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What Would Ted Lasso Do?: How Ted's Positive Approach Can Help You

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Need a little inspiration? Discover how Ted Lasso’s 'Believe' sign can motivate you in your own life, how you can learn to be optimistic and resilient like Ted, and how his core beliefs could even help you live longer. This humorous, easy-to-read guide reveals the psychology behind Ted’s life lessons. It’s like having Ted Lasso as your very own life coach.

Ted Lasso has made millions laugh in Apple TV+’s hit comedy, but there is more to the show than just feel-good humor. Ted’s heart-warming philosophies are rooted in the Positive Psychology Movement and take audiences into the world of self-help, sometimes unknowingly.

Remember when Ted told Sam to ‘Be a goldfish’ because it has a short memory. Confucius bequeathed his own “To be wronged is nothing, unless you continue to remember it.”

And remember Ted’s soliloquy during his darts match against Rupert reminding us to be ‘curious, not judgmental’. Many research studies have proven that being curious leads to emotional well-being, better relationships, and higher levels of achievement.

Through plausibly real and difficult situations on the TV show, we see how Ted turns negatives into positives, adversity into acceptance, selfish behavior into self-aware behavior. He ensures we understand that it’s how we react to difficult situations that can make a difference between coming out smiling or not.

Mixing TV fandom with psychology, celebrity journalist Lucy Broadbent unearths the wisdom behind Ted’s life lessons, explaining its value and offering tricks to help all of us lead happier, healthier, kinder lives, the Ted Lasso way.

110 pages, Paperback

Published November 29, 2022

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286 people want to read

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Lucy Broadbent

7 books8 followers

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
155 reviews2 followers
January 31, 2023
Ted Lassoism’s just make me feel good. Big hug to the heart. Maybe because I have done some of the work. Counseling is a good thing.
Profile Image for Imogen.
Author 6 books1,789 followers
July 1, 2023
I love Ted Lasso and I love modern perspectives in psychology and I love tiny little books.
Profile Image for Katrina Sark.
Author 12 books44 followers
July 28, 2023
Introduction

p.5 – Generosity is wholly part of who Ted is. His core belief is that all people are worthy, even the ones who are out to trip you up. “You know what you do with tough cookies,” Ted tells his boss, Rebecca. “You dip them in milk.”

1 – Believe

p.8 – “People’s belief about their abilities have a profound effect on those abilities,” explained the late Professor Albert Bandura, past Professor Emeritus at Stanford University, who is credited as being one of the all-time great psychologists on this subject. “Ability is not a fixed property; there is a huge variability in how you perform,” he says.
In other words, if we think we’re capable of something, it’s possible we really are. But if we don’t think we’re capable, we won’t even try.

p.10 – People with a strong sense of self-efficacy tended to be the kind of people who recovered quickly from setbacks and disappointments, they generally liked a challenge and viewed it as something to be mastered. They didn’t focus on their failings, only their strengths, and because they had this confidence in themselves, they had a higher chance of success.

p.13 – When the team doesn’t win the final match, Rebecca tells Ted: “Every disadvantage has its advantage.”

p.14 – Visualize goals and work hard: “As the man once said, the harder you work, the luckier you get.”

2 – Be Successful

p.15 – John Wooden, a real-life coach, who made sporting history for leading UCLA’s men’s basketball teams to ten NCAA championships in twelve years (John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success – www.coachwooden.com).

p.16 – He believed that it was not about winning or losing, rather about the effort it took in trying to be the best version of yourself that you could possibly be. “Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best you are capable of becoming” (Wooden, 1948).

p.18 – If we strive to be our best selves, if we learn from our mistakes, we are already being successful. “You all played a heck of a game. You might not have won, but you all succeeded,” Ted tells his team after a loss.

3 – Be Curious

p.22 – “Guys have underestimated me my entire life, and for years, I never understood why,” Ted said matter-of-factly. “It used to bother me. But then one day I was driving my little boy to school, and I saw this quote by Walt Whitman painted on a wall there, it said: ‘Be curious, not judgemental.’ I like that.”
“All those fellas who belittled me, they weren’t curious,” he says. “They thought they had everything figured out, so they judged everything, and they judged everyone, and I realized that their underestimating of me, of who I was, had nothing to do with it.”

p.23 – Psychologists believe that one of the greatest benefits of being curious is that it not only gives us the power of knowledge, but it also leads to emotional well-being. Study after study has found that being curious makes us more content, strengthens our relationships, makes us more creative, it leads to higher levels of achievement, and it even helps us survive.

p.24 – Other people’s judgment of us has nothing to do wit who we are, but everything to do with who they are. Those who judge others, tend to draw from their own feelings and sense of insecurity. They often suffer from low self-esteem themselves, so they target others to feel better about themselves.

