My Favorite Books on Growth and Development
I get asked for book recommendations a lot. So I thought I would make a list of my favorite books on development and growth. I am always looking for new recommendations, so if you have any, please comment with new recommendations.
1. Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning — This is a game changer for teachers and coaches. This flips what we think about practice and learning on its head. Coaches often get emotionally hypnotized by practice that makes it look and feel like their team is getting better.
“Massed practice” is rapid-fire repetition aimed at burning habits into your central nervous system, and it feels like your players are getting better. However, the research presented in this book shows that skills stick better when practice is interleaved and spaced out. The problem is that this approach feels unproductive. Make It Stick presents evidence for why practice that doesn’t feel productive actually is. This is a must read for coaches who want to practice better.
2. Nonlinear Pedagogy in Skill Acquisition — This book is very technical and can be overwhelming if you are new to skill acquisition literature. The thesis of the book is that skill acquisition happens in a dynamic environment. In other words, learning how to play a sport well does not happen in a vacuum. So development happens when athletes are able to learn how to perceive the problems of their dynamic environment and match their actions to solve those problems.
A sport is more like a storm system with millions of moving parts that is unpredictable. It is NOT like a watch that you can take apart and put back together. You cannot say, “do x and y will happen every time.”
In addition to the sport being a dynamic environment, the athletes themselves are dynamic. With all the interconnected parts of the system interacting with each other, coaching athletes has to involve giving them choices and training their bodies to make the right choices when faced with certain situations.
This book outlines practice principles that will help athletes develop the skills to solve key movement problems specific to their sport.
https://www.amazon.com/Nonlinear-Pedagogy-Skill-Acquisition-Introduction/dp/0415744393
3. Dynamics of Skill Acquisition: A Constraints-Led Approach — The Constraints-Led Approach (CLA) has become more popular in modern player development. In a complex system like baseball, you have to afford your players with choices to solve the problems the game environment gives them. Instead of telling athletes to move a certain way, coaches using the CLA would instead place obstacles in the way of a goal-driven drill to give the athlete with different movement choices to reach the goal. The athlete then solves the movement problem with a solution that best fits his or her individuality.
This book teaches how to use constraints properly to help athletes develop more durable and flexible skills.
https://www.amazon.com/Dynamics-Skill-Acquisition-Constraints-Led-Approach/dp/0736036865
4. What Drives Winning — Brett Ledbetter posits that Character drives your Process which then drives your Results. The teams and programs he has worked with are good proof that this approach works. I have experienced the power and effectiveness of this approach in my own coaching experience.
The main thesis of this book is that character is a skill that can be built rather than something you are either born with or without. He provides several examples and exercise that help coaches develop character in their players. In my opinion this is a must read for anyone looking to improve their team’s culture and confidence.
5. The Talent Code — Daniel Coyle builds on the idea of deliberate practice in this book, showing that talent is not an inborn trait but something you can develop.
The principle of deliberate practice was proposed by Anders Ericsson, a psychologist who has researched expertise. Deliberate practice involves practicing in an intentional, challenging, feedback-driven way. I personally believe there are certain skills and situations that deliberate practice is a better fit for development and others where a constraints-led approach is a better fit for development.
The Talent Code also explores what it takes to be a master teacher. It’s a great read for anyone trying to become one.
https://www.amazon.com/Talent-Code-Greatness-Born-Grown/dp/055380684X
6. Mindset — Carol Dweck writes about the dramatic difference in life results when someone has a “growth mindset” vs. a “fixed mindset.” A “growth mindset” is one in which a person believes they can learn and grow over time with experience and effort. A “fixed mindset” is one in which a person believes that he or she is stuck they way that they are.
The implications of Dweck’s findings for development are huge. Someone with a fixed mindset cannot grow, so there has to be a fundamental change in mindset before development can happen. Dweck does delve into the different ways you can train kids to have growth mindsets so it is vital for coaches and teachers to read this book in my opinion.
https://www.amazon.com/Mindset-Psychology-Carol-S-Dweck/dp/0345472322
7. Practice Perfect — This book is written by Doug Lemov who also wrote the Teach Like a Champion series. Practice Perfect gives a great outline of specific practices that can be immediately used to create better teaching and practices.
Lemov utilizes lessons learned from Teach Like a Champion and specifies them into simple ways coaches can easily apply.
https://www.amazon.com/Practice-Perfect-Rules-Getting-Better-ebook/dp/B007ZQ34V4
8. Conscious Coaching: The Art and Science of Building Buy-In — In this book, strength and conditioning coach Brett Bartholemew examines how coaches can make conscious decisions about how they teach their players. He writes about the importance of being intentional in your approach to development.
He outlines several archetypes that players might fit into and how to interact effectively with each type. Bartholemew also writes about the art and science of connecting with players you coach in an effective way. Conscious Coaching is an underrated book that will, at the very least, start interesting conversations about how to best motivate and teach individual players.
https://www.amazon.com/Conscious-Coaching-Science-Building-Buy/dp/1543179479
9. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience — This is the landmark book on achieving fulfillment and what that looks and feels like. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi outlines the eight components of the “flow experience” and how to create these components in our own life and for our players.
We have all felt it at one point or another. After experiencing this feeling, we all want to find out how to get it back. Flow is a must read for coaches trying to create extreme productivity in their practice environments.
https://www.amazon.com/Flow-Psychology-Experience-Perennial-Classics/dp/0061339202
10. Mastery — In this book, Robert Greene takes an in-depth look at what it takes to master your craft. He starts by examining how to find your life’s calling and how that sets you up to naturally motivate yourself to achieve mastery. He also writes about reality and the lessons it can teach about how to become and expert.
Greene also covers how to find the ideal mentor, how to develop social intelligence, how to nurture creativity in your mind, and how to fuse your gut instincts with your rational mind.
https://www.amazon.com/Mastery-Robert-Greene/dp/014312417X
These are the top ten for me. I’d love any recommendations that you have for me!
