What do you think?
Rate this book
Hard Pivot: Embrace Change. Find Purpose. Show Up Fully.
Apolo Ohno shares his most valuable lessons for overcoming challenges with resilience, creativity, and purpose.
In speed skating, a hard pivot is an aggressive shift of direction that requires courage, practice, and split-second timing. For Apolo Ohno, the most frightening hard pivot of his life didn’t happen on the ice—but rather, when he had to hang up his skates for good. “After my final Olympics, I felt confused, vulnerable, and adrift without purpose,” he says. “Yet that’s when I realized my experiences had given me something much more valuable than medals and memories. I had tools I could use to shift my life in a new direction—and most importantly, these were tools anyone could benefit from.”
With Hard Pivot, Apolo combines practical guidance, personal stories, and deep insights from the psychology of success into a resource to help you through challenging times. Here he shares his most valuable lessons and tools, condensed into the Five Golden Principles:
• Gratitude: A daily practice to help you maintain perspective, cultivate empathy, and alleviate stress
• Giving: How to elevate your life’s purpose by offering your time, attention, and resources to others
• Grit: Exercises to build mental stamina, resilience, and toughness to persevere through hard times
• Gearing Up: Ways to prepare yourself to meet the unknown with flexibility and grace
• Go: Develop the courage to take risks, learn from success and failure, and come back stronger
When life drastically changes—whether by choice or circumstance—the hardest part is often letting go of what was familiar and stable. Yet in Hard Pivot, Apolo provides the tools and inspiration to create a new life filled with greater purpose, wisdom, and joy. “You can trust yourself,” he says. “You can lean into the curve, pick up momentum, and speed down the track to success. In that pivotal moment, you might even find that you’re having the most fun you’ve ever had. You’re in flow. You’re enjoying your precious life. And you’re winning.”
In speed skating, a hard pivot is an aggressive shift of direction that requires courage, practice, and split-second timing. For Apolo Ohno, the most frightening hard pivot of his life didn’t happen on the ice—but rather, when he had to hang up his skates for good. “After my final Olympics, I felt confused, vulnerable, and adrift without purpose,” he says. “Yet that’s when I realized my experiences had given me something much more valuable than medals and memories. I had tools I could use to shift my life in a new direction—and most importantly, these were tools anyone could benefit from.”
With Hard Pivot, Apolo combines practical guidance, personal stories, and deep insights from the psychology of success into a resource to help you through challenging times. Here he shares his most valuable lessons and tools, condensed into the Five Golden Principles:
• Gratitude: A daily practice to help you maintain perspective, cultivate empathy, and alleviate stress
• Giving: How to elevate your life’s purpose by offering your time, attention, and resources to others
• Grit: Exercises to build mental stamina, resilience, and toughness to persevere through hard times
• Gearing Up: Ways to prepare yourself to meet the unknown with flexibility and grace
• Go: Develop the courage to take risks, learn from success and failure, and come back stronger
When life drastically changes—whether by choice or circumstance—the hardest part is often letting go of what was familiar and stable. Yet in Hard Pivot, Apolo provides the tools and inspiration to create a new life filled with greater purpose, wisdom, and joy. “You can trust yourself,” he says. “You can lean into the curve, pick up momentum, and speed down the track to success. In that pivotal moment, you might even find that you’re having the most fun you’ve ever had. You’re in flow. You’re enjoying your precious life. And you’re winning.”
Audio CD
Published May 31, 2022
74 people are currently reading
394 people want to read
About the author
Apolo Anton Ohno
7 books13 followersSpeed skater Apolo Anton Ohno earned eight medals in the Olympics of winter 2002, 2006, and 2010 to set a record for the most medals that an American athlete won.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apolo_Ohno
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apolo_Ohno
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
October 15, 2022
This is really more a self-help book than one about Ohno's life. It's not very long, but I found it helpful to read in segments.
