Today I am delighted to be part of the blog tour for The Way Of The Tortoise by Matt Little. This is a great enlightening read that can be used as a useful tool by anyone from any walk of life. It also includes a foreword by tennis star – Andy Murray.
Find out more in the blurb and my review below as well as a little about the author.

Blurb

Drawing on more than a decade’s experience working with former tennis World Number One Sir Andy Murray, The Way of the Tortoise introduces you to the benefits of the slow lane and reveals why it’s the only true path to a high-performance mindset.

Taking inspiration from Aesop’s well-known fable of the Hare and the Tortoise, internationally renowned trainer Matt Little recognizes that there is no fast path to success. By focusing on immediate results, we can gloss over process in the race to get ahead, skipping over the lessons and experiences that we all need to build solid foundations for our future achievements. Matt shows that taking the slow lane can not only help you reach your goals more effectively, it can make your successes more sustainable by increasing your motivation, energy and resilience. Packed full of examples from the highly adaptable worlds of sport and business, as well as Matt’s own remarkable career, The Way of the Tortoise reveals, through practical exercises and techniques, the essential strategies we can all use to achieve extraordinary results.

Review

The Way of The Tortoise is in 3 parts. Part 1 is The Way of The Tortoise so readers understand what that actually means in practical terms. Part 2 is called “Tortoise Goes To Boot Camp” where readers can delve deeper into the aspects mentioned in part 1. Then “Tortoise Boot Camp” where the book concludes. There are also practical exercises for people to try out and some questions they can answer to see what their outcome is and where they sit in this way of life etc.

The Way Of The Tortoise is a way of life. The book shows there really is something quite enlightening in that Aesop fable -The Hare and the Tortoise. Although The Way Of The Tortoise shows the life of getting to the top, although it of course has parts that talk about tennis and other sports, it is much more than that and has skills and advice for anyone from any walk of life. It inspires to follow and understand this way for anything and everything that anyone may embark on doing in their life. Everywhere, we see success as though it just happens over night, but the reality is, on the whole, it’s a lot of work for years before-hand. This book however reminds us why the slower lane is actually good and healthy.
The book is also about determination and resilience and showing that you may not make it into exactly what you want first off, but you can find different ways to do what you love. That’s what Matt Little has done and that is what makes this book, in my opinion inspirational. It shows a truth of how life can be and how it can be challenging and because of this truth and the fact everything didn’t just happen for Matt Little shows a groundedness that is often not shown.

The book focuses on skills anyone in any profession and in any sort of personal life can use and also shows the differences in traits between a hare and a tortoise way of life. It is spectacularly interesting working out if you’re a hare or a tortoise and which sort of tortoise you are. It turns out I am most likely to be a tortoise and this book is pretty validating. It also goes into different sorts of tortoise traits in people and what each type needs, which is very interesting. The book then also goes into how to become a “Winning Tortoise”, which I am sure many people will find helpful.

In part 2 – “Tortoise Goes To Bootcamp”, it shows ways to sharpen skills and how to get into the “Tortoise mindset” and why this way is sustainable and a way of winning. It talks about the importance of soft skills and goes more into the nuances of these as well as developing teams to be more like tortoises. It also goes into being able to work under pressure and dealing with failure. It also goes into how to align yourself well and to be connected with people, as well as drawing up future plans and strategising, managing conflict etc. It also talks about leading by taking action, however it also reminds people to take care of themselves and their loved ones. The book also goes into a 0-10 year plan and further years into the future and goes into detail about what seems like a slow game and why there are advantages to this.

Part 3 – The Tortoise Bootcamp offers a terrific conclusion and one that is positive and gives an element of hope. It also validates, as does the rest of the book, that way of life that is “The Way Of The Tortoise” that may be a life that is being lived, but may not have realised it is this particular way and that this way is actually okay enough.

It’s a very well structured book with many aspects that so many people will be able to implement into their own lives. The book is very interesting and has a lot of sense within it and is easy to follow. It’s also good for dipping in and out of.

About the Author

Matt Little has been working as a strength and conditioning coach in elite-level tennis for over fifteen years and has been an integral part of Sir Andy Murray’s team for twelve years, including during 2016 when Murray won Olympic gold, Wimbledon and became World Number One. He is an internationally recognized leader in his industry and in demand as a public speaker on a vast range of subjects, including youth development, and strength and conditioning.