I made reference in my last post to a process of performance excellence. The process I have developed consists of three elements: focus, inspiration, and trust. These elements led to the acronym FIT, and thus became Mental FITness. While focus, inspiration, and trust may not account for all of the psychological and emotional variables associated with performance excellence, I have found that they do provide insight and ways to educate or intervene about the breadth and depth of performance excellence. For example, confidence can be addressed through focus or trust, and motivation may be influenced by focus or inspiration.
In seeking a deeper understanding of these elements, I was reassured to find significant historical connections. FIT corresponds with Plato’s mind (focus), body (trust), and soul (inspiration), as well as with the Zen concepts of kokoro (focus), ch’i/ki (inspiration), and mushin (trust). For those familiar with Plato and Zen, you’ll note that the corresponding concepts from these philosophies are broader than focus, inspiration, and trust are typically thought of in the English language. It is these broader conceptualizations of FIT that are captured in Mental FITness, and I will go into more depth on each component in subsequent posts.