Books

There are some really great books out there, but sometimes it can be difficult to know where to start! So these are my personal top three books. I suggest that start with them and work from there. All of three of them are really easy to read, contain useful information and are readily available.

Cover	Author	Title	Description
	Dweck, Carol	Mindset: Changing The Way You think To Fulfil Your Potential	If there is one book on this list that you read, make sure that it is this one! One of the most influential books in the area. It provides a great explanation of the Growth mindset. A concept that comes up time and time again.
	Colvin, Goeff	Talent is overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else	A fascinating read and I couldn't put it down. Personally, I found the concept really liberating - the thought that your performance is only limit by the amount of time and effort you are willing to put in was a really eye opener! Forget about talents that you think you are born with - it is all about practice, hardwork and commitment.
	Alred, Dave	The Pressure Principle: Handle Stress, Harness Energy, and Perform When It Counts	Very down to earth with some worked through examples. Stress impacts everyone differently and I found this book helped to understand how to adopt techniques to deal with it. I can't watch kickers in rubgy without thinking about this book.

Mindset books

The key book here is Carol Dweck's book closely followed by Geoff Colvin's book. The ideas in these two books fit together really well.

Cover	Author	Title	Description
	Syed, Matthew	Bounce: The Myth of Talent and the Power of Practice	Matthew Syed is known as Mr Ping Pong and this book covers Matthew's own experiences as a table tennis champion. This book re-iterates and reinforces a lot of the work in Colvin's book but from another angle.
	Syed, Matthew	Black box thinking: Marginal gains and the secrets of high performance	This takes the Growth mindset and applies it to organisations as well as individuals. Great content on Cognitive Dissonance and self image. Interesting reading.
	Syed, Matthew	You are awesome: Find Your Confidence and Dare to be Brilliant at (Almost) Anything	A brilliant introduction to the Growth mindset for younger readers. Very well written and well laid out.
	Gladwell, Malcolm	Outliers: The story of success	Another book that reinforces the issue about talent being over-rated. I am a great Gladwell fan. Really easy to read.
	Ericsson, Anders	Peak: How all of us can achieve extraordinary things	This uses some of the same base research as in Geoff Colvin's book, but takes it on to the next step. This book forms a power combination when read after Carol Dweck's book.
	Marshall, Simon and Paterson, Lesley	The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occasion	Although aimed at the endurance athlete, it has some great in-depth sections on self-image as well as some great ideas on how to deal with stress.
	Turner, Martin and Barker, Jamie	Tipping The Balance: The Mental Skills Handbook For Athletes	Lots of good practical advice as well as some relevant theory. It is a good book to dip into and it has good hints and tips.

Performing under pressure

You will find a large number of books on the subject. Most will concentrate on process as a method for performing under pressure. There is a set of common themes that run through these books.

Cover	Author	Title	Description
	Hudson, Rich	Pressure Myths: Understanding the Psychology of Performance	Description

Mental game for shooting

There really is only one book worth reading here and it is probably the one that most shotgun shooters will be familiar with.

Cover	Author	Title	Description
	Bassham, Lanny	With winning in Mind	It is a great read and the audio version (just over 5 hours) is well worth downloading. I can't remember how times I have listened to it and every time I do, I hear something new.

In the zone

Being "in the zone" is a phrase you hear a lot. It is also sometimes referred to as "Flow" - this is when 100% of your focus is on the process and you lose track of everything else, even the outcome.

Cover	Author	Title	Description
	Brolin, Clyde	In The Zone: How Champions Think and Win Big	Description
	Jackson, Susan and Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly	Flow in Sports	Csikszentmihalyi is considered to be the person who first coined the phrase "flow". A surprisingly easy book to read.
	Lardon, Michael	Finding your zone: Ten core lessons for achieving peak performance in sports and life	Description

Eyesight

There used to be only one book on the subject (which was dated and difficult to read), but recently I came across a second which is much more accessible with some good exercises.

Cover	Author	Title	Description
	Martin, Wayne F.	An insight to sports: Featuring trapshooting and golf	This can be a really difficult book to get hold of and even when you do, it can be hard going to read. But it is the only book in the area.
	Kennedy, Wes	Sports Vision Training for Shooting Performance: A Guide For The Combat Athlete	Aimed more at combat sports, this short book does have some very shooting specific exercises.