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  • Becoming the 0.1%

  • Thirty-Four Lessons from the Diary of a Royal Marines Commando Recruit
  • By: Gareth Timmins
  • Narrated by: Ben Heathcote, Gareth Timmins
  • Length: 8 hrs and 24 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (637 ratings)
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Becoming the 0.1% cover art

Becoming the 0.1%

By: Gareth Timmins
Narrated by: Ben Heathcote,Gareth Timmins
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Summary

Historical recruitment campaigns to become a Royal Marines Commando drew on a harrowing but intriguing narrative: 99.9% Need Not Apply. In 2005, only one in a thousand applications for the Royal Marines were successful in reaching the end of training, earning the Coveted Green Beret - a world-renowned symbol of excellence.

Becoming the 0.1% is the first-ever diary account of this training regime, charting the odds-stacked journey of Gareth Timmins, a 20-year-old recruit at the time, and providing a psychological framework for understanding how he was able to cultivate the mental strength and resilience needed to push through to success.

Each week of training is accompanied by lessons on his short-comings and growth to peak performance. It uses real-life and often terrifying experiences to describe to the reader the edge you need to cultivate a 0.1% mindset and succeed in life and work, by learning how to:

  • Visualise achievements
  • Combat fatigue and burnout
  • Stay motivated by not losing sight of the end goal
  • Eradicate complacency and achieve mastery
  • Redefine expectation and regulate disappointment
  • Live without convenience
  • Thrive under pressure
  • Break down self-imposed limitations
  • Be held accountable to others
©2021 Gareth Timmins (P)2021 Hodder & Stoughton Ltd

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  • 22-06-22

A bit dull

I was expecting something interesting but just about giving up. I know it’s beyond tough to go through this training but being told over and over and over how tough it is then to be told there were visits from “inspiring” snipers and soldiers without any of the juicy stuff is just getting boring. The writer probably can’t reveal the juicy sniper bits but then it just reverts to how tough everything is again. I’ll give it another go but repetitive and a bit dull so far! Sorry.

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Great Book

A very interesting insight into the Royal Marines training course. A great listen. Definitely Recommend if ur interested in joining the RM

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1 person found this helpful

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Boring as . . .

Very dull. The author makes it sound like he’s reading platoon commanders orders. Whinges a lot. I hate going on exercise, it’s Monday morning I’m so depressed boo hoo hoo. I’ve just finished it and nothing has stuck no lessons have been learned. In fact it felt like a test of endurance seeing if I could make it to the end credits. Oops, I tell a lie, during circuit training the other night while desperately seeking some inner motivation to keep grinding out whatever exercise I was doing, this book came to mind and helped me become the 0.1%. Well, for that night anyway.

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1 person found this helpful

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Influential

Life lessons to use in many stages of your career and general day living, I will be listening again. Thanks for sharing your experiences and knowledge Gareth.

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Great title.

Definitely an interesting adventure with a lot of lessons to take. The mindset it portraits can make you look at life with a different look.

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Inspiring

This book is filled with so many lessons I wish I had learned when I was younger, and the training processes are so interesing. I have always had a fascination with the armed forces and Marines, and I have considered joining for a long time. This book has inspired me even more to prepare for it, and gives a lot of insight into the different points of training and tests involved. There are lots of life lessons that can be applied to any field of work and goal you set yourself.

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Great listen.

Engaging and entertaining. Well written and definitely worth listening to. Clear lessons for day to day life.

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0.1 % of books

Great book to. I enjoyed it very much. He really manages to paint a picture of the reality of what it must have really been like to have gone through the training

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The diary of his journey to being a Royal Marine

I have read a lot of books on discipline recently and they were written by American authors the likes of Jocko Willink, David Goggins & Cameron Hanes…

Therefore I wanted to read a book based on discipline with the author being from the UK so a book written by Royal Marine sat well with me.

Gareth brings some amazing wit to the table and creates some amazing insights into how to become disciplined and be consistent.

The book entails his journey from being an undisciplined, drug using, rugby player just about getting by when he decides to join the Royal Marines and leave his life of going out drinking behind.

Some of the lessons taught from his stories on passing selection was incredible. The grit and determination to get through the training is inspiring to myself and I am sure other readers.

At times there was parts of the book I found I’ve heard a million times before in other books like these but most of the time it was his story telling that keeps you engaged.

Probably one of the most relatable books I’ve read recently as listening to the banter he brings with the book is funny too.

There is some very dark moments when he talks about some friends who he trained with all through out the book and serving in Afghanistan with him end up being killed out there and it really puts into perspective the danger our lads put themselves in to defend us.

Overall I found the book great and Gareth’s way of delivering the story of him passing Royal Marine selection was fascinating. In general the way of life a Royal Marine lives is leading by example and it’s an example I can try and model my life around to become a better person too. I really enjoyed this piece and will look to read more books from lads in the forces from the UK.

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Brutal insight into the elite

The honesty and authenticity stood out, couldn’t help but feel the emotion towards the end and a real lesson in resilience that can be applied to the rest of the 99.9%.

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