University of Minnesota - UMN Executive Leadership Insights
It Takes What It Takes
Book

It Takes What It Takes

How to Think Neutrally and Gain Control of Your Life

Trevor Moawad and Andy Staples
HarperOne, 2020
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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Concrete Examples
  • Engaging
  • Inspiring

Recommendation

Performance coach Trevor Moawad suggests a new path, neutral thinking, which avoids optimistic and pessimistic biases and helps you focus on the task at hand. Moawad worked with NFL stars and college champs at Alabama and Florida State. His engaging text covers both how to cope in high-pressure situations and how to tackle daily challenges.

Summary

NFL star Russell Wilson embodies the tenets of neutral thinking.

Russell Wilson, the quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks, illustrated the neutral thinking mind-set during the US National Football Conference championship in January 2015. Wilson played poorly for most of the game, throwing four interceptions. With five minutes left, the Seahawks were losing 19-7. Wilson never gave up. He ignored his mistakes, yelling to teammates, “We can still win this game! Let’s go!”

Wilson was a student of neutral thinking, a strategy that trains its adherents to tune out past mistakes and fend off the deflating negative thinking that follows. Wilson could have fallen into an emotional trap. Off the field, he was getting divorced. On the field, his four tactical choices had been disastrous. He could have caved into negative thoughts and decided this wasn’t his day so he’d wait until next year. Instead, he stayed neutral, ignored his disappointment and focused on his task: Some time remained on the clock, and his team needed two scores.

Improbably, Wilson led two touchdown drives, and the Seahawks pulled ahead, 22-19. However...

About the Authors

The late Trevor Moawad, a Mental Conditioning coach, was the president of Moawad Consulting Group and co-founder of Limitless Minds. Andy Staples covered college football for Sports Illustrated for more than a decade.

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