February 22, 2022
I'm not sure why this was such a struggle for me to get through, but here we are. Something in his tone slightly annoyed me, while his advice/tactics were all pretty generic. The skating stuff was the most interesting but there wasn't much to it. 🤷♀️
April 3, 2022
I didn't know this was going to be a self help when I read it- but I thought it was super good. I think I relate easily to athletes and their motivation and so this book was super easy to read and had a lot I agreed with. I am sharing some quotes that I loved more for me to look back on:
"By harnessing our focus, our intentions, our will, and the incredible potential of the human mind, we can learn to make new choices, reinvent ourselves, and achieve way more than we ever thought possible."
"When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves." Viktor Frankl
"I'm convinced that the morning is when most of us are our freshest, most vulnerable, and most open versions of ourselves. In that state, you can really influence the type of day you're going to have and set the stage, so to speak."
"Do the best you can and trust that your hard work will eventually pay off. And when you fail or fall short or make a mistake, find the lesson in it and use that information to improve."
"If you’re someone who draws strength from your faith, then by all means apply that to your reinvention. And if you believe in God—whatever God means to you—it would clearly be an oversight not to include God in your starting five. For millions of people, God is one star player who never misses."
"As four-time US Olympian Meb Keflezighi writes in Meb for Mortals, “When I race, I never lose. I either win or I learn. And winning doesn’t always mean first place. Sometimes it means getting the best out of myself.”
"Living in a world of distraction in which every algorithm is designed to hijack your attention, the ability to focus on your process ultimately becomes a test of your self-discipline. It’s not easy. But stick to what’s most important and do the work. There isn’t such a thing as a shortcut, but if there were, it would be the work. The work is the shortcut."
"And I also prioritize joy because if you’re not having fun, it’s only a matter of time until you start sabotaging yourself."
"Love is an action; it’s a practice you can develop and constantly hone."
"less judgment and more encouragement."
"one of my favorite quotes from Leo Buscaglia is “To love others you must love yourself . . . You can only give to others what you have yourself.”
"We have to relish the positive and make encouraging ourselves and others a daily practice. There’s a wealth of science to back this."
"What are three good things that have happened in your life recently? How about three good qualities in the people close to you? What are three things you’re most looking forward to in the coming week? Try focusing on the positive in as many ways as you can think of every day for a week or so and really let yourself feel all the good feelings (hope, happiness, joy, and so on) that come from doing so."
"Erich Fromm writes, “Love is an activity, not a passive affect . . . love is primarily giving, not receiving.”When we focus on love as something we do, consistently, we also inspire others to love as well."
"Purpose stays with you; it orients you through life. Your purpose might evolve as you age and grow, but it will typically stay the same for years at a time, and it will usually endure for as long as you remain committed to it. When you ground your life in your purpose, inspiration and motivation aren’t so hard to come by."
"As Viktor Frankl states in Man’s Search for Meaning, our need for purpose is as important to our psychological growth as eating is to our biological growth.2 Purpose is nutrition for your mind and soul. Studies show that people who have a high level of meaning and purpose in their life enjoy better mental health, better sleep, less pain and stress, and overall longer lives than control groups."
"When part of our purpose involves helping others (especially helping others connect to their purpose), it’s a lot
easier to understand that we’re all connected—that my happiness and theirs go together."
"Five Golden Principles I mentioned in the introduction: gratitude, giving, grit, gearing up, and going."
"Scientists have also quantified that people who prioritize gratitude are way more likely to be satisfied with their
lives, and they experience higher levels of heart-warming emotions like joy, enthusiasm, love, and happiness.
Furthermore, they develop a natural immunity to the harmful effects of envy, greed, and resentment. As a result,
they can handle daily stressors without becoming unbalanced, they recover more quickly from setbacks and
illness, and they are generally more physically healthy."
"We humans need to give. It’s a drive that brings us physiological benefits and helps society cohere. In addition,
when we give selflessly of our time, attention, and resources, it’s easier to transcend our self-centeredness and
the suffering that comes from a me-first attitude. Without having to actively seek recognition or validation,
giving provides a powerful pathway to personal fulfillment."
