Six Books That Changed How We Think About Performance

Six Books That Changed How We Think About Performance

From excellence, actually by Steve Magness, Brad Stulberg, & Clay Skipper

June 25, 2026 · 39 min

About this episode

Brad and Clay discuss six influential books that have shaped their understanding of performance.

Brad and Clay Skipper first became friends over books — specifically, a DM about Brad's bookshelf. Today, they return to that origin with a show-and-tell on six books that have genuinely changed how they think about performance: a poet-philosopher on the tension between work, self, and relationships; a Buddhist nun on learning to stop fighting the inevitable; a tennis coach who figured out the mind-body problem 50 years ahead of everyone else; the psychologist who named flow; a philosopher who quit his tenure to fix motorcycles; and an artist who wrote a book about dropping out of the stream of productivity and did just that. Think of it like the world's most useful book report: we do all the reading, but you still get all the tools (and a handful of good summer book recommendations should you want to go deeper). - Get a free LMNT drink mix pack with any purchase: drinkLMNT.com/Clay - Subscribe to The Growth Equation newsletter - Join The Growth Equation Academy - If you are enjoying "excellence, actually," do us a huge favor: text your favorite episode to three people so they can enjoy it, too. Thanks! iTunes and Apple Podcasts Spotify Android PocketCasts See Privacy Policy at…

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Hosts: Brad Stulberg, Clay Skipper

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