Key Themes:
Life Skills, Mental Health, Growth Mindset, Confidence, Body Image
Summary:
Mental Fitness by Ant Middleton is an thought provoking and motivating book. In it, Middleton explains the 15 principles that he lives by to keep his mind and body strong. In this honest book, he outlines his own issues regarding body confidence, how he’s embraced and dealt with failure and how he’s created an unshakeable inner confidence and strength. Using stories from his time in the Forces, his home life and media career, he shares a lifetime of hard-won wisdom. The book outlines what it takes to live with and achieve optimum mental fitness.
Content Overview:
Middleton recognises that the mind and body are often talked about as separate entities, but it’s only when they work in harmony that a person can reach their full potential. His 15 principles cover all aspects of his life and are his ‘bible’ for how he handles both his work and personal commitments. A lot of the principles equate to the manual of being a ‘good person’ but there are still a significant number of ‘ah ha’ moments and different takes on the subject that you could apply to your own situation.
The principles are:
- Be the ultimate soldier
- Build a solid foundation of inner confidence
- Be authentic
- Live your life right
- Centre your life around your family
- Embrace failure
- Don’t tell lies
- Stop worrying about the future
- Learn to love your body
- Make strong connections
- Control your emotions, don’t let them control you
- Hard times don’t last, hard men do
- You can break through the pain barrier
- Learn to say no
- Look after your beard
Middleton’s honesty shines through his writing. He explains a number of the situations that he’s faced and how he could have dealt with them better. At no point, does he sugar coat his behaviours which is rare and refreshing. His stories evoke many emotions and I dare you not to be moved at the section on losing his Mum. The power of this book is the intertwining of storytelling with the teaching of his rules and how to apply them. Middleton is clearly passionate about seeing people live lives of purpose and go beyond their limits. Motivational and a call to action, Mental Fitness is a great readi for anyone who wants to push themselves further, control their body and mind and improve their performance.
Rating: 9/10
Middleton lives his truth. He doesn’t shy away from using his own personal history to showcase how he’s developed and successfully implemented his mental fitness rules. His no excuses mantra and his openness to share his own story and struggles makes this a great read. Highly recommended.
Readability: 9/10
Middleton’s book is very readable. He cleverly showcases his life rules with practical examples of how he’s utilised it in his own life. This book is broken down into bitesize chunks and an easy read with great ‘aha moments’ that you can apply to your own life. Relevant to all ages.
Does what it says on the tin: 9/10
Definitely! Middleton is the poster boy for mental fitness and practices what he preaches.