"Grit is an element of the human spirit that allows us to dig deep and persevere through short-term pain to
eventually reach the destination we’re seeking. It’s easy to keep on the path when the journey’s easy; grit is what
keeps us going when it’s not."
psychologist Gabriele Oettingen, an expert on motivation. Oettingen studied how people felt when they thought
about achieving their dreams.6 One set of study subjects reported feeling joy and contentment when they
visualized what their lives would be like after succeeding in a difficult endeavor, and another set of people were
instructed to spend time thinking about the obstacles that would stand in the way of achieving their dreams.
Guess which group was more successful in meeting their goals in the long run? Yep, the ones who had
contemplated the obstacles. It turns out that just dreaming about what you want doesn’t make it easier to
achieve; you also have to plan for how you’ll respond in the face of inevitable challenges. From this research,
Oettingen came up with the following framework (WOOP) to help people articulate their goals and strategize
ways to achieve them."
"WOOP is an acronym for wish, outcome, obstacles, and plan."
"grit as intense passion plus intense perseverance."
"Gearing up is about taking bold action toward the goals you’ve set for yourself and prepping yourself mentally
and physically for the challenges ahead. Often that means leveling up with a growth-oriented mindset, new
skills, or innovative techniques to help you succeed."
"On a practical note, gearing up also means focusing on the basics—identifying the fundamental requirements for
meeting your goals and putting the work in. I always start by identifying the low-hanging fruit. What helps me
feel my best? What solutions are immediately at hand? What are the obvious first steps? What choices will make
the most impact moving forward?"
"Maybe it’s my training as an athlete, but for me the lowest hanging fruit usually has something to do with how
I’m eating, moving, or sleeping. These might sound simplistic to you, but I’ve always found these three to be the
basic building blocks of optimal performance."
"if we want the world to be safer, more sustainable, more prosperous, more joy-filled, and a place where people
can truly thrive, we need to access our capacity for empathy, vulnerability, and understanding. Because
generosity is nothing without that."
"By harnessing our focus, our intentions, our will, and the incredible potential of the human mind, we can learn to make new choices, reinvent ourselves, and achieve way more than we ever thought possible."
"When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves." Viktor Frankl
"I'm convinced that the morning is when most of us are our freshest, most vulnerable, and most open versions of ourselves. In that state, you can really influence the type of day you're going to have and set the stage, so to speak."
"Do the best you can and trust that your hard work will eventually pay off. And when you fail or fall short or make a mistake, find the lesson in it and use that information to improve."
"If you’re someone who draws strength from your faith, then by all means apply that to your reinvention. And if you believe in God—whatever God means to you—it would clearly be an oversight not to include God in your starting five. For millions of people, God is one star player who never misses."
"As four-time US Olympian Meb Keflezighi writes in Meb for Mortals, “When I race, I never lose. I either win or I learn. And winning doesn’t always mean first place. Sometimes it means getting the best out of myself.”
"Living in a world of distraction in which every algorithm is designed to hijack your attention, the ability to focus on your process ultimately becomes a test of your self-discipline. It’s not easy. But stick to what’s most important and do the work. There isn’t such a thing as a shortcut, but if there were, it would be the work. The work is the shortcut."
"And I also prioritize joy because if you’re not having fun, it’s only a matter of time until you start sabotaging yourself."
"Love is an action; it’s a practice you can develop and constantly hone."
"less judgment and more encouragement."
"one of my favorite quotes from Leo Buscaglia is “To love others you must love yourself . . . You can only give to others what you have yourself.”
"We have to relish the positive and make encouraging ourselves and others a daily practice. There’s a wealth of science to back this."
"What are three good things that have happened in your life recently? How about three good qualities in the people close to you? What are three things you’re most looking forward to in the coming week? Try focusing on the positive in as many ways as you can think of every day for a week or so and really let yourself feel all the good feelings (hope, happiness, joy, and so on) that come from doing so."
"Erich Fromm writes, “Love is an activity, not a passive affect . . . love is primarily giving, not receiving.”When we focus on love as something we do, consistently, we also inspire others to love as well."
"Purpose stays with you; it orients you through life. Your purpose might evolve as you age and grow, but it will typically stay the same for years at a time, and it will usually endure for as long as you remain committed to it. When you ground your life in your purpose, inspiration and motivation aren’t so hard to come by."
