Champion Thinking

How to Find Success Without Losing Yourself

By: Simon Mundie

Narrated by: Simon Mundie

Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

Simon Mundie, host of The Life Lessons podcast, draws on interviews with some of the world’s sporting legends to redefine how we understand – and pursue - success through 8 key lessons.

As the sports reporter for BBC Radio 1 for the best part of a decade, Simon Mundie was pitch-side at many of the most high-profile sporting events in history. It was often thrilling, but when he took to the airwaves to report on what he had seen, it increasingly felt like something was missing. The emphasis always seemed to be on results, tactics and the score. But as the saying goes, sport is a metaphor for life – so Simon set out to explore that.

Drawing on interviews with sporting legends from Jonny Wilkinson to Kate Richardson-Walsh, Caitlyn Jenner to Goldie Sayers, along with psychologists, philosophers and world-renowned thinkers, Simon shares some of the tools and techniques that sportspeople have embraced to grow and evolve – as athletes and people. From developing emotional intelligence to the power of true acceptance and the joy of getting in flow, he explores eight universal themes that are highlighted in sport, but that are all too easily overlooked in the favour of simpler, shallower narratives about winning, trophies and ‘success’.

What can the careers of Gaël Monfils and Andy Murray teach us about exploring our potential? What can England’s Olympic gold-medal winning hockey team teach us about the power of being truly selfless? Wise and inspiring, Champion Thinking illustrates that whether in sport, at work or in our relationships, worshipping at the altar of success isn’t going to bring us happiness. The contentment we are all looking for isn’t somewhere ‘out there’ – it’s actually so close that we tend to overlook it.

©2024 Simon Mundie (P)2024 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Critic reviews

'This book captures the magic of being in flow, and Simon upgrades the usual message of what ‘success’ and happiness are really about. Highly recommended.' (Ronnie O'Sullivan)

'Champion Thinking blends compelling sporting moments with thought-provoking philosophical insights. Mundie argues persuasively that sport isn't just about trophies and winning, and that similarly life isn't just about success and status. Entertaining and enlightening.' (Matthew Syed)

'This exquisite, erudite book distils the modern wisdom in Mundie’s unmissable podcast. Business leaders, sports coaches, and indeed anyone with pretensions to being a champion - or just improving themselves - ought to read it, whether for entertainment or because it might change their life for the better. Mundie understands something most of us discover eventually: that the pursuit of sporting excellence is the best guide we have to what it means to be human.' (Amol Rajan)