SPORTS MINDSET
As promised, this Term we begin to go through the book “In Pursuit of Excellence” by Terry Orlik[1].
Excellence is a choice, he says, and you can tell by his list of ‘Do’s’ that the decision to be excellent at your chosen field or sport is not a one-time thing or something we do on an ad-hoc basis. For example, only when we are actually playing our game of sport or doing our training. Excellence is something we live and breathe every moment of our life so that when we train or enter the ‘sports arena’, we are already excellent, in our mindset, our attitude, our belief system and our skillset.
He lists the following important choices and foci:
- Choose to pursue your highest level of excellence;
- Choose to act in positive ways every day;
- Focus in positive ways every day;
- Focus in fully connected ways every day;
- Act on the positive lessons you are learning every day;
- Embrace the simplest joys in every part of your life, every day;
- Appreciate the people who love you and support you in your ongoing journey to personal and performance excellence.
In choosing excellence, it is always important to remember that its pursuit will be filled with challenges, victories, highlights, low-lights, simple joys, setbacks, personal growth and ongoing lessons learned.
How we deal with these fluctuations of life will make our mission to excellence a living reality – or not.
Remember, you are not alone. Your coaches are here to “help you achieve your goals and become the best you can possibly be. Your parents’ goal is to love and support you through the ups and downs of your personal journey to performance excellence. Your goal as an athlete or performer is to do everything you can possibly do to become the best you can possibly be.”
The key to achieving the excellence that we are talking about here, is the decision to take ACTION on your good intentions every day of your life, because at the end of the day, it is only ACTION that counts because it is only ACTION that will help you achieve your goals, whether in sport or everyday life.
Rev Grace
Sports Mindset Coach
