleasure can be a form of fear, a form of memory and a way of avoiding reality. Above all, as these essays show with remarkable eloquence, pleasure is a way in which we repeat ourselves. The essays collected in this volume explore, in Freud's uniquely subtle and accessible style, the puzzles of pleasure and morality - the enigmas of human development.

An inspirational and practical guide to leadership from the New York Times–bestselling author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Covey, named one of Time magazine’s 25 Most Influential Americans, is a renowned authority on leadership, whose insightful advice has helped millions. In his follow-up to The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, he poses these fundamental questions: How do we as individuals and organizations survive and thrive amid tremendous change? Why are efforts to improve falling so short in real results? How do we unleash the creativity, talent, and energy within ourselves and others? Is it realistic to believe that balance among personal and professional life is possible? The key to dealing with the challenges that we face is to identify a principle-centered core within ourselves and our institutions. In Principle-Centered Leadership, Covey outlines a long-term, inside-out approach to developing people and organizations. Offering insights and guidelines on how to apply these principles both at work and at home, Covey posits that these steps will lead not only to an increase in productivity and quality of work, but also to a new appreciation of personal and professional relationships as we strive to enjoy a more balanced, rewarding, and ultimately more effective life. “There seems to be no limit to the number of writers offering answers to the great perplexities of life. Covey, however, is the North Star in this field . . . without hesitation, strongly recommended.” —Library Journal

How small steps - literally a 1% change in what you are doing today - can dramatically improve your life and potential. Almost everyone will experience a sense of 'being in a rut' at some stage in their life. Whether you are stuck in a job you hate or are getting passed over for promotion, whether your relationship has lost its magic or you are struggling with your weight and fitness - these situations over time will sap your motivation and well being. there are many books and programmes which offer ways to immediately turn your life around. the reality for most of us though, is that these approaches simply don't work over the long term. Smaller steps over a long period of time will have a greater, more beneficial and successful effect on your life than bigger steps in a shorter period of time. But how do we identify which changes can have the maximum impact? this book shows you through highly practical exercises, tips and real life examples how you can 'tweak your way to success'.