A good resource for readers seeking to enhance their mental performance. Jean Francois Menard's expertise as a mental performance coach is evident as they provides practical techniques to improve focus, overcome challenges, and achieve peak performance.

3.5 stars
A good book about mental toughness and productivity, and how you can enhance one which then leads to enhancement of the other, until this becomes a synergistic wheel. The read did drag in some places (and a lot of the athletes' names were not known to me, so maybe this contributed to my boredom at times when I felt clueless about who he was talking about and what point he was trying to make) and he could have gotten to the point faster and with less dallying. Still, it's a very good roadmap for enhancing any aspect of your life you want to dedicate yourself to.
Only reason I'm not giving it more stars is because, in many places, I had the sneaking feeling that while everything was 'explained' on the page, it was still broad enough that someone might still feel lost and then need the service of a mental coach, like the author, to actually get to figure out their path and goal and make progress - so it's not "this coach helping you out as if he were there with you" unlike many other such productivity and coaching books.

This book is like having a mental coach at your beck and call, all you have to do is open the book and read. The authors share stories of phenomenal people they’ve worked with along the way of pursuing their big dreams and goals, along with lessons and insights for you to pursue your goals. Training your brain is just as important, if not more so, than training your body, and this book definitely offers the key to finding the self-confidence within yourself to do so. Not just a book for athletes, but anyone wanting to change their thoughts to change their life for the better and go after their dreams.

This is a self-help book which is written about Jean Francois Menard (JF) who is a mental performance coach and it talks about all the techniques he uses when providing people with mental performance coaching. We learn about how to be the best we can be and how to get through any situation that life may throw us. Throughout the book, there are a number of case studies/stories of people that JF has helped ranging from a number of Olympic gold medalists to the CEO's of different companies. In the book, it seems as if JF specialises in mental coaching for Olympians however in this book after explaining how he would apply the techniques to different Olympians, he puts it into a workplace scenario to help those office workers who may need mental performance help.

I liked this book because it allows the reading to learn how to unlock their brains to allow them to perform in the best way possible. It enables the reader to learn exactly how to stay in control, why this is useful and what to do when in control all so the brain does not go in panic mode and make you do something you will regret later. Although this book is suitable for all, I highly recommend it to GCSE, A-Level and University students to have exams to sit as it will show you how to take control of the situation, deal with exam stress and should help you prevent having to experience anything such as a panic attack. Furthermore, I like how with every point JF makes, there is a real-life example with an Olympian allowing the reading to be 100% sure that all the advice in this book is good advice and should work is used correctly.

I do not really have anything I disliked about the book, the contents of it was all great and very enjoyable to read. I think I may have liked it more though if either the chapters were shorter and/or there were not as many sub-categories under each chapter. However, this is just one of my opinions and it in no way affected how much I enjoyed the book, just me being a bit fussy mainly.

This book is different because I am unaware of any other book that looks at mental performance coaching in the same way as this book and because it has so many real-life stories with Olympic gold medalists, this book is highly credible. Furthermore, JF is one of the leading professionals in his industry meaning we are getting only the best advice.

Anyway, in conclusion, this is a book which provides you with life-changing knowledge that will help you be the best you can be. Although this book is mainly tailored to office workers, the techniques in the book are suitable for everyone and anyone and will change your life if you use the tools in this book. Altogether, this book was hard to decide how many stars to assign it but I think after much thought and conflicting ideas I will rate this book 4 out of 5 stars because of the usefulness of the book and the valuable information present.

This book was received as an ARC from ECW Press in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

I never read a book like this before. I workout a lot so I know the training and mental toughness that is required to get the results you want. Now, you can actually train your brain like you would train your body but instead of exercise its with brain teasers. I love to read but there is a lot I do not know and this book showed me how to recover my facts and properly go to the right sources to find the most accurate answer and feel just as accomplished as finishing a marathon. This is definitely a book that not only our patrons will enjoy but I can definitely benefit from also.

We will consider adding this title to our Self Help collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.