Why people recommend it
Chasing Excellence by Ben Bergeron is a self-improvement and fitness book that explores the mindsets, habits, and rigorous frameworks required to achieve elite performance in athletics and daily life. Robert Glazer, Chris Williamson, George MacGill, and David Epstein discussed the book on Modern Wisdom, frequently highlighting its structural insights and sharing specific anecdotes from its pages. Williamson and other guests referenced a notable story about elite athlete Matt Fraser meticulously memorizing entire engineering textbooks to illustrate the extreme dedication and obsessive work ethic characteristic of top performers. Hosts and guests alike praised the publication for offering valuable mental models, noting how Bergeron successfully integrated intense professional athletic demands with a balanced family life. Several speakers recommended the title to listeners seeking practical guidance on personal growth, mindset transformation, and sustainable high performance, emphasizing that the lessons extend far beyond the realm of CrossFit into general life mastery and goal attainment.
Who recommended it
- Chris Williamson Discussed
- Tom Segura Discussed
- Lauren Johnson Discussed
- John Roa Discussed
- Robert Glazer Recommended
- George MacGill Recommended
- David Epstein Recommended
Chris Williamson — 6 mentions
“So Matt in Ben Burgron's book Chasing Excellence, he tells this story about Matt was an engineering student, I think, and he would make himself wrote, memorize entire textbooks, word for word”
“and there's a story in chasing Excellence by Ben beron where he says I uh he would wrote memorize his entire engineering textbook page for page”
“is commitment the foundation that's the first chapter from chasing excellence is that still kind of the first tenet that people need to take on board”
“If you read Ben Bergeron's book chasing excellence at the bottom he's got character and then above that he's got process which is making the most of minutes”
“it was sure it was something that I'd seen in chasing excellence by Ben Bergeron and a couple of other books and hadn't really put it together but it was incredibly succinctly and brutally delivered delivered to remind me just how many mistakes are sometimes make in atomic habits”
“members run again in chasing excellence touches on this a lot where he says that the people who love the process will always beat the people who have to force themselves and use willpower to get up and do it”
Tom Segura — 1 mention
“there's a story in chasing Excellence by Ben beron where he says I uh he would wrote memorize his entire engineering textbook page for page”
Lauren Johnson — 1 mention
“leaning into discomfort as if you invited it through the door is a term from ben bergeron's chasing excellence”
John Roa — 1 mention
“so here's something that i learned from ben bergeron's chasing excellence which is that when we look back on a lot of the experiences that we have in life especially to do with sort of business and discomfort and stuff like that we don't ever look back and find any glory or really any interest”
Robert Glazer — 1 mention
“uh he has a podcast called chasing excellence which he's named after his book and um i would highly you and him sing very much from the same hymn sheet”
George MacGill — 1 mention
“I remember seeing an interview with her as a part of Ben Bergeron's chasing excellence fantastic book highly recommended if you've not read it”
David Epstein — 1 mention
“there's a story in chasing excellence by Ben Bergeron where he says that Matt wouldn't let himself leave”
Mentioned on the show without a named speaker — 2
“and I would suggest listening to chasing excellence with Ben Bergeron I think he has a fantastic structure for the way that he pieces his daytime work running CrossFit viewing or CF any now as CF North New England and his family life together”
“I remember seeing an interview with her as a part of Ben Bergeron's chasing excellence Fantastic book”
Also mentioned in the same episodes
- Atomic Habits
- Deep Work
- A Practical Way to Get Rich . . . and Die Trying
- Billion Dollar Loser
- Die with Zero
- Elevate
Other mentions (4: passing, ad reads, own books)
“it's like i wrote a book called chasing excellence and you ask what is excellence”
“and you know when i wrote the book i don't even know when i guess it was 2016 and that's five years ago there's a lot of things in the book that i'm like i i i'm not like damn i wish i didn't write that”
“there's a story i think it's in chasing excellence of katrin”
“chasing excellence the book will be linked below along with ben and patrick's fantastic podcast”