Gifted

The ability to succeed already exists within you. To unlock your potential, you must recognize and embrace your innate talents and abilities. Gifted: 8 Steps to Succeeding in Sport, Work, and Life will inspire you to believe in your natural gifts and achieve excellence across all aspects of your life.

Renowned sport psychology consultant and scientist Robert Schinke has helped hundreds of Olympic and professional athletes realize their unique gifts, and he can do the same for you. In Gifted, he shares eight lessons to guide you onto the life path you desire and deserve:

1. Remember your natural gifts
2. Identify forces that pull you away from your gifts
3. Use your gifts to respond to change in your life and remain authentic
4. Appreciate recurring glimpses of your gifts and use them to reinvigorate your purpose
5. Use your gifts to endure life’s challenges
6. Transcend average levels of achievement by using your gifts in crucial settings
7. Apply your gifts across multiple areas of your life
8. Encourage others to explore their own gifts

Throughout these lessons, you will discover how successful athletes, coaches, educators, and service industry professionals use their natural gifts to achieve their goals. You will find inspirational quotes to motivate you on your path and key reminders that highlight the most important ideas from each lesson. In addition, action items throughout the book offer practical activities to help you recognize your own strengths and limitations so you can become the best version of yourself.

There exists in you a sizeable and brilliant potential, where your gifts are boundless. Gifted will help you uncover and cultivate your inner gifts to achieve harmony and success in your life.

Audience

Athletes and coaches of all sports, both competitive and recreational; career professionals in the general workforce who are highly motivated and goal- or task-oriented.

The Equestrian
Lesson One: Gifts
Lesson Two: Forces
Lesson Three: Contortions

The Social Scientist
Lesson Four: Glimpses
Lesson Five: Endurance

The Mental Performance Consultant
Lesson Six: Transcendence
Lesson Seven: Symmetry

The Educator-Mentor
Lesson Eight: Regifting

Robert J. Schinke, EdD, is a professor of kinesiology and health sciences at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. He is a distinguished professor in several high-profile international universities and a Canada Research Chair. He serves as senior coeditor for the International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology and editor in chief of the Journal of Sport Psychology in Action. His research has been profiled by leading national and international granting agencies, including the International Olympic Committee’s Advanced Olympic Research Program, and his scientific publications have spanned more than 200 works on the topics of mental health, identity, inclusiveness, life transitions, and context-driven practice. Schinke currently serves as president of the International Society of Sport Psychology (ISSP). He previously served as president of the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP), and he is a fellow of various sport and exercise psychology societies. Since 2000, Schinke has worked extensively with world-champion professional athletes as well as athletes at several Olympic Games. His work and ideas have been featured in USA Today, The Globe and Mail, Al Jazeera, HBO, and Showtime, among many other media outlets.

“This book is beautifully designed to help tap into the gifts within yourself. Dr. Schinke is deeply respected in the field of sport and performance psychology, and with this piece of work, he brings insight regarding the success that is accessible to each and every person. I wholeheartedly endorse Gifted and am excited to learn of the impact on those willing to commit themselves to the wisdom within.”
—Angus Mugford, PhD, Senior Vice President of Player Development and Performance for the New Jersey Devils

“With rich examples, practical action items, and deep thinking, this book will guide athletes and other people step by step to find their inborn potential and live a more meaningful life.”
—Liwei Zhang, PhD, Past President of the Asian South-Pacific Association of Sport Psychology, Past President of the China Association of Sport Psychology, and Leading Expert in the Psychology Group for China’s Olympic Team

“Rob Schinke is an eminent scientist and practitioner in sport and psychology. The field is very fortunate that he has produced this book. It blends psychological science with practical perspectives that will help people in all walks of life take charge of their development and work toward the best possible version of themselves. This must-read book has substance and meaning for those who want to realize their potential.”
—Charles A. Maher, Senior Advisor on Sport and Performance Psychology for the Cleveland Guardians

How do you normalize setbacks?
Take action to identify your gifts
Transcendence as an athlete