"As Viktor Frankl states in Man’s Search for Meaning, our need for purpose is as important to our psychological growth as eating is to our biological growth.2 Purpose is nutrition for your mind and soul. Studies show that people who have a high level of meaning and purpose in their life enjoy better mental health, better sleep, less pain and stress, and overall longer lives than control groups."
"When part of our purpose involves helping others (especially helping others connect to their purpose), it’s a lot
easier to understand that we’re all connected—that my happiness and theirs go together."
"Five Golden Principles I mentioned in the introduction: gratitude, giving, grit, gearing up, and going."
"Scientists have also quantified that people who prioritize gratitude are way more likely to be satisfied with their
lives, and they experience higher levels of heart-warming emotions like joy, enthusiasm, love, and happiness.
Furthermore, they develop a natural immunity to the harmful effects of envy, greed, and resentment. As a result,
they can handle daily stressors without becoming unbalanced, they recover more quickly from setbacks and
illness, and they are generally more physically healthy."
"We humans need to give. It’s a drive that brings us physiological benefits and helps society cohere. In addition,
when we give selflessly of our time, attention, and resources, it’s easier to transcend our self-centeredness and
the suffering that comes from a me-first attitude. Without having to actively seek recognition or validation,
giving provides a powerful pathway to personal fulfillment."
"Grit is an element of the human spirit that allows us to dig deep and persevere through short-term pain to
eventually reach the destination we’re seeking. It’s easy to keep on the path when the journey’s easy; grit is what
keeps us going when it’s not."
psychologist Gabriele Oettingen, an expert on motivation. Oettingen studied how people felt when they thought
about achieving their dreams.6 One set of study subjects reported feeling joy and contentment when they
visualized what their lives would be like after succeeding in a difficult endeavor, and another set of people were
instructed to spend time thinking about the obstacles that would stand in the way of achieving their dreams.
Guess which group was more successful in meeting their goals in the long run? Yep, the ones who had
contemplated the obstacles. It turns out that just dreaming about what you want doesn’t make it easier to
achieve; you also have to plan for how you’ll respond in the face of inevitable challenges. From this research,
Oettingen came up with the following framework (WOOP) to help people articulate their goals and strategize
ways to achieve them."
"WOOP is an acronym for wish, outcome, obstacles, and plan."
"grit as intense passion plus intense perseverance."
"Gearing up is about taking bold action toward the goals you’ve set for yourself and prepping yourself mentally
and physically for the challenges ahead. Often that means leveling up with a growth-oriented mindset, new
skills, or innovative techniques to help you succeed."
"On a practical note, gearing up also means focusing on the basics—identifying the fundamental requirements for
meeting your goals and putting the work in. I always start by identifying the low-hanging fruit. What helps me
feel my best? What solutions are immediately at hand? What are the obvious first steps? What choices will make
the most impact moving forward?"
"Maybe it’s my training as an athlete, but for me the lowest hanging fruit usually has something to do with how
I’m eating, moving, or sleeping. These might sound simplistic to you, but I’ve always found these three to be the
basic building blocks of optimal performance."
"if we want the world to be safer, more sustainable, more prosperous, more joy-filled, and a place where people
can truly thrive, we need to access our capacity for empathy, vulnerability, and understanding. Because
generosity is nothing without that."
September 11, 2023
This was a great book for someone looking to make a change wether it being with work, personal growth, really any aspect of your life. Gives a lot of great life experiences from an Olympic athlete making the transition post sports life.
June 13, 2022
This book was definitely more of a self help book than i was expecting. It had lots of practice sections and motivational quotes, which Apolo used to reinvent himself after his skating career. I was hoping for more stories about Apolo, but was overall a short interesting read if you’re looking for reminders on how to live life in the present.
January 27, 2023
A book about making big changes at a time in my life when I just made a giant change and am still getting used to what it means for me. Talk about great timing! I will say that some of the practices suggested in the book are for real self-starters which I would not consider myself all the time, but I still gained quite a bit from this book! Better than most self-help books I've read!