4 – Be Optimistic

p.34 – Pessimists tended to view bad times as permanent and unchangeable.
Optimists saw bad times as blips, small moments to forget about like Ted’s goldfish moment. […] Optimists didn’t personalize any failures either. If an unfavourable outcome occurred, they imagined it must be because of outside influences.

5 – Be a Do-Gooder

p.44 – Jason Sudeikis was an established working comedy actor. But he was never quite the breakthrough star until Ted Lasso made him one at 45 years old in 2020. There is a poster in Ted’s office in the show that reads: Gradarius Firmus Victoria. Slow and Steady Wins the Race.

6 – Be Open to Therapy

p.55 – As Keeley tells Roy’s niece Phoebe: “Problems are like mushrooms. The longer you leave them in the dark, the bigger they get.”

7 – Be a Good Parent (to Yourself)

p.57 – Relationships with our parents can be complicated. That fundamental relationship is responsible for so much of who we are and what we become. As Ted says, “Boys, I love meeting people’s moms. It’s like an instruction manual as to why they’re nuts.” In other words, how we have been parented shapes us. And sometimes, some of us get shaped with odd angles and difficult edges which cast negative shadows on us as adults.

p.59 – Re-parenting is learning how to be very kind to ourselves, treating and loving ourselves like the very best, kindest, most attentive parent ever would.

p.63 – Reparenting is not about blaming our parents – chances are our parents will have endured difficult parenting themselves. It’s about discovering our potential, and in so doing, being better parents not only to ourselves but also to our own children, so that we might break the generational cycle.

8 – Be More Like a Woman

p.65 – “Woman up!” Ted tells Jamie. “I think you mean, ‘Man up!’ Jamie replies. Coach Beard and Ted shake their heads. No, Ted meant what he said. “You’ve been manning up for a while now,” he tells him. “And look where that’s got you!”

9 – Be Forgiving

p.75 – Remaining angry with someone confines us to a state of victimhood, according to psychologists. The only way to experience healing and peace is to forgive, says the late social activist and former South African archbishop Desmond Tutu in his book, The Book of Forgiving. “Until we forgive, we remain locked in our pain and locked out of the possibility of experiencing healing and freedom, locked out of the possibility of being at peace.”
It's a message supported by philosophers, psychologists, and psychotherapists everywhere. When we hang onto the hurt and resentment of what another person might have inflicted on us, then we are allowing them to cause further damage in our lives.

10 – Be You

p.84 – “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’ life,” advised the late Apple Founder, Steve Jobs at a Stanford University commencement ceremony in 2005. […] “Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow you heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become.”

p.86 – Discovering who we are and not doubting ourselves can sometimes be a trick, but it’s not an impossible one. The key is avoiding forced behaviour like people-pleasing and being run ragged trying to fulfill other people’s expectations. “We spend so much of our time pleasing others that we lose ourselves,” says Stephen Joseph (writing in Psychology Today, “Are You True to Yourself? Authentic People Know Their Boundaries,” October 2018).

p.87 – Ted: “Listen to your gut, and on the way down, listen to your heart and between those two things, they’ll let you know what’s what.”
It’s easier to be true to yourself if you know who you are. Try new things, push yourself, be curious and outward looking and you’ll find out.
Don’t aim to please others all the time. People pleasing is exhausting and never earns the respect you hope for.

11 – Be Kind

p.88 – “Trickle-down economics might stink, but trickle-down support smells like pizza, roses, and I assume Viola Davis,” Ted says. It’s the message of the whole show.

p.89 – Trickle-down positivity and kindness can make a difference.
Profile Image for Madison Barr.
57 reviews
July 30, 2024
4.5 ⭐️ I am training a class on leadership lessons and decided to use a book about Ted Lasso, one of my favorite shows! This book was short, sweet and a good reminder to always lead with kindness and lead like Lasso.
122 reviews5 followers
February 9, 2023
What Would Ted Lasso Do? By Lucy Broadbent

What Would Ted Lasso Do? is a beautiful and wonderful self-help book by Lucy Broadbent. This book is based on the many lessons that were showcased in the famous show Ted Lasso. The book takes us on a wonderful, insightful, humorous, and comforting journey, showing us what Ted Lasso would do in different situations, and thus, it provides many life lessons in this way.

I really liked how this book is written. It is truly a page-turner with many nuggets of wisdom. It will change the way you look at and live life. It will give you a positive outlook on life and give you self-belief and the right kind of attitude to face the world. It will teach you all this and many more wonderful lessons.

