The Achievement Zone: An Eight-step Guide to Peak Performance

The chief sports psychologist for the United States Olympic Committee from 1987 to 1994 presents eight simple steps that readers can use to improve their lives: focus, concentrate, energize, be consistent, stay calm, think like a winner, keep emotions in check, and think creatively. Reprint.

Sport psychologist Murphy applies his years of experience working with athletes to the world of business, explaining that, if applied to the technical aspects of a challenge, the eight mind/body skills he lists here would enhance the probability of success. He fully develops the mind/body skills of action focus, creative thinking, productive analysis, keeping cool, concentration, emotional power, energizing, and consistency with numerous practical, step-by-step approaches. For example, Murphy suggests that rather than focusing on a goal of losing weight, one should focus instead on any number of more specific actions, such as reducing daily fat intake. Murphy's work nicely complements Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's more cerebral Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience (LJ 3/15/90) in a useful guide to a new way of approaching life and especially athletic training. As with any self-help work, the difference lies in the commitment to following this sound advice. Recommended for academic libraries supporting a sport or business psychology curriculum.?Dale Farris, Groves, Tex.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.