March 8, 2024
This is more of a self help book and less an autobiography or a retelling of stories of the olympics, which I think I would have liked more. Some of his thoughts are good to take home, but I don't know if I loved it enough to recommend it to others.
December 20, 2022
I was expecting more of a personal story than a self-help book. While not expected, it was actually pretty good.
March 1, 2022
Overall: 3.5- 4 stars
Summary:
This is a self-help and sort-of memoir of the speed skater Apolo Anton Oho. If you are making a major life change, then this book provides some good advice.
My thoughts:
I remember watching Apolo Anton Ohno speed skate in the Olympics. It is one of my fondest memories of spending time with the family and cheering him on the ice. I was a little disappointed there were no pictures in the book. It would have been nice just to see a picture of his inner circle that he mentions, Olympics, etc.
Being that this was not a memoir, I think the choice of the cover was a little misleading. I picked this up thinking that it was a memoir, only to discover that it was not. Oh well, it was good though.
I really wanted to read more about his life. But it gave me glimpses of his life enough to call it a self-help/memoir. I think some of his talks about how he treated other people made me think he was a jerk. I thought him giving me advice when he treated all his ex-girlfriends the way he mentions in the book. Then he blames his busy life, his mother’s abandonment, etc.
I did think this book provided a lot of great advice. I also did not think that the same advice I could have used when I was making a life change. I, unlike him, needed money to pay the bills. I was unable to network like him with international businessmen and have a job handed to me. I was also unable to travel the world after I lost my job. But I think the overall thoughts and processes were there. He called his retirement from speed skating “The Great Divorce.” I think that analogy is a good one. I went through all the emotions of grieving or divorcing when I lost my job.
I really enjoyed learning about Ikigai. It was very educational, and I am going to study it a lot more. I started to really research it. I think it may change my life and the way that I view it. I did a lot of the journaling in the book too.
March 27, 2024
So thankful I read this book when I did. Such a beautiful reminder that we can pivot our life at any given time. I think this book is truly meant for someone who has experienced early on success in life or their career and is looking for reasons to keep moving forward, change gears or hard pivot, as he states. Easy read and the journaling prompts hit! Great reminders.
January 20, 2022
Three time Olympian Apolo Ohno dominated as a speed skater for the United States. After he retired at the age of 27, Ohno divorced himself completely from the sport. Still at the top of his game, Ohno had lost the passion that once propelled him to win medals. The "What now" was scary, as he knew nothing else but competing.
A hard pivot in skating is an aggressive turn in the corner of the rink, which must be performed to perfection or it might spell disaster. Apolo Ohno has taken this principle to describe how to adapt and reinvent, with tips and techniques that he learned with the help of others.
The Five Golden Principles are described in the book as: Gratitude, Giving, Grit, Gearing Up, and Go. They are used as the backbone, guidance for readers on how to focus on what you want, figure out what your attributes are, accept yourself, find your support system, and forge a path forward.
Through struggles and triumphs, Apolo Ohno is a different man today than the one who most people recognize from his sports persona. Self doubt and fear can creep in, no matter who you are and how successful you may be. With words of advice like winning isn't everything, focus on the process, and there is no shortcut, Ohno tries to impart his own wisdom to help others.
Though the book was somewhat repetitive and I wanted to know more about the man instead of his vision, I could see what the author was trying to do with Hard Pivot. Overall, readers who might seek their own hard pivot would find this book helpful and inspirational.
Disclaimer: I was given an Advanced Reader's Copy by NetGalley and the publisher, Sounds True. The decision to read and review this book was entirely my own.
A hard pivot in skating is an aggressive turn in the corner of the rink, which must be performed to perfection or it might spell disaster. Apolo Ohno has taken this principle to describe how to adapt and reinvent, with tips and techniques that he learned with the help of others.
The Five Golden Principles are described in the book as: Gratitude, Giving, Grit, Gearing Up, and Go. They are used as the backbone, guidance for readers on how to focus on what you want, figure out what your attributes are, accept yourself, find your support system, and forge a path forward.
