In 2021, Dan was invited to become the first ever Leader in Practice at the Oxford Foundry, the entrepreneurship institute founded at the university by Apple CEO Tim Cook. In particular, I looked back at my career in rugby and asked myself, “What exactly is it that you love about this game and want to take into the next chapter of your life? To me he is more of a concept – if you’d ask me to name a rugby player, his name would be one of the first to come to mind. A legendary All Black, global sports icon and Man of the Match in the 2015 Rugby World Cup final, discusses his intriguing and distinguished career. p>Read about how we’ll protect and use your data in our Privacy Notice.

Dan began to turn to his mental skills coach in good times as well as bad, to maintain his wellbeing, hold himself accountable and ensure he wasn’t becoming complacent. But retirement was a dirty word to me, conjuring up the kind of images no one needs in their head: Washed up.

Dan says the past can teach us, and help to establish, the core values and guideposts to continue and enhance that legacy. And so began a process that is still ongoing in my life, a process that has forced me to look inwardly in a way I’ve never had to before, that has proven challenging, frustrating, rewarding and left me full of gratitude. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Dan says it may mean saying no to things in your life that are going to potentially get in the way of achieving your main goals.

Please Note: By their very nature, all signed books will have been handled several times before they get to you. Dan says that if “The Art of Winning” is about anything, it’s about being able to win those battles with your mind.As he prepared to become the first captain to successfully defend the World Cup, McCaw set the standard of what a professional rugby player should be. Like anyone who devotes themselves completely to a discipline and becomes hooked on the buzz that success brings, I couldn’t imagine a life without rugby, and I had other things I wanted to achieve in the game. I’d dabbled in business during my sports career, but if that was where I saw a future, where would I fit in? The teamwork, team ethos - I wouldn’t want to be a player in an individual sport - the idea of no individual being bigger than the team. So, instead of “retiring” he began a process of repurposing – where he established his own set of values and beliefs.

I’d lost my head and all I could think was that I wasn’t going to be able to finish on my own terms. He has been crowned the record points scorer in Test rugby and the most capped All Blacks fly-half of all time. And, it’s about striving to get that little big better every day, without becoming overwhelmed by the outcome.

Suffering from constant injuries, I felt that my body was giving up on me, no longer able to cope with the demands of professional rugby. And when I failed the medical and learned I needed surgery on my neck, my immediate thought was, “it’s time to give up”. Never forgetting where you came from is about staying true to your key values, who you are deep down,” he says. By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file.