“This is an absolutely beautiful book that captures a lot of what I believe as a coach. There is power in committing to a process mindset, both for an individual and for a team. But the gratification that comes from truly losing one’s self in that process is an amazing gift. It brings joy, peace of mind, and a sense of pride. These are things we frequently talk about with the Warriors, and I believe are part of our success.”
—Steve Kerr, 9-time NBA Champion, Coach of the Golden State Warriors and Team USA
The Way of Excellence by bestselling author and performance coach, Brad Stulberg is a transformative guide for readers to step beyond superficial definitions of success and to pursue a richer, value-driven form of high performance and growth. By integrating mastery with a sense of meaning and mattering, Stulberg offers a blueprint for living fully—one that prioritizes resilience, deep connection, and true fulfillment at each step of the journey.
The Way of Excellence offers a practical guide to realizing our potential amid the chaos of modern life and learning how to reconnect to ourselves by focusing on the pursuit of excellence. Combining modern science, timeless wisdom, and actionable strategies, Stulberg redefines excellence—not as a finish line to cross, but as an ongoing process of growth and becoming that allows us to reach our fullest potential while staying deeply connected to our values and what truly matters.
Inspired by research from diverse fields and grounded in real-world application, Stulberg frames excellence as the integration of mastery and mattering. He provides a clear, sustainable path for pursuing meaningful goals with focus and intention. Unlike “hacks” and the hustle culture of “pseudo-excellence,” this book champions meaningful challenges that align with our values and goals and that foster deep satisfaction, fulfillment, and contribution.
Whether you’re pushing your limits at the gym, honing your craft, leading a team, or simply seeking a more meaningful life, The Way of Excellence offers a fascinating new rendering of excellence and delivers an inspiring and practical call to action. Stulberg explores critical principles such as defining and living in alignment with your values, cultivating focus, prioritizing consistency over intensity, building genuine confidence, and creating environments that foster our best performances. He shows how striving for genuine excellence can reconnect us to ourselves, our work, and each other, creating lives rich in meaning and purpose.
In THE WAY OF EXCELLENCE, readers will discover key topics including:
Redefining Excellence: This book reimagines excellence as a process of personal growth, mastery, resilience, and continuous learning, emphasizing the importance of aligning actions with values and contributing to something larger than oneself.
The Power of Mindset and Discipline: It highlights the significance of adopting a process-over-outcomes mindset, cultivating self-discipline, and taking consistent action to bridge the gap between motivation and achievement.
Building Effective Habits and Focus: Readers will learn how to develop habits that foster performance and well-being, prioritize effectively, and sustain deep focus in a world full of distractions.
Humanity and Meaning: The book underscores the necessity of connecting with our innate humanity, while exploring how aligning with purpose and finding joy in the journey leads to fulfillment and lasting impact.
Bios:
Brad Stulberg researches, writes, and coaches on performance, well-being, and sustainable excellence. He is the bestselling author of The Practice of Groundedness and Master of Change, and coauthor of Peak Performance. Stulberg regularly contributes to the New York Times and his work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal and The Atlantic, among many other outlets. He serves as the co-host of the podcast “excellence, actually” and is on faculty at the University of Michigan. He lives in Asheville, North Carolina.
Chris Praetzel Dr. Chris Praetzel, PsyD, CMPC currently serves as the Director of Student-athlete Mental Health Programs with UCLA Athletics/CAPS. In his role he oversees and supports the mental health and sport psychology support of student-athletes, providing individual and crisis clinical care, team interventions, staff consultations, and prevention programming.
Chris is a sport and counseling psychologist who received his PsyD in Counseling Psychology at Springfield College. He also completed a Master's in Conflict Resolution and Mediation at Tel Aviv University, dual-Masters in Sport and Exercise Psychology at the University of Thessaly, Greece, and University of Leipzig, Germany, and a BA in Sport Psychology at Arcadia University.