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Win the Inside Game
Book

Win the Inside Game

How to Move from Surviving to Thriving, and Free Yourself Up to Perform

Steve Magness
HarperOne, 2025
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Editorial Rating

8

getAbstract Rating

  • Well Structured
  • Engaging
  • Inspiring

Recommendation

Although people are becoming increasingly digitally connected, many individuals have become severely disconnected from themselves. Combined with a productivity-obsessed work culture, the result is widespread burnout and, for many, a crisis of meaning. Performance coach Steve Magness proposes an antidote: Invest time in developing a healthy sense of self-worth and intrinsic motivation. He offers cognitive and physiological strategies to help you shift out of survival mode, start thriving, and unlock your full potential.

Summary

Many people live in “survival mode,” missing out on growth and meaning, due to the pressures of modern life.

Struggling under the strains of modern life, many people feel trapped in a fight for survival. But living in “survival mode” — that is, a gnawing feeling that threats surround you — hampers growth and can undermine a sense that life has meaning. When danger seems to lurk everywhere, the human fight, flight, flee, and freeze responses activate. In pursuit of self-preservation, people react in one of four ways:

  1. “Avoid or shut down” — Many people eschew challenging situations rather than seek ways to make them better.
  2. “Fight and defend” — Others might become defensive, reacting to challenges or disagreement by fighting and defending their position at all costs rather than attempting to find common ground.
  3. “Narrow and cling” — For many, the world can start to shrink as they engage only with the narratives, ideas, people, and things that reinforce their existing worldview.
  4. “Accept, explore, and update” — Alternatively, people can approach perceived threats with curiosity...

About the Author

Performance coach Steve Magness has coached Olympic runners, major-league professional athletic teams, and Fortune 500 executives. His books include Do Hard Things and The Science of Running. He is co-host of the Growth Equation and On Coaching podcasts.

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    H. K. 8 months ago
    I enjoyed reading the summarised form of the book by finding the gist in takeaway points, which were very useful. Thank You!