We all have important influences in our lives. If we're lucky we have some very positive ones. No-one was born with amazing insights, so we all learn and stand on the shoulders of others who have gone before us or walk alongside us.
One key influence for me has been the words and writings of Dr James (Jim) Loehr. I came across his work when I bought his Mental Toughness Training cassette tape series in 1995. Really good stuff for its time. Many of the ideas came from his work as Sport Psychologist at the Nick Bolleteri Tennis Centre in Florida (Monica Seles, Andre Agassi etc trained there). What struck me most, which I hadn't expected, and I still use now, was the ideas around overcoming burnout. It was a very different approach to what the medical establishment were advocating until then. Amazing - and very powerful concepts even now.
What to read of his? Apart from the above, he co-wrote an excellent book, The Power of Full Engagement (called 'On Form' in the UK), which is now available used on Amazon.co.uk for under a fiver. Seminal stuff about attaining performance and balance in the 21st Century. Recommended reading. What we've done at Business Athlete is to lead the market on creating serious medium-term coaching programmes that help people to become 'Business Athletes', able to understand and apply the principles of developing performance and balance, often using the sporting metaphor in specific ways, so people can learn how to coach themselves and others to long-term high performance and satisfaction. Enjoy reading Jim's work.