It is a very helpful and useful book. The way it is written makes it very engaging and gripping to read. I am someone who hasn't watched the show and has no idea about Ted Lasso's character, but the way this book is written, I never felt I was missing something. It is a short but great book. I loved every minute I spent reading this amazing book. I highly recommend this book!
Profile Image for Benedikt Tölle.
29 reviews3 followers
January 31, 2024
Gutes Buch, welches als Ted Lasso - Fan schon fast ein Muss ist. Die Autorin verbindet Szenen und Prinzipen aus der Show mit wissenschaftlichen Erkenntnissen. Die Welt braucht mehr Ted Lassos!
Profile Image for Kevin.
102 reviews4 followers
July 13, 2024
Ted Lasso reigns as my all time favorite show, this fun little book highlights some psychology behind the show.
Profile Image for Beth Weiner.
109 reviews
October 6, 2023
If you’ve watched Ted Lasso you know I’m met that this book will touch your heart. The book, like the show, is a bit of a metaphor for living a good life. I was between books, waiting for my next read to be available at my local library when I remembered I wanted to read this book I had gifted to my husband on his birthday. It’s a quick read with so much heart and inspirational life lessons. I’ve been struggling with some depression and reading this book lifted my spirits. Completely and thoroughly recommend this book and the tv series. You will be so glad to know both of these.
43 reviews2 followers
March 28, 2023
Ted is aiming to inspire more than just his soccer squad from the moment he tapes his "Believe" sign to the locker room wall of AFC Richmond. He's dedicated to inspiring his audience and urging us to be happier, much like a bogus self-help guru. This book presents some of Ted's finest life lessons and explains how they might benefit us in our own lives using research and psychological knowledge. It serves as a source of motivation for Tedheads who want to live their lives in the Ted Lasso Way.

The way this book was written pleased me. It is a page-turner that has a lot of pearls of knowledge. It will alter the way you view and approach life. It will help you have a good view of life, self-belief, and the proper mindset to deal with the outside world. You will learn all of these and many more valuable lessons from them. Both this book and this television show are dripping with optimism. This book dives deeper into the beliefs Ted Lasso is founded on and offers highly applicable statements and life guidance. It's been a long since I read a narrative that made me laugh and weep at the same time. Ted is an asset to everyone, as is this book.

I wasn't expecting this book to support its claims about a fictional character with true scientific evidence, but it did. While it occasionally took away from the book's beauty, it increased the significance and weight of the lessons learned. Also, there is a lengthy reference list in the back that I will definitely go into further. The program has an excellent psychological context for several of its scenes. Books, essays, and tips on how to emulate character arcs are available. Who wouldn't benefit from a little Ted Lasso mental adjustment? A light read that might radically alter your life.
Profile Image for Ella Englishby.
10 reviews
April 6, 2025
A thoughtful, feel-good read full of Ted Lasso charm and surprising depth.

What Would Ted Lasso Do? is packed with genuinely good advice — part self-help, part character study, and part love letter to one of the most uplifting shows on TV. Lucy Broadbent blends the wisdom of Ted with insights from Freud, Confucius, Coach Wooden, and even Jason Sudeikis himself. The book ties real psychological and philosophical principles to unforgettable scenes from the show — from “be curious, not judgmental” 🎯 to “be a goldfish” 🐠.

It doesn’t shy away from the deeper themes either — grief, therapy, masculinity, leadership — all approached with kindness, wit, and a dash of Lasso-style hope. It’s like having a locker room pep talk for your soul.

Some parts felt a little stretched or repetitive, which is why I’m giving it 4 stars instead of 5 — but overall, it left me smiling and genuinely inspired. And now? I’m even more excited for Season 4 to start filming.

Believe. ⚽️💛
#WWTLD #TedLasso #BeCurious #Believe
Profile Image for Chris C.
84 reviews1 follower
March 1, 2024
I don't normally read nonfiction, and haven't really ventured into self help books before - so this was a new adventure for me. I picked it up after loving the Ted Lasso series and honestly finding myself wanting to understand how a leadership style like Ted's can work in life rather than in fiction, what lessons can be learnt.

