Stay Sane in an Insane World: How to Control the Controllables and Thrive
Greg Harden
Blackstone Publishing (August 2023)

“An unexamined life is not worth living.” Socrates

In “The Making of an Expert,” an article that appeared in the July–August 2007 issue of Harvard Business Review, K. Anders Ericsson, Michael J. Prietula, and Edward T. Cokely share several important revelations from decades of research on peak performance. They could not have anticipated (but may have suspected) that one of the concepts, the so-called “10,000” Rule,” would become so widely and so durably misunderstood. In essence, the idea is that if you spend (on average) about 10,000 hours of practice on a sport such as golf, a musical instrument such as a violin, or a game such as chess, you can master the skills needed to become peak performer.

Ericsson, Prietula, and Cokely acknowledge the potential value of practice. However, “Not all practice makes perfect. You need a particular kind of practice—deliberate practice—to develop expertise. When most people practice, they focus on the things they already know how to do. Deliberate practice is different. It entails considerable, specific, and sustained efforts to do something you can’t do well—or even at all. Research across domains shows that it is only by working at what you can’t do that you turn into the expert you want to become.”

As I began to read this book, I was again reminded of  that article and of “The Serenity Prayer,” attributed to Reinhold Niebuhr: “God, grant me the serenity to accept what I cannot change, the courage to change what I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” A contemporary of Niebuhr’s, Albert Einstein, once suggested that insanity “is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results.”

Greg Harden is a peak performer among those who help others to achieve and sustain peak performance. He agrees with Niebuhr and Einstein, urging his clients to “control the controllables” as well as “adapt to every possible circumstance” and “adjust your thinking based on the changes that confront you.”

Harden: “Whether you are seventeen or seventy, there is a child or adolescent in you who needs your love and your acceptance. At the same time, there’s an [begin italics] adult [end italics] inside you who needs to understand which attitudes and behaviors are working and which ones are sabotaging your dreams.

“In the end, the real mission of this book — my objective, my [begin italics] obsession [end italics] — is to help you become the world’s greatest expert on one subject: yourself.”

There are indeed several prominent peak performers that Hagen has advised. More than a dozen of their “Testimonials” are strategically placed within his lively narrative. They include:

o Tom Brady (football)
o Ann Welch Braun (fundraising)
o Erik Campbell (education)
o Steve Hamilton (author)
o Desmond Howard (football)
o Emily Line (technology)
o Michelle McMahon (volleyball)
o Cooper Marody (hockey)
o Michael Phelps (swimming)
o Jonathan Satovsky (asset management)

Each explains how Harden helped them to become the best person they could be and then become a better one.

However different their personalities, circumstances and objectives may be, all of them needed to develop or strengthen a mindset that would enable them to make a best-effort when in training and then in competition…not with others [begin italics] but with themselves [end italics].  It is highly unlikely that you will be able to work one-on-one with Greg Harden.You can, however, absorb and digest the material in this book. Then, apply it effectively however and wherever most appropriate.

Here are two concluding suggestions while reading Stay Sane in an Insane World: Highlight key passages, and, record your comments, questions, action steps (preferably with deadlines), and page references as well as your responses to questions posed and to lessons you have learned. (Pay close attention to the key reminders in introductory head notes and end-of-chapter reminders.) These two simple tactics will facilitate, indeed expedite frequent reviews of key material later.