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Will It Make the Boat Go Faster: Olympic-winning Strategies for Everyday Success
Not yet published
Expected 17 Nov 26Discover the simple principles that took a team from mediocrity to Olympic gold, and which you can use every day in work, life and play.How do you go from ordinary to exceptional? This bestselling coaching classic will show you how.
Ben Hunt-Davis shares the inspiring story of how he and the British men's rowing Eight went from never winning an international race to becoming the best in the world just two years later. Performance Coach Harriet Beveridge then highlights the wealth of transferable strategies we can use to pursue our own 'gold medals' for ourselves, our workplaces and beyond.
Ben's firsthand account transports readers into the boat with the intensity of training, the emotional rollercoaster of setbacks, the thrill of success. Harriet distils the lessons from each gripping story into easy-to-implement strategies to apply to your from how to keep yourself motivated day-in-day out to how to bounce back from failure; from how to build resilient teams to cultivating a learning mindset.
This 15th anniversary edition of Will It Make The Boat Go Faster? Includes new examples of people from all walks of life applying these Olympic-winning strategies to their contexts to make their own boats go faster. Whether you're a business leader wanting better results, an individual with a dream, or a coach guiding your team to unlocking their potential, this book is jammed-pack with tried and tested methods to help you achieve your own gold medals.
The book is a winning mix of gripping narrative and practical performance-raising tips.
Ben Hunt-Davis shares the inspiring story of how he and the British men's rowing Eight went from never winning an international race to becoming the best in the world just two years later. Performance Coach Harriet Beveridge then highlights the wealth of transferable strategies we can use to pursue our own 'gold medals' for ourselves, our workplaces and beyond.
Ben's firsthand account transports readers into the boat with the intensity of training, the emotional rollercoaster of setbacks, the thrill of success. Harriet distils the lessons from each gripping story into easy-to-implement strategies to apply to your from how to keep yourself motivated day-in-day out to how to bounce back from failure; from how to build resilient teams to cultivating a learning mindset.
This 15th anniversary edition of Will It Make The Boat Go Faster? Includes new examples of people from all walks of life applying these Olympic-winning strategies to their contexts to make their own boats go faster. Whether you're a business leader wanting better results, an individual with a dream, or a coach guiding your team to unlocking their potential, this book is jammed-pack with tried and tested methods to help you achieve your own gold medals.
The book is a winning mix of gripping narrative and practical performance-raising tips.
- GenresNonfiction
320 pages, Paperback
Expected publication November 17, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 22, 2026
felt like a generic goal sorta book but with people with more money/ privilege to achieve said goals
notes:
- Olympians divide goals into four layers: the crazy, the concrete, the control and the everyday
- The crazy layer is where you can be bold, even excessive. These are the goals that light up your imagination, that don’t belong on a mundane to-do list
- concrete layer goal with specifics: aiming to row 2000 meters in five minutes and 18 seconds.
- (layered approach) steps you need to take on a daily basis that are vital to achieving your crazy layer goal. For example, on Mondays you could complete 20 bench presses in five minutes. On Tuesdays, you could make sure to row with teammates for at least one hour, and so on throughout the week.
- you need to find a path toward your goal that entertains you, one that you genuinely enjoy. Because if your goal doesn’t excite you, your chances of reaching it are low
- knew they’d have to make that goal more exciting if they really wanted to stick to it. So instead of going to a regular gym, they signed up for pole dancing classes
- Daydreaming can help you strengthen your desire for and belief in your goal, and it also allows your mind to form an emotional and rational attachment to the goal. The author’s repeating daydream was seeing himself standing on an Olympic podium, receiving a gold medal. This vision kept him training hard – and although it took ten years, he was eventually able to live his dream
- A group of people is not a team unless all members share a common goal, grounded in mutual desires and measurable milestones.
- Why do such salespeople talk so much and listen so little? Because their focus is on selling and not on the process, which is where it should be. You can start to focus on your own process by being curious.
- Ask yourself what exactly will help you achieve your goal and what will keep you from it.
- Success should be measured by how well your process works, and not just by your end results
- Can you personally fix this problem? No, you can’t! So instead of flipping out, accept the fact that you’re now running late. Your goal, however, is still in reach.
- It’s natural to look to others to guide your own behavior. However, we often mistakenly think that doing what everyone else is doing is the same as taking less risk.
notes:
- Olympians divide goals into four layers: the crazy, the concrete, the control and the everyday
- The crazy layer is where you can be bold, even excessive. These are the goals that light up your imagination, that don’t belong on a mundane to-do list
- concrete layer goal with specifics: aiming to row 2000 meters in five minutes and 18 seconds.
- (layered approach) steps you need to take on a daily basis that are vital to achieving your crazy layer goal. For example, on Mondays you could complete 20 bench presses in five minutes. On Tuesdays, you could make sure to row with teammates for at least one hour, and so on throughout the week.
- you need to find a path toward your goal that entertains you, one that you genuinely enjoy. Because if your goal doesn’t excite you, your chances of reaching it are low
- knew they’d have to make that goal more exciting if they really wanted to stick to it. So instead of going to a regular gym, they signed up for pole dancing classes
- Daydreaming can help you strengthen your desire for and belief in your goal, and it also allows your mind to form an emotional and rational attachment to the goal. The author’s repeating daydream was seeing himself standing on an Olympic podium, receiving a gold medal. This vision kept him training hard – and although it took ten years, he was eventually able to live his dream
- A group of people is not a team unless all members share a common goal, grounded in mutual desires and measurable milestones.
- Why do such salespeople talk so much and listen so little? Because their focus is on selling and not on the process, which is where it should be. You can start to focus on your own process by being curious.
- Ask yourself what exactly will help you achieve your goal and what will keep you from it.
- Success should be measured by how well your process works, and not just by your end results
- Can you personally fix this problem? No, you can’t! So instead of flipping out, accept the fact that you’re now running late. Your goal, however, is still in reach.
- It’s natural to look to others to guide your own behavior. However, we often mistakenly think that doing what everyone else is doing is the same as taking less risk.
July 15, 2026
I listened to the audiobook and enjoyed the delivery with the alternation between the two readers, as well as the practical tips and good structure. The concepts are interesting, described well and presented with many pointers of how to put them into practice. I was wondering for the first part of the book whether Ben kept a journal or how he remembered such a level of detail. The concept that resonated with me the most was adding to the calculation of risks, when evaluating what to do, the risk of doing nothing. Impressive performance or the winning team and also an impressive performance of the authors on the content and format of this book.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews