- A Discipline for Development
- Who this is for
- How to Use this Guide
- What this Guide is for (and is not)
- Ishi: Will, Determined Intent
- A World That Pulls Us Off Course
- Why Personal Development Fails
- The Spiral as a Discipline
- Decide - Choose and Constrain
- Forge - Practice Deliberately
- Persist - Endure Friction
- Causes of Failure
- Reflect - Recalibrate
- Temporal Horizons
- Using Ishi for Personal Excellence
- Limits and Integrity
- What Comes Next
The Ishi Spiral
A Foundational Guide
The Ishi Spiral is a discipline, not a framework. It is for people who want to decide once, practice without negotiation, endure friction and reflect without excuses.
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About
About the Book
Most guidance on personal development focuses on motivation, optimisation or willpower. It assumes the problem is effort.
This guide starts from a different place. The problem is not effort. It is unexamined intent.
The Ishi Spiral introduces a simple discipline for making deliberate decisions, practicing with structure, enduring friction without theatrics, and reflecting without self-deception. It is not a framework to follow once. It is a cycle to return to.
The ideas in this book draw from Japanese concepts such as ishi (determined intent), shugyō (disciplined practice), gaman (endurance), and hansei (reflection), translated into plain language and practical use. No prior knowledge is required.
This guide is for people who value consistency over intensity, clarity over motivation, and progress over novelty. It is especially useful for those who have tried many approaches and found that most fail not because they are hard, but because they are fragile.
The book is meant to be used, not completed. One decision at a time. One cycle at a time. Revisited as conditions change.
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Author
About the Author
Gareth Holebrook
Gareth Holebrook is a coach and practitioner working at the intersection of leadership, deliberate practice, and resilience. He has spent decades helping individuals and teams make better decisions under pressure and sustain progress over long horizons.
Alongside his professional work, Gareth has completed multiple Ironman-distance endurance events, using them as a proving ground for disciplined intent, endurance, and reflection. His thinking is shaped less by motivation or optimisation, and more by what survives contact with fatigue, friction, and time.
The Ishi Spiral draws on this lived experience, combining practical coaching insight with concepts rooted in Japanese philosophy. Gareth is currently working on a forthcoming book, Ishi: The Discipline of Determined Intent, which expands these ideas further.
He regularly posts about these ideas on Substack. https://substack.com/@garethholebrook
Contents
Table of Contents
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