The Wheel of Excellence(Orlick model)

Something to share abt some of my readings on Sports psychology. Terry Orlick is a very well known sports psychologist. In 1990, he came up with a performance model called the 'Wheel of excellence'. This model is produced from various studies and interviews with top athletes and top business people. It is called the Wheel because it is made up of seven elements which form a shape of a wheel.

There are seven critical elements of excellence that guide your pursuit of personal excellence: commitment, focused connection, confidence, positive images, mental readiness, distraction control and ongoing learning. These elements which make up the wheel of excellence, provide the mental keys that empower you to excel and free you to become the person and performer you really want to be.

Commitment

The first element of excellence is your commitment to:

• pursue your dream or make a meaningful contribution;


• be the best you can be;


• do everything required to excel;


• develop the mental,physical and technical links to excellence;


• set clear personal goals and relentlessly pursue them;


• persist through the obstacles -- even when they appear insurmountable; and


• continue to learn, nurture your passion and find joy in your pursuit.

Commitment is the first essential ingredient. With commitment, you do almost anything; without it, high-level goals are virtually impossible to attain. Excellence is inspired by having, or creating a positive vision of where you want to go. To excel at any challenging pursuit, you must have, or develop, a reason for doing it, a passion for your pursuit. High levels of commitment grow naturally out of positive visions and love for or joy in what you are doing -- but there are also tough parts, and not everything is joyful. Commitment grows from embracing special moments, giving yourself to your mission and loving the experience of ongoing personal growth. If you like what you are doing( or at least parts of it) and are able to remain committed to it, you will become very competent at it. To be truly great, you usually have to love what you are doing.

For most top athletes, their pursuits becomes their passion and drives their lives, at least for certain extended periods of time. Being committed doesnt mean to give all that you can to your pursuit. There are other very important considerations. While you are committed pushing yourself, you have to be committed to giving yourself enough rest and recovery, and commit yourself to constant learning.

Often during difficult times, you might find that the obstacles are too great to overcome, you are right even when you are wrong. At times like this, remember your vision or dream, to continue to find passion in parts of your pursuits and to fully embrace the prcess of ongoing learning.

to be continued