No Limits the will to succeed – Michael Phelps with Alan Abrahamson

So many people along the way, whatever it is you aspire to do, will tell you it can’t be done. But all it takes is imagination. You dream. You plan. You reach. There will be obstacles. There will be doubters. There will be mistakes. But with hard work, with belief, with confidence and trust in yourself and those around you, there are not limits - Michael Phelps

Michael is considered as one of the greatest American athletes that we have known today, especially after his unprecedented eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. In 2012 London Games, he continued to excel by surpassing his previous world swimming records.

This book somehow reveals Michael’s personal strategy to achieve these great successes in the pool. As sections of the book, he identifies the key attitudes and factors that influence his remarkable performance, namely: perseverance, belief, redemption, determination, confidence, courage, will and commitment.

Michael says that:

I just wanted to make sure I took every single moment in and every single swim in, every single moment with my teammates, so I would remember them. I don’t want to forget anything that happened.

BookFace: Battle Hymn of the tiger mother

The author, Amy Chua fearlessly concludes that a Chinese mother believes:

(1) Schoolwork always comes first; (2) An A-minus is a bad grade; (3) You children must be two years ahead of their classmates in maths; (4) You must never compliment your children in public: (5)  If your child ever disagrees with a teacher or coach, you must always take side of the teacher or coach; (6) The only activities your children should be permitted to do are those in which they can eventually win a medal; and (7) The medal must be gold.

She adds up that,

there’s another huge difference between raising dog raising and Chinese parenting. Dog raising is easy. It requires patience, love, and possibly an initial investment of training time. By contrast, Chinese parenting is one of the most difficult things I can think of. You have to be hated sometimes by someone you love and who hopefully loves you, and there’s jut no letting up, no point at which it suddenly becomes easy.