Want to learn the ideas in Chasing Excellence better than ever? Read the world’s #1 book summary of Chasing Excellence by Ben Bergeron here.

Read a brief 1-Page Summary or watch video summaries curated by our expert team. Note: this book guide is not affiliated with or endorsed by the publisher or author, and we always encourage you to purchase and read the full book.

Video Summaries of Chasing Excellence

We’ve scoured the Internet for the very best videos on Chasing Excellence, from high-quality videos summaries to interviews or commentary by Ben Bergeron.

1-Page Summary of Chasing Excellence

Overview

It’s one thing to watch your favorite athletes on television and yell at the screen. It’s hard to understand what they go through just to compete at a professional level. These key points offer insight into coach Ben Bergeron’s approach that has worked for some of the strongest all-around athletes in the world, those who participate in Crossfit Games competitions. The winner actually gets called “Fittest on Earth.”

So what do the fittest people in the world have, and why are they so fit? You’ll find out that these athletes share certain personality traits. You’ll also discover how to be mentally fit and get an advantage over others. In addition, you will learn about humble athletes who perform better than egotistical ones. Finally, you can jump into a freezing lake to prepare yourself for anything!

Big Idea #1: Commitment requires having a passion and the right habits.

If you have been working for a while, you might have noticed some employees who are not very ambitious. They just do the bare minimum and they don’t really care about their jobs.

Passion is critical to being successful. Without passion, you can’t be committed to your work and it’s unlikely that you will master the job at hand or come out ahead in difficult situations. In his TED Talk, Simon Sinek retells the story of how the Wright brothers beat their competitor Samuel Pierpont Langley in building and flying a plane.

Many people forget that Langley had more resources at his disposal, but he didn’t have the passion and commitment of the Wright brothers. The Wrights were willing to test their planes themselves rather than rely on others to do it for them. This personal investment led to a better product, which ultimately resulted in their success. Today, nobody remembers Langley anymore because he wasn’t passionate about what he was doing.

So, it’s important to be passionate about what you do. It can help you beat out the competition. However, the most successful people also have good habits and are constantly practicing their skills no matter what. This is especially true for those who practice a lot of hours each day in order to master their skill over time.

You have to do more than just practice a lot in order to get really good at something. You also have to push yourself past your comfort zone and try new things if you want to achieve excellence.

If you want to practice deliberately, make sure that you are giving the task your full attention. Also ask yourself if you’re using this time productively and what specific things need improvement.

It’s important to remember that the discomfort you’re experiencing now will pay off in the long run. As they say, there is no pain without gain. If you want to be successful, then you have to wake up early and go for a run even if it’s not something you want to do at first.

Big Idea #2: Excellence requires a balance between strict control and knowing what you can’t control.

It’s hard to focus on what you can control and let go of things that are beyond your control.

This also applies to athletes. If you want to perform at your best, you must accept that certain things are out of your control. When the author was coaching two Crossfit Games athletes – Katrín Davíðsdóttir and Mat Fraser – he had them list everything that could possibly go wrong in the competition. He then separated potential problems into controllable and uncontrollable categories.

Now, he could eliminate all the external factors that might affect his athletes’ performance. He wouldn’t have to worry about event scheduling or other things like that. Instead, they would focus on the things they could control—like nutrition and getting enough rest before each event.