Through struggles and triumphs, Apolo Ohno is a different man today than the one who most people recognize from his sports persona. Self doubt and fear can creep in, no matter who you are and how successful you may be. With words of advice like winning isn't everything, focus on the process, and there is no shortcut, Ohno tries to impart his own wisdom to help others.
Though the book was somewhat repetitive and I wanted to know more about the man instead of his vision, I could see what the author was trying to do with Hard Pivot. Overall, readers who might seek their own hard pivot would find this book helpful and inspirational.
Disclaimer: I was given an Advanced Reader's Copy by NetGalley and the publisher, Sounds True. The decision to read and review this book was entirely my own.
December 17, 2021
I remember crouching over a tiny 10 inch TV in my dorm room, screaming like a crazy person, terrifying my roommate, watching Apolo Ohno compete in the 2010 Olympics. It's been a few years since then, and I have been fascinated to follow when Ohno has gone in life since then. When NetGalley and Sounds True Publishing gave me the chance to read an advance copy of Ohno's book, I jumped at the chance to find out: How do you keep moving forward when you are already the most decorated Winter Olympian in history?
You have a Hard Pivot - you refocus your life and find what challenges you, what gives your life meaning and purpose, and you take action to fill those dreams. In this book, Ohno lays out a game plan - one that he himself has followed, to changing your life and realizing your dreams. With wonderfully honest insight, journaling assignments and personal tales, this book is an invigorating and inspiring read. Definitely recommend!
You have a Hard Pivot - you refocus your life and find what challenges you, what gives your life meaning and purpose, and you take action to fill those dreams. In this book, Ohno lays out a game plan - one that he himself has followed, to changing your life and realizing your dreams. With wonderfully honest insight, journaling assignments and personal tales, this book is an invigorating and inspiring read. Definitely recommend!
February 16, 2022
Hard Pivot by Apolo Ohno is a wonderful self-help book. There are great tips on how to embrace change. The idea of change seems to be something that some of us are not good at. But what I found most interesting, and lately it is being talked about more and more, is the fact that athletes have a short shelf life. They are not being prepared for what comes after they retire. Apolo shares his story about being so focused on getting to the Olympics at the cost of his education, and lack of relationships.
I really liked this book. Apolo shares information about his life experiences that are thought provoking and informative on what he found to be very helpful in order to help with change.
I received an ARC from NetGalley for an unbiased review.
I really liked this book. Apolo shares information about his life experiences that are thought provoking and informative on what he found to be very helpful in order to help with change.
I received an ARC from NetGalley for an unbiased review.
February 26, 2024
Apolo Ohno is a former speed track Olympic ice skater. He won medals in three straight Olympic games. I thought this book would be about his skating career. It was not. He does tell a few stories about his skating as examples of his hard pivot. Ohno tells about how lost he was when he stopped skating and realized that he had to live a life after being a world class athlete. He had to take a hard pivot in life. This book is really designed as a self-help book. He gives the reader exercises to help the reader accomplish their life goals. Ohno is really big on gratitude and journaling. There is a lot of scientific research that shows that those two things are really beneficial to mental health.
This book was not what I was expecting, but it was still worthwhile.
This book was not what I was expecting, but it was still worthwhile.
January 31, 2023
Not great but not bad. Apolo talks about his time as a speed skater for the U.S. Team and how that focus through three cycles actually hurt him in his personal growth. Everything he did was focused on training and winning. This book is actually about his growth following his skating career. Thus Hard Pivot is a self help for individuals looking to change directions in their life. Through his examples using his own struggles he provides steps for one to make the hard pivots. In the end he indicates to make changes one might try one or more of the suggestions and see how it helps making that pivot.
February 6, 2022
This was a nice self help book from Apolo Ohno who was a gold medalist Olympic speed skater. He shares about his retiring, trying to settle back into a normal life and gives many tips about how to overcome adversity and challenges. The length of the book was perfect and precise and to the point like Ohno's career. I appreciate this did not go on for 300+ pages.
Well written and honest.
