Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Episodes about this book
11 episodesThe Way of Excellence, Interview with Brad Stulberg
Brad Stulberg credits Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance with changing his life when he read it at age 20 at the University of Michigan. He explains the book's central concept of "quality"—as defined by author Robert Persig—as the unified state when a person and their act become inseparable through deep care, and says this idea became foundational to his own philosophy of excellence.
Six Books That Changed How We Think About Performance
Everyday Excellence with Brad Stulberg | EP44
Both Rebecca Rusch and Brad Stulberg describe the book as deeply influential. Stulberg explains that its central concept—"quality," a fusion between actor and act—became his guiding philosophy at age 20–21 and directly inspired The Way of Excellence, which he sees as passing on the torch Persig lit. Rusch recalls listening to it during a solo overnight bike race as a spiritual experience. Stulberg says he has read it roughly eight times.
390 - The Way Of Excellence With Brad Stulberg
Brad Stulberg describes this book as foundational since he first read it at age 20, citing its concept of 'quality with a capital Q'—deep care and intimacy that narrows the distance between a person and their work. He quotes its line about Zen on mountaintops. Host Matt Dixon adds that he also read it during a dark chapter of his athletic career and found it grounding.
Achieving excellence, with Brad Stulberg
Brad Stulberg describes how Robert Persig's book influenced his own philosophy. He explains Persig's central concept of "quality" as the relationship between an actor and their act—distinct from either the actor or the act alone—and Persig's 1974 argument that modern life increasingly alienates people from direct experience of what they care about, a concern Stulberg notes would only be amplified today by social media.
Brad Stulberg Talks About Sustainable Excellence, Mastery, and Doing What Truly Matters
Mike Vardy raises Pirsig's work because Brad Stulberg mentions it in 'The Way of Excellence.' Both speakers acknowledge Pirsig's books as difficult reads and discuss his central obsession with quality as context for Stulberg's argument about the limits of quantitative metrics and the importance of qualitative judgment in pursuing excellence.
#466 Brad Stulberg, Author of The Way of Excellence, on Redefining Excellence, the Mindset of High Performance, Building Effective Habits, and Finding Meaning in it All
Brad Stulberg describes reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance in his undergraduate junior year as the book that 'completely changed my life' and set him on a writing path. He explains the book's central concept of 'quality' (capitalized by Persig) as the intimate connection between a person and their act, which became the spiritual foundation for Stulberg's own concept of excellence.
EP 469- Author Brad Stulberg on What ‘Excellence’ Means for Amateur Chess Players
Brad Stulberg describes how this book captivated him as an undergraduate at the University of Michigan and says its heart is about orienting around excellence. He credits it as a formative and decades-long influence on his thinking about what it means to live a good life, framing it as a root of The Way of Excellence. The host adds that it also resonated with him at the same point in life.
RWH065: Joyful Excellence w/ Brad Stulberg
Discussed at length as the philosophical foundation of Brad Stulberg's work. Brad describes reading it over fifteen times since college. The conversation examines Pirsig's concept of "quality"—deep caring that dissolves the distance between a person and their activity—as the origin of Brad's theory of excellence and its opposite, alienation. William Green notes Pirsig's influence on investors like Nick Sleep, and both host and guest quote and discuss key passages.
Excellence Without Burnout: Brad Stulberg on Escaping Hustle Culture
Brad Stulberg describes this book as enormously influential, citing Robert Persig's concept of "quality"—a state of deep caring that makes subject and act inseparable—as the basis for his own idea of intimacy with craft. He says he has read it about ten times and finds new meaning each time. He also notes that Persig's own life illustrated the costs of obsession, as the narrator neglects his son while fixated on the concept of quality.
Reclaim Your Excellence: The Path To A Meaningful & Joyous Life w/ Brad Stulberg
Brad Stulberg names Robert Persig's book as a key intellectual source for The Way of Excellence, situating himself in a lineage of humanist thinkers and noting that Persig's work is pervasive throughout his new book.
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All summaries are AI generated based on the original transcript.