With a direct and inviting style, Perconte centers most of these lessons and advice around the idea of running a marathon, contending that by approaching it—or any big dream—a step at a time instead of looking at the finish line creates a constant sense of achievement that makes grand goals seem attainable. He urges readers to celebrate all the little wins along the way, a crucial step in adopting the mindset of a winner, though he’s always frank about acknowledging that nothing worth having comes easy or without hard work and dedication.
While ideal for athletes, Pereconte’s advice can be applied to many aspects of life, but that doesn’t mean it’s overgeneralized. He addresses issues like keeping motivated in one’s “dog days,” “weathering” through bad “playing conditions,” how to bring your best on “game day” and more, inviting readers to adopt the habits of mind of a pro athlete. Readers will close the pages with a renewed sense of direction and encouragement to tackle their dreams and change their outlook and mindset.
Takeaway: A rallying self-help guide to adjusting your mindset and besting yourself each day.
Great for fans of: Marie Forleo’s Everything is Figure Outable, Jim Afremow’s The Champion’s Mind.
Production grades
Cover: B+
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A
Review Rating:
5 Stars
Reviewed By Pikasho Deka for Readers’ Favorite
The Success Trail is a motivational self-help guidebook for athletes written by former Major League Baseball player and author Jack Perconte. Perconte provides a step-by-step set of guidelines to motivate athletes and people from all walks of life to help them achieve their dreams. He recalls personal experiences and inspirational stories of other great athletes who made their mark in their respective sports to invigorate readers and make them aim for the skies. A Los Angeles Dodgers player in the early 80s who has completed fourteen marathons since then, Perconte's life has been a series of athletic achievements which he uses to convey wisdom to the current generation of aspiring stars. The guidelines are specifically selected for people who seek solutions in their athletic, working, parenting, or creative endeavors.
The Success Trail is an inspirational self-help handbook that teaches valuable lessons in one's pursuit for success. The book is beneficial to athletes as well as people from all walks of life. Jack Perconte takes a meticulous approach in laying out his ideas, incorporating not only personal experiences but also real-life events and personages from various fields. The addition of a personal motivational playlist is yet another highlight of the book. From Bob Dylan to Pearl Jam to Eminem, Perconte draws inspiration from a wide range of artists from different eras and genres to make an invigorating playlist that will boost anyone's morale. He cites the examples of marathon runners such as Grete Waitz, Matt Long, and Rosa Mota, whose achievements inspired him to pursue his own dreams. Highly recommended.
The Success Trail: Learn to Win with a Marathon Runner's Mindset was written to help people set and achieve goals, especially big goals. Individual chapters challenge the reader’s mindset, with each chapter addressing a different aspect of our mental preparedness. Chapter titles include The Courageous Mindset, The Athlete’s Mindset, The Winner’s Mindset, and more. Author Jack Perconte outlines 16 steps to achieving success, starting with setting a goal and ending with how to recover when the inevitable bad days surface. As the title implies, Perconte is a marathon runner, and he frames his book in the context of that athletic endeavor. However, Perconte’s accomplishments include more than running 14 marathons. He played major league baseball and has worked in his post-baseball life to use the medium of sports to help young people and their parents succeed.
The Success Trail: Learn to Win with a Marathon Runner's Mindset will challenge any reader by example and by instruction. Author Jack Perconte writes in a casual style, making for easy, enjoyable reading. Because Perconte has enjoyed success in his own life, his book rings true. He admits to not being “a great baseball player” nor a “world-class marathoner.” But it’s precisely for those reasons that Perconte’s book carries the value it does. Most people—and most readers of this book—are not at the top of their professions or superb at their favorite leisure activities. But Perconte’s consistent message is, “If I can do it, so can you.” He also unfailingly makes the point that reaching goals and/or winning in any life endeavor is not easy. But reading this book will help you take the necessary steps. I recommend Perconte’s book to anyone who wants to be challenged to succeed, whether in sports or any other part of life.
So why then did I read a book about how to prepare for a marathon? Well, that’s because this book contains much more than mere steps to follow for runners. Tucked away in the middle of paragraphs are significant tips on the best way to achieve your objectives. Running a long-distance race and being a guitarist are two totally unique yet comparable exercises. Both require months of daily practice and both are extremely challenging to master yet very easy to abandon.
In The Success Trail, Jack Perconte is extremely inspirational, and I can use his tips on how not to throw in the towel alongside others and apply them to my long journey as a guitarist. Other than the incredible inspiration found in his book, something else I truly loved was that it was so satisfying to read. I more often than not lean toward educational books that are fun to read, and Jack Perconte's accounts of his victories and weaknesses, alongside his humor, caused me to greatly appreciate this book. I'd like to recommend it primarily to runners planning on participating in their first long-distance race, and to readers that have their own different goals as the majority of the content can be applied to other activities. A great book not just for runners but also for anyone seeking inspiration.
