H.A. Dorfman

Noted sports psychologist and sports psychology counselor .

H.A. Dorfman was a noted sports psychologist as well as a sports psychology counselor with the Scott Boras Agency. Recognized as a leading sports psychologist across the world, Dorfman was also a columnist and freelance journalist with articles appearing in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and The Miami Herald. He has authored three other books: The Mental Game of Baseball, The Mental ABC’s of Pitching, and The Mental Keys to Hitting.

Philosopher's Notes on H.A. Dorfman's Books

LockedPhilosopher's Notes

Coaching the Mental Game

by H.A. Dorfman

Harvey Dorfman was one of the world’s leading mental training experts. Major League Baseball described him as a “pioneering sports psychologist.” He earned World Series rings as the mental skills coach for both the Oakland A’s and Florida Marlins. In this book, he covers the A to Z of mental discipline. Big Ideas we explore include Carpe momentum (seize the task at hand!), the peak performance cycle (approach + results + response), the blind men (and their elephant), and Percussus Resurgo (“Struck down. I rise again!”).

Quotes by H.A. Dorfman

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Anxiety about outcome is the single most intrusive inhibitor to effective performance.

H.A. Dorfman

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‘Isn’t that normal?’ I’ve been asked many times, after having admonished an athlete for his poor performance. It is, yes, but to be ‘normal’—ordinary—should not be the goal of any competitive athlete. Exceptional is the goal; normal is the excuse.

H.A. Dorfman

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Relentlessness is the reciprocal of quitting—yielding—giving up. It is an aggressive, persistent, attack-mode attitude. It defines a warrior. The relentless performer gives himself intensely, entirely, and constantly to competition.

H.A. Dorfman

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All this comes from vitality (vita = life), the zeal that directs the best in us toward the goals we’ve set for ourselves.

H.A. Dorfman

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I continue to follow Oliver Wendell Holmes’s advice that if there is something worth saying, say it over and over, ‘of course in a little different form each time.’

H.A. Dorfman