This book answered those questions in some ways, but not really in others. I know, I know, Ted isn't real and it's all a TV show, but I found there were less actionable techniques in here than I wanted. It was mostly "be like Ted and things will work out", which sadly I am far too cynical to go along with - maybe that was my problem more than the book itself, but either way, I can't say the book did much for me.
Profile Image for Brigitte.
336 reviews18 followers
July 28, 2023
A very fun read about one of my new favorite shows and a character as unrelentingly charming and positive as it is humanly possible to be. I once heard Ted described as what happens when a golden retriever jumps a motivational poster and Ned Flanders pops out. Pretty accurate. I like this book as a reminder to the rest of us who fall short of Ted’s standards for cheerfulness and compassion. I hope it inspires us to keep trying to be our best selves. Be curious, not judgmental. Be a goldfish. And most importantly: BELIEVE. In each other and in yourself.
Profile Image for Leah Channell.
120 reviews
October 25, 2024
Another review I read of this book said "I love Ted Lasso and I love modern perspectives in psychology and I love tiny little books" and I honestly couldn't think of a better way to summarize my thoughts.

Ted Lasso is hands down one of my favorite tv shows of all time, and is a must watch for everyone (*especially* if you're a coach/mentor/leader in any capacity). This book ties some of the best life lessons from the show with research and expertise from psychologists to create a fun, inspirational self-help book that encourages you to live life The Ted Lasso Way.
Profile Image for James.
223 reviews10 followers
March 10, 2023
I happened to stumble across the TV show Ted Lasso during a challenging time in my life. Meeting the character, Ted, and others, has really helped to change my perspective on things. It is an inspiring TV show and I have loved it.
I ordered the book because I loved the series so much and the book complements it perfectly, adding theory and further information to the mindset that I have seen in action on the show.
I know that I will watch the show again and then read this book again.
Love it!
Profile Image for John Dommeck.
12 reviews1 follower
March 11, 2023
I normally don’t post a written review, but for Ted I’m making an exception. This book and this show is utterly full of positivism. It’s been a while since a story got me to laugh and cry at the same time and this book delves deeper into the theories Ted Lasso is based on and gives very usable quotes and guides for your life. Everyone can benefit from Ted and this book.
Profile Image for Lisa.
Author 3 books18 followers
March 23, 2023
I didn’t expect this book to back up its assertions about a fictional character with actual science, but it did exactly that. While it diminished the charm of the book at times, it gave the takeaways more weight and meaning. There is also an extensive list of references at the back, that I’m sure to dive into further. But first, I’m going to go watch another episode!
2 reviews
October 29, 2023
A positive book for a positive tv series.

Discovering why we connected with Ted was enlightening. The explanations offered by the many mental health professionals was a wonderful way to reinforce the exceptional writing and acting that we responded to but maybe without knowing why we responded the way we did.
Profile Image for Shelley.
2,493 reviews161 followers
July 5, 2024
A little oversimplified, and didn't get at all into toxic positivity (which I think S3 showed Ted struggled with) and turned Nate's story into just a second chances thing without talking about the mysogeny and other very troubling aspects of his character, but had some really great definitions and resources to discuss forgiveness without condoning behavior or letting someone back into your life.
95 reviews
August 28, 2024
Very short read but worthwhile in terms of tips on ways of dealing with your mental health. Yes Ted Lasso is a fantastic series and a lot of fun but this book highlights why the character of Ted and his positive approach to life is so admired. Some great strategies to deal with stressful situations which I for one will be trying out ! 👏
Profile Image for Johnny Haynes.
22 reviews
July 30, 2023
Although short and only relating to seasons 1&2 the book encompasses the psychology behind the show and the characters and offers background and context to the values and ethics being conveyed. A really good read
Profile Image for George Richard.
164 reviews3 followers
July 6, 2024
As deep as a book about a TV show can be.

I'm a Ted Lasso fan and I'm willing I came late to the show. I started watching it believe it or not for the football but after the first time through I was hooked on the emotions. Being a "weekend warrior
Profile Image for Jerry.
182 reviews
January 7, 2025
fun for a Ted Lasso fan

This is a good read for a Ted Lasso fan. Brings back some of the best moments on the show, and is a great reminder to be a better person, to check on others, and to forgive.
Profile Image for Rhianna Cullen.
1 review
August 28, 2025
A Great Quick Read

Sometimes I just want a short, inspiring self-help-flavored book to turn to - and this is it. If you’ve watched the show, it is an excellent and heart-warming follow up with some tangible concepts to bring away and possibly share with others in your circle.
Profile Image for Ross Cohen.
417 reviews15 followers
March 18, 2023
Fun, inspiring, light, and in spirit with its subject!
49 reviews1 follower
Read
May 15, 2023
Insight

This book provided good insight as to how Ted Lasso principles apply to life experiences. Loved all the references to books and psychology! A quick and easy read.
Profile Image for Linda.
60 reviews3 followers
February 19, 2024
Great inspiration for all but especially for lovers of Ted Lasso!
23 reviews
April 13, 2024
amazing book, easy to read, lovely advice written in a way that makes you feel so positive and good, ted lasso forever xx
Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews

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