A stirring success guide that combines practical wisdom with colorful and rousing prose.
Success in sports, business and other aspects of life depends on your mental outlook and habits of thought, according to this muscular self-help book.
Arguing that “life is 90% above the shoulders”—that is, determined by what’s in your head, not your body or external circumstances—Nacey, a sports marketing executive, contends that it’s mainly our own lassitude, fear, lack of focus, and self-defeating thoughts that prevent us from achieving our dreams. He draws on the insights of Olympic athletes and from his own experiences in Ironman Triathlons and other competitions to construct a Mental Mastery Pyramid of techniques to enable readers to power through obstacles and pain when their instincts are begging them to stop. The author recommends breaking down seemingly insurmountable problems into small, manageable chunks as a way of getting over the hump of inertia (he found that setting a goal of simply putting on his running shoes in the pre-dawn darkness generated enough momentum to carry him into hitting the road). Nacey suggests undertaking measured doses of discomfort—like a cold shower in the morning—to accustom the mind to doing hard things, and to rewire the brain and improve its plasticity by embracing new cognitive challenges. (He notes that the fiendishly difficult navigational training given to London taxi drivers causes their brain’s memory centers in the hippocampus to grow.) The author urges readers to replace anxieties about failure and inadequacy with positive narratives and to visualize success in vivid, concrete scenarios. (“I visualized the gold around my neck every night until my brain couldn’t imagine any other outcome,” recalls skier Alex Ferreira.) Nacey also enjoins his audience to cultivate a sense of gratitude for opportunities and a sense of obligation to give back to others.
Nacey grounds his ideas in an erudite but lucid mix of neurobiology, performance science, and cognitive behavioral therapy, applying them to a range of problems from athletic training to meeting workplace deadlines to overcoming stage fright in public speaking. The author distills his advice into snappy aphorisms—“Life Rewards Action, Not Overthinking”—and provides readers with practical regimens for calming anxieties, exiting ruts, or switching from downbeat ruminations to optimistic hopes. Nacey writes with nuance and insight about the ordinary but powerful psychological barriers that paralyze resolve: “The snooze button sits there, smug, whispering, Come on. Just five more minutes,” he writes of the universal struggle to get up in the morning. “Your mind joins the mutiny: No one will know. It’s too early. Too cold. Too much.” When he recounts his tougher ordeals, his writing takes on an epic, visceral intensity: “My legs felt like concrete pillars, each step a negotiation between a body desperate to stop and a mind that refused to listen,” he writes of an Ironman contest. “Each breath burned. Salt crystals formed white patterns on my skin. My heartbeat pounded in my ears like a tribal drum, drowning out everything but a single thought: One more step. Just one more step.” The result is a captivating homage to true grit and the drive to overcome one’s own limitations.
A stirring success guide that combines practical wisdom with colorful and rousing prose.Pub Date: May 20, 2025
ISBN: 9798998617409
Page Count: 262
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.
The late actor offers a gentle guide for living with more purpose, love, and joy.
Mixing poetry, prescriptive challenges, and elements of memoir, Heche (1969-2022) delivers a narrative that is more encouraging workbook than life story. The author wants to share what she has discovered over the course of a life filled with abuse, advocacy, and uncanny turning points. Her greatest discovery? Love. “Open yourself up to love and transform kindness from a feeling you extend to those around you to actions that you perform for them,” she writes. “Only by caring can we open ourselves up to the universe, and only by opening up to the universe can we fully experience all the wonders that it holds, the greatest of which is love.” Throughout the occasionally overwrought text, Heche is heavy on the concept of care. She wants us to experience joy as she does, and she provides a road map for how to get there. Instead of slinking away from Hollywood and the ridicule that she endured there, Heche found the good and hung on, with Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford starring as particularly shining knights in her story. Some readers may dismiss this material as vapid Hollywood stuff, but Heche’s perspective is an empathetic blend of Buddhism (minimize suffering), dialectical behavioral therapy (tolerating distress), Christianity (do unto others), and pre-Socratic philosophy (sufficient reason). “You’re not out to change the whole world, but to increase the levels of love and kindness in the world, drop by drop,” she writes. “Over time, these actions wear away the coldness, hate, and indifference around us as surely as water slowly wearing away stone.” Readers grieving her loss will take solace knowing that she lived her love-filled life on her own terms. Heche’s business and podcast partner, Heather Duffy, writes the epilogue, closing the book on a life well lived.
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.Pub Date: Jan. 24, 2023
ISBN: 9781627783316
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Viva Editions
Review Posted Online: Feb. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023
A far-reaching, mostly persuasive guide that seeks to change how people approach inner challenges.
Ion and Irimia’s self-help book presents seven principles that can alter readers’ lives.
Many people face internal roadblocks that keep them from succeeding. While therapy remains a common treatment option, it can take years to make progress. Fast Transformation Protocols, the method advocated in Ion and Irimia’s guide, is the opposite, only requiring a minor time commitment. The seed for FTP was Ion’s first company, a recruitment agency for corporations in Transylvania, Romania. On a trip with a colleague named Sara, Ion freed the woman from the perception of abandonment, making Sara understand that benefits exist in even the most negative situations. FTP primarily operates by asking many “weird questions” and utilizing seven universal laws: those of duality, reflection, transformation, synchronicity, eristic (i.e., argumentative) escalation, order, and fractals. The laws mingle concepts from science, philosophy, and psychology. Just a few of the numerous examples the authors discuss regarding the law of duality alone include the Babylonians’ concept of celestial cycles; the Chinese version, yin and yang; and, in biology, the balance of cell birth with cell death. Another inspiration is Carl Jung’s exploration of coincidences (the law of synchronicity) and archetypes (the law of fractals). Added to the mix is a helping of spirituality. The authors ask readers, when they’re contemplating life challenges, to consider sacred contracts, an idea that “before birth, your soul carefully chooses the exact context and circumstances it will incarnate into.” The ambitious guide is written in Ion’s voice; she’s a sensitive presence who seems to genuinely aspire to help others. She recalls that as a child, “I pulled my emotions inward and packed them tightly inside me, like delicate things wrapped in newspaper.” Yet this delicacy is balanced by a love of organization and rationality, reflected in this well-structured and mostly convincing book. Intriguing case studies demonstrate how the laws the authors discuss apply to real situations. But some readers will question the success rate. Using one of the seven universal laws is always shown as succeeding, although perhaps not immediately.
A far-reaching, mostly persuasive guide that seeks to change how people approach inner challenges.Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2025
ISBN: 9798993098203
Page Count: 313
Publisher: Inspired Life Circle LLC
Review Posted Online: Feb. 6, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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