Page 104 - The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin_Neat plip book

CHAPTER 13

SLOWING DOWN TIME

As a child I had a fear that I could never be a chess master because I woul dn’t

be able to fit all the information into my mind. Sometimes after two ho ur s of a
chess lesson, my teacher’s words seemed to go in one ear and out the othe r, and
I envisioned a brain filled to the brim. Wher e coul d I ever put so muc h more?
And if I did manage to cram everythi ng in ther e, how woul d I be abl e to sort

through the stuff? Of course this type of childho od fear is a little silly—s ki lled
humans internalize large amounts of data—but I was on to something. Once
we reach a certain level of expertise at a given discipline and our kno wledge is
expansive, the critical issue becomes: how is all thi s stuf f navigat ed and put to

use? I believe the answers to this ques tion are the gat eway to the most esoteric
levels of elite performance.
Thinking back on the chapter Making Smaller Circles, it’s apparent that I was
focusing on the subtle, introspective cultivation of external ski lls. Now let’s

turn further inward, and explore what states of height ened percept ion can be
cultivated with proper training. When I broke my hand in tha t Supe r-
Heavyweight Finals match, time slowed do wn in my mind—o r my pe rcept ion
became so sharpened, so focused on the essential, that I processed neces sary

information much more quickly than us ual . I di dn’t feel like I was racing,
however. Internally, the experience was profoundl y calm with a razor’s edge —
the epitome of what I think quality pr esence sho ul d be al l about .