Thanks to Netgalley, Apolo Ohno and Sounds True for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Available: 2/22/22
Well written and honest.
Thanks to Netgalley, Apolo Ohno and Sounds True for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Available: 2/22/22
January 13, 2022
Had a great time reading this, such an inspirational masterpiece. This book is full of practical advice, Apolo Ohno's personal experiences, and deep insights from the psychology of success. In this book, he provides his most significant teachings and techniques, which have been reduced into the Five Golden Principles of Leadership. This actually resonates with the Apolo Ohno Mindset Movement - https://apoloohnomindset.com/
A truly must read!
A truly must read!
July 4, 2022
I liked it overall. The premise of “what does an Olympian do after retiring at 27!?” was enticing. I was looking for a little more detail / linear detail about what exactly unfolded directly after his retirement, but it was still good. I liked his humility. This book was a reminder of good questions to ponder at any stage of life! I listened to this one on audio. I wish it came with the pdf of exercises but it doesn’t seem like it did.
March 27, 2024
I skimmed through this quickly. I really thought this would be a true memoir not a “guide based on (his) experience.” I’m not sure why his success makes him a counselor in changing one’s path in life including practices and other activities to learn yourself. At best he may be an inspiration but I tried to read it as a memoir. He says he’s full of self-doubt but clearly he hasn’t lost his confidence (eye roll).
February 25, 2022
Have you ever watched Apolo skate? Ever wonder about him and his life off the ice? If you are, then you should pick this book up. When Apolo had to stop skating, he had to change his life. These are the tools that he has learned over the years and how he put them into practice when he had to change his life. Great practical advice about life and how to change yours.
September 12, 2022
Not what I was expecting / hoping it would be, but still a decent read. He's a good writer (or whoever edited it is) but mostly this is still you already know (meditate, be grateful, surround yourself with good people) with a few athlete-specific gems tossed in. Took me forever to finish because I kept getting bored.
May 7, 2022
I wasn't expecting Hard Pivot to have so much focus on self help. It's all well done, with some good advice for anyone who's willing to take that advice. I definitely enjoyed this read for what is it - part memoir, part self help. But I was missing the deeper look into his skating career itself.
July 12, 2022
I enjoyed this book, it was short with lots of good ideas and action points. Chapter 8 in my opinion was the best. Good for graduates, people trying to vigor if they're in the right career or even want ways to re-engage with a career.
March 25, 2023
Even if you're not looking for a change, which I'm not, this book helps you think through what you really want and what it takes to get there. I love his focus on gratitude, surrounding yourself with good people, and effort.
December 15, 2023
2.5 stars
Pros: There were some really great nuggets of wisdom in this book.
Cons: I didn’t realize this was a self-help type of book when I started it. I think this would have been a better read before I started my master’s program.
Pros: There were some really great nuggets of wisdom in this book.
Cons: I didn’t realize this was a self-help type of book when I started it. I think this would have been a better read before I started my master’s program.
August 22, 2024
I'm not usually interested in self help books, but I've always been a fan of Apolo Ohno. His perspective on life, and life changes is interesting, but also a little bit unapproachable. Hard pivoting probably looks a lot different for an antisocial computer engineer than it does for a multi-million dollar olympic athlete. I think I would have liked it more if it was more about Apolo's personal history, and what he did, and specific examples of how those specific decisions impacted his life specifically. But the book had more of the tone of, "Here's a brief synopsis of what I did, and here are all the reasons you should do this too, and here's all the ways this will make your life better." It comes of as more 'preachy' than allowing the reader to assess Apolo's choices, and extrapolate their own conclusions and applications for their individual lives.
March 5, 2022
I appreciate Ohno’s honestly and prospective. Lots to reflect on and become my actionable.
March 7, 2022
Uplifting, practical, and surprisingly relatable.
Well worth an afternoon.
Well worth an afternoon.
April 23, 2022
It was a pretty typical self-help book. Not a lot of new ideas but a decent read overall.
April 25, 2022
This books feels honest and heartfelt. Apolo genuinely cares about helping people and shared his nuggets of wisdom in his own voice. A great light read.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews