Do Hard Things: Why We Get Resilience Wrong and the Surprising Science of Real Toughness Hardcover – June 21, 2022

This book found me when I was feeling despondent. I was feeling helpless against forces larger than myself and hopeless in a world that seems to be making strange choices that will inflict more harm than good. How to continue to battle, to grit it out, was looking insurmountable.Steve Magness provides a great counterpoint to the American idea of Toughness; one that promotes empathy, embracing reality, and reframing our situations in a grounded, realistic way that is encouraging and ultimately more rewarding than the old thoughts of Toughness that focused on suppression and grinding ourselves into the ground. This is a great book to read if you're looking for perspective and to slow things down in a world that continues to expect more and more from an individual, at a faster pace, and to no conceivable end.Slow down, take your time, and enjoy the read.

There’s a lot more to resilience and toughness than just gritting it out; true resilience is a system of mental and physical strategies that leverage characteristics of our minds to steer us forward without either hobbling up prematurely, or overestimating our capabilities and falling short.Steve derives lessons from his personal background (as an OCD sufferer) and professional background as a cross country running coach to help readers understand and develop those strategies, which include accurate self perception and interpreting those feelings effectively, modes of focusing thought, and separating thought from action. He presents some interesting exercises to help readers develop toughness whether in a physical or intellectual domain.I had hoped there would be more material about intellectual discipline, but there’s plenty to get going here.

Steve Magness is one of my favorite authors.

Great book! This book really was helpful.

This is seriously such a good gift for someone going through a hard time. Do you ever have a friend or family member have a difficult time and you just tell them, “well if there’s anything I can do please let me know.” Instead of not taking action, this is a beautiful thing to do for someone.This book reinforces the beauty you can find in hard times. It’s not cheesy but rather gives practical examples to anyone as a reminder that hard times can help your character and perseverance in so many ways. I highly recommend as a thoughtful gift.

Half way through, and I like it. There's a lot of good content in here. That said, it's like it's written for someone that's not paying attention or maybe this is how coaches speak? He keeps repeating the same things. I think the book could probably be half the length and have the same impact.

Gt

Using research based example, Magness examines often valiant,e beliefs on how to be tough, how to achieve, and how to be a winner. I believe when paired with David Goggins work this books affects a comprehensive look at self-direction and intrinsic motivation