Think Like A Champion: Building Success One Victory at a Time

By becoming only the fifth coach in history to lead his team to consecutive Super Bowl victories, Mike Shanahan of the Denver Broncos has certainly shown that he is a winner. In Think Like a Champion, he explains (with help from Denver Post sportswriter Adam Schefter) just how he reached this rarefied level and exactly what it takes to join him there.

Even though Shanahan snared his first NFL head-coaching job at the tender age of 36 and joined its most elite ranks within just 10 years, he did not reach the top without working hard and paying careful attention to the steps he took to get there. And while football fans may find his examples more illuminating and entertaining than those who don't follow the game, chapters based on 16 traits he attributes to his professional and personal triumphs--including preparing, sacrificing, believing, taking risks, and persevering--inspiringly recount his principles and practices in a way that anyone can understand and emulate. In the chapter on setting goals, for example, Shanahan reveals that he is an inveterate list-maker. Each night, he notes, all tasks for the following day are carefully scripted so he can constantly review them, ingrain them into his thinking, and then check them off when they are done. "If you have a plan, and if you have your direction laid out, you can chart your progress to your dreams at each stop along the way," he writes. "And, just as important, all along the way you can see how far you've come." --Howard Rothman