Mindset, Vision, Passion: Penn State Senior Kacper Garnczarek Releases New Book

Mindset, Vision, Passion

For most Elite gymnasts, competing in college gymnastics, making an Olympic team, are some of their biggest goals. For Polish gymnast Kacper Garnczarek that all remains true. However, there’s another goal he’s been striving for throughout his college career: writing an inspirational book. 

“My sophomore year, I was thinking, I always wanted to write a book,” said the Penn State senior. “Why wouldn’t I start it now? So my sophomore year, I put out some plans and started doing some little things. And then a couple months ago, I got my Polish copy.”

The book, titled Today’s Pleasure or Tomorrow’s Success is split into three different sections: focus, how to find happiness, and goal-setting. All three parts exemplify how to motivate and inspire people in different ways. The book will help the reader discover how to regain focus, find real joy, and turn dreams into a plan.

“Let this book not be the end, but just the beginning of something new,” Garnczarek wrote in the book. “It’s not just this book that’s going to change your life, but this will help you to guide you to something.”

Garnczarek also references 16 other books in his writing. Reading his book should be able to propel readers to achieve something beyond themselves. Garnczarek’s writing does not take any pieces from his personal career. He draws inspiration from what other high achieving people have experienced. Mindset, Vision, and Passion are the central goals surrounding the book, also known as MVP. 

When is came to the writing process, Garnczarek had a team surrounding him. He first wrote in Polish, and sent the book off to a former Polish teacher who made necessary adjustments.

“I actually gave it to my Polish teacher, because I wrote it in Polish originally,” Garnczarek said. “I wrote it in Polish. I gave it to my teacher. She restructured everything!  I wrote it again. I also contacted my friend who’s a graphic designer, and he helped me format it well. We chose the cover picture for it and then in Poland, I fully self-published everything. In the U.S., I publish it through Amazon. So it’s also self publishing.” 

Being both a collegiate and Elite gymnast requires a level of determination and drive. Between practice, workouts, classes, there is minimal time to rest. Many of Garnczarek’s teammates spend their free time resting and preparing to relive their busy days once again, but Garnczarek’s wanted a different hobby to occupy his time, and something that would challenge him. He did not grow up as the greatest writer, but strived to become better with each word he wrote. He searched for a good distraction, and wanted to spend his free time with something useful rather than scrolling his phone. 

“I was distracted by a really good thing,” Garnczarek said with a smile. “If I had an hour a day, I wasn’t gonna use it to scroll my phone. It took me forever to write. Two years is a long time. I think it’s a really good thing for athletes, for parents and for people who just want a little bit more from life.”

Garnczarek’s smile beamed from ear-to-ear when talking about his project. It is evident how proud he is to take on this challenge and step out of his comfort zone. His writing inspired himself, and his goal is that it inspires others in the same way. 

“My goal was to write this book. While I was writing this book, I became that person to actually inspire people. I hope I’ll do it because that’s the goal,” Garnczarek said. 

A scale is on the cover of the book. One side is holding a phone, and the other is holding a trophy, showcasing that everyone has the option to choose success. His teammates would say to him “I would love to write a book, but I never have time.” But Garnczarek took advantage of every free moment no matter where he was, if he had a free hour it would be spent writing.

Inspired By A Legend 

Garnczarek didn’t have much intention of moving to the U.S. for college gymnastics. In 2020, he met former Penn State gymnast Stephen Nedoroscik at a World Cup in Australia where the idea to move Penn State originated. Garnczarek refers to Nedoroscik as his inspiration and after the Covid pandemic hit the world, he was left with more time on his hands, more time to apply to Penn State. Arriving in the U.S. was a different world. 

“When I got to the US, my English was so bad, like, so bad,” Garnczarek joked. “Even worse than now. At least you can understand me!”

College gymnastics taught him how to compete. He was always capable of big skills, but struggled to build consistency. 

“Throughout these four years, I definitely became much more consistent in gymnastics, and that led me to maybe slow down a little bit of the process of putting higher skills and more difficulty and focusing more on execution and actually throwing six good routines,” Garnczarek said.

Garnczarek has made big accomplishments throughout his career, but an appearance at the Olympic Games in LA remains top of mind. Last year at the Cottbus World Cup, he had a breakthrough moment on the world stage. Garnczarek grew up attending this meet with his family as it’s not far from his home in Poland. 

 “Last year was really special, because I went to the World Cup, and I made three finals there,” Garnczarek said. “That was always my dream to be in the final, especially in Cottbus, because it’s really close to Poland. When I was younger I would go there with my family and my coach to watch all the gymnasts in the finals and last year, it was finally the year when I got to the top eight.”

Garnczarek loves representing Poland on the international stage, and hopes to apply the lessons he learned in NCAA gymnastics to his performances in Elite gymnastics. He plans to use the money made from his book and start a recreational gymnastics club in Poland and inspire kids to find joy in sports. 

“I want to add a little bit more of this mindset mentality to gymnastics, because that’s also something I learned here at Penn State,” Garnczarek said about the goal of his book. “A lot of my routines were mostly just my mindset, because sometimes I was really tired, and somehow I was hitting all my routines. I see it that sometimes when you’re physically ready, but mentally you’re not ready, you’re not going to hit your routine.”

Garnczarek has also loved seeing mental health emphasized in the sport and hopes his book can continue to increase the conversation and the importance of mental health awareness in gymnastics. Today’s Pleasure or Tomorrow’s Success is Garnczarek’s launchpad to many more projects surrounding mindset in the future.

“One chapter ends with college gymnastics, and another begins with the application of this book,” Garnczarek said. “This book is just the beginning of something big that I haven’t planned. There will be many more projects going on around mindset and vision.”

You can order Today’s Pleasure or Tomorrow’s Success on Amazon.

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