How to Think Like Muhammad Ali

The Paradox of Greatness and the Power of Mental Toughness

Muhammad Ali is the most famous boxer in the history of the sport. Three-times World Champion and the thorn in the side of Vietnam-era America he became a moral beacon at a time when America was on its knees. But, for all his pronouncements, Ali rarely revealed the psychological training that went into his preparations before the fights. For the first time, Kevin Mitchell, one of the pre-eminent boxing writers of his generation, will get behind the public persona to reveal the psychological advance that Ali was able to take to the ring. Just as Dr Steve Peters has shown in the bestselling The Chimp Paradox how having a psychological advantage can pay dividends in the sporting arena as well as in everyday life, so Mitchell will show, for example, how the lessons of visualization – the art of visualizing the goal you want to achieve can be applied at a boxing match and in the boardroom. He will also show how the mental preparation that went into winning the heavyweight title three times are essential skills that can be applied to any walk of professional life.  From the classic tactic of the rope-a-dope that he applied to the infamous ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ against the favourite George Foreman, to the visualization techniques he applied to every fight – by having the Round number he was going to knock his opponent out in written on his taped hands – Mitchell will reveal how Ali can teach something to us all and how his lessons can be applied to business and personal life equally.