Excellence v. balance?

Embracing Your Potential: Terry Orlick. Human Kinetics 1998. 190 pages paperback, £12.95. ISBN 0-880-118316

In effect this book is a continuation of the Orlick's earlier "In Pursuit of Excellence". It may or may not add anything to the sum total of human knowledge to divide life into 'Gold' and 'Green' zones, the first symbolising life at work, the second the rest of your life; but it's a convenient shorthand, and there's nothing against it. In the Gold Zone you're focused, relentless in your pursuits, and admitting of no negatives. In the Green you're 'free to be who you really are', encouraged even to dwell in uncertainties.

The style is open, very American. I think, however, that the Americans may be right about this. It's our stuffy, reserved English heritage that makes us squirm a bit at phrases like 'Embrace the magic moments that live within your reach and heart.' 'Let it all hang out' may be very un-English, but you ought to feel better for it. So why are so many Americans in analysis? Perhaps we have a suspicion that the self-revelation is too easy, that it ought to demand more effort.

After the opening chapter the others amount more or less to a series of reinforcements for Orlick's initial message. Orlick's teaching style is inspirational. The message is that in the Gold Zone you really go for it: this is no place for being uncommitted. One thing we've learned from American (I include Canadian) sportspeople is to give ourselves gee-up messages: 'There really is no limit to how great you can be' or 'Everything is to my advantage.' Here control is vital; and if you control your own thinking, you control your own life.

But living only in the Gold Zone you'd either die (spiritually if not physically) or become a monster – which is much the same thing. We all need the Green Zone. This is where you develop the inner calm that is necessary to the reflective life; after all, the unexamined life is pretty much wasted, according to Socrates. And what a great player he was. Orlick draws his watchwords from childhood: vision, persistence, absorption, joyfulness and purity. Working with rocket scientists on shifts, Orlick found that what they do on their time off site is critical. Hollywood film makers have always known this, of course. The ultimate reward of the marriage of the two zones is that you compete because you enjoy training and competition. You 'rejoice as a strong man to run a race'; and the result is that you're more likely to win.

Orlick makes liberal use of testaments from successful sportspeople. English readers won't automatically recognise all of them (Lou Ferrigno, Wayne Gretsky), but you can take it they're pre-eminent in their sports, and that they've got the gold and the green well and truly in balance. They wouldn't be quoted here if they hadn't.

Ramin Minovi