The Practice of Groundedness: A Transformative Path to Success That Feeds, Not Crushes, Your Soul
Brad Stulberg writes for the kind of high achiever who keeps hitting goals and still feels hollow, arguing that the fix is not more discipline but a more solid base. He lays out six principles of groundedness, including acceptance, presence, patience, vulnerability, deep community, and moving the body. Stulberg draws on Stoic and Buddhist philosophy, modern psychology, and interviews with athletes and executives to show how each principle plays out in practice. He is candid about his own struggle with obsessive-compulsive disorder and the way relentless striving nearly broke him. The book reads as a corrective to hustle culture without giving up on ambition.
Also by Brad Stulberg
All works by Brad Stulberg →
What you might want to know about The Practice of Groundedness: A Transformative Path to Success That Feeds, Not Crushes, Your Soul
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
A performance coach on how to build a durable inner foundation instead of chasing the next win.
Yes. Newport has hosted Stulberg on his podcast and cited this book on his blog as an important companion piece to his own critique of what he calls pseudo-productivity.
No. Stulberg is a performance coach and still values striving, but he argues that lasting success requires a foundation of acceptance, community, and presence that hustle culture ignores.
The Practice of Groundedness: A Transformative Path to Success That Feeds, Not Crushes, Your Soul was written by Brad Stulberg, published in 2021 by Portfolio.
The Practice of Groundedness: A Transformative Path to Success That Feeds, Not Crushes, Your Soul is 256 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, The Practice of Groundedness: A Transformative Path to Success That Feeds, Not Crushes, Your Soul takes most readers 4 to 6 hours to finish.
The Practice of Groundedness: A Transformative Path to Success That Feeds, Not Crushes, Your Soul is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.