l Brick and bestselling fitness author and journalist Scott Douglas, the "dumb jock" stereotype is way out of bounds. Modern advances in sports psychology confirm what fans have known all along: No world-class athlete--whether an Olympic runner, swimmer, or cyclist, or a pro basketball, baseball, or football player--gets to the top without a strong mental game. Champion competitors have unique ways of taking stock of a situation, self-motivating, and even thinking about time. Cutting-edge discoveries (including those by Dr. Brick) reveal exactly how they do it--and how we can, too.

You don't need to be facing a literal hurdle to use elite athletes' tool kits of strategies: They can help you stick the landing at a job interview or get your thesis to the finish line. Brick and Douglas pair groundbreaking science with a highlight reel of instructive moments from across the sports realm to show how legendary marathoner Meb Keflezighi runs on self-talk and how making if-then plans at practice buoyed Michael Phelps to a gold medal at the Olympics. Wherever you are in your own ambitions--from the "middle muddle" to the final stretch--The Genius of Athletes will put you right in the zone.