5 min read ⌚ 

A Take-No-Prisoners Guide to Overcoming Obstacles and Achieving Peak Performance in Life

You read this title and probably asked yourself: what does an ancient state have to do with the modern world?

Well, the image of the strong, persistent and the motivated Spartan soldier can be used as an inspiration for us to get out of our comfort zones and create more than just mediocre lives!

How?

Read on to find out.

Who Should Read “Spartan Up!” and Why?

“Spartan Up!” shows you why you need to become stronger in order to lead a meaningful life.

It allows you to see that the purpose of your life depends solely on you and that you have to push yourself if you want to create meaning.

We recommend it to all young people whose lives are full of distractions, as well as to all the people that feel as if their lives have lost meaning and are looking for a sense of purpose.

About Joe de Sena

Joe De Sena is a child of a family that lost all of the possessions in the market crash of the 80s and has worked from rock bottom all the way to the top.

He is a co-founder and CEO of Spartan race.

“Spartan Up! Summary”

You have heard about Sparta, right?

It has been the strongest military force, among all of the ancient Greek states, known for the mentality and strength of its soldiers.

What we want for you to achieve is to become a Spartan yourself in this modern world.

People need to become strong more than ever.

Life has never been as comfortable as it is nowadays, which makes our everyday predictable and boring.

The pressures to make a living make us work jobs we do not enjoy doing, and the fast lifestyle makes us forget about our passions and fill our heads with excuses why we cannot do what we really want to do.

To live a fulfilling life, you have to change something in your life!

You may say that you have tried but never did make the actual change.

Well, that is because whenever we decide to take control over our lives and change our habits for better ones, we feel an instant rush of motivation.

The problem is that this motivation lasts for only a few moments, a few days, and after that, it wears off.

An even bigger issue that “kills” the remaining of our motivation, is our need for immediate results.

If we do not see the results at the moment – we give up.

Also, we trade the results we want, but we need to wait for, for much smaller ones in the present.

However, you need to realize that instant gratification is a trap and should be avoided.

Avoiding it is a significant aspect of personal development and creating a strong and persistent mentality.

Next, you have to take the reigns of your own life.

You cannot control the external events and pressures which make life either easy or challenging, but you do control how fulfilling your life is.

Not only you control it – but fulfillment depends solely on you.

So, keep your dreams high, and prepare to achieve them.

On your road to your dreams, strengthen your endurance. You will need it!

The best way to persist in hard times is to prepare for them.

First, plan your goals and the steps you are going to take towards them. Also, create a worst case scenario which will help you put things into perspective, and shield you from disappointment.

When you start following your plan keep a journal of successes and failures, where you will record your achievements and applaud yourself, or where you will study your failures and see their roots.

So far we talked about goals and how you can achieve them, although “Spartan Up” focuses on achieving a strong physique.

However, the path you need to follow is the same.

Set a goal, plan for it and log in your successes and failures on the way.

Finally, do not worry about all the things you cannot control, and instead of wasting your time and energy on complaining, act in the areas you can change.

Key Lessons from “Spartan Up”

1.      Prove How Fit You Are
2.      Delay Gratification
3.      Find Your Own Happiness and Purpose

Prove How Fit You Are

The author of “Spartan Up!”, Joe de Sena has created the Spartan Race to challenge the participants of it and make them tough.

Through his own experience, he concluded that participating in such races makes him happier and healthier, and most importantly pushes him to delay gratification, which he considers very significant.

Delay Gratification

Maybe you have heard of the marshmallow experiment, which was first conducted by Walter Mischel.

She studied kids, their behaviors, and abilities to resist a marshmallow, and followed their lives later on.

The conclusion of the experiment, after all the kids have grown up, was that those who were able to delay gratification ended up living much better lives.

Find Your Own Happiness and Purpose

Life can either be easy or hard and many times that will not be something that depends on you.

However, how fulfilling your life is is solely your responsibility.

So make sure that you take up challenges and force yourself to do things that will enrich your life experience.

Do not complicate things, and make a simple plan that will yield big results.

Like this summary? We’d Like to invite you to download our free 12 min app, for more amazing summaries and audiobooks.

“Spartan Up” Quotes

Our Critical Review

Although this book seems to promise a lot, it is more constructed as beginners manual for those who are just finding out that their lives need to have meaning, and that it is up to them to create it.

Although we have to note that it seems that the book is a way that the author promotes his races and business. However, that does not mean that the scientific facts he includes in it are untrue – it just means that for the more practical approach to changing your life, you will need to look elsewhere.

Emir Zecovic

Emir is the Head of Marketing at 12min. In his spare time, he loves to meditate and play soccer.