In this recent edition of "In Pursuit of Execllence", Dr. Terry Orlick presents his formula for just that - pursuit of excellence. He relies heavily on his experience with world class athletic achievers, but more importantly extrapolates a guide for all seeking their apex. I found myself many times in this reading reflecting on my own life parallels of focusing on goals, positive reinforcement, controlling distractions etc, to achieve what at some times seemed unachievable life goals. This is however, not a book to be taken lightley. Orlick guides you through others challenges, demonstrates how focus and re-focusing when coupled with well applied action leads to success. You have to do it yourself. In a world of distractions, Orlick's guide is a much needed resource. Executives, athletes, leaders of all sorts and the great doers of our modern world could all benefit from reading this guidebook to achieve their greatest success. A must read. ( )

Becoming the best that you can be and helping others to be the best that they can be is the theme throughout this interesting book. Discovering excellence, focusing for excellence, creating excellence and living excellence are the chapter titles, and within each chapter heading are the components of how to achieve each point of excellence. An example under Living Excellence are such chapters as Confident and Composed, Balanced, Consistent, Coach-able, Team-Oriented, Self-directed, Adaptable, and Positive Transitions. Interested yet?? Hopefully, you will be, because regardless of how you view excellence, all of us want to be better at life. In the appendix is a wonderful, truth-telling list of Questions and in the end "how will you attain these goals"?

This is a book for those who truly want to excel and are not satisfied with 'good enough". Many try to better themselves but without a plan and a goal outlined, they stumble and forget the focus. Both practical
and inspirational, IN PURSUIT OF EXCELLENCE is a guide to daily living and motivation as well as a road map to long-term achievement.

This would be a wonderful gift to any graduate, anybody striving to achieve and for everyone's library for continual reading as a reminder of the next step to happiness in the pursuit of their goals. ( )

Terry Orlick's advice for winning and having a positive outlook reminds me of my running coach back in high school. I think In Pursuit of Excellence could've been his bible. Naturally, as a 17-year-old I didn't appreciate the lessons nearly enough. We spent what seemed like an unnecessary amount of time drawing up race plans—actually writing them down in a notebook—and doing visualization drills. I now see the value, but back then all I wanted to do was run.

In this book, the author has a tried-and-true formula for success, but since most of us have never competed on the level of the audience he's speaking to, I'm guessing all the planning, visualizing, self-evaluations and pep talks he preaches won't make much sense to the casual reader. Terry Orlick is straightforward and completely un-cynical with his methods. I admire him for that. And he gets results. That's what matters most. ( )

In Pursuit of Excellence - a book on goals and motivation, but geared to those that are athletic. There are a lot of good ideas and examples in the book, and I enjoyed reading the book. Looking for some ideas on how to change your life - this may be just the book you're looking for. ( )

This is a well-written book with many interesting interviews and lots of encouragement. At the same time, I felt like I just wasn't "getting it." Although the strategies described in the book are supposed to work in lots of areas of life, such as personal relationships and schoolwork, most of the methods and examples were targeted toward athletes. I'm not an athlete or a performer, just a person who likes to do things well, and I had trouble imagining how I would use these methods in my own life. I also felt like some background knowledge was assumed. The idea of a positive and fully connected focus was emphasized over and over, but I got pretty far into the book before starting to feel like I was catching on to what that means, and I'm still not quite sure I get it. A more concrete introduction to the principles behind the book would have helped me a lot. Overall I would recommend this book to athletes and performers, and particularly those who are familiar with the idea of mental focus. ( )

In Pursuit of Excellence is a great book on motivation, goal setting and achievement. The timing of the new year makes this an excellent time to read this book. The author Terry Orlick is a sports psychologist and has helped hundreds of athletes both professional and Olympic champions. There are plans and strategies for the pursuit of personal excellence as well as real life examples. The book is broke out in major sections that create a systematic approach to apply. Discovering, focusing, creating and living excellence. Overall I would say this is a good book with ideas nd actions that will motivate and help you build and achieve goals and make positive changes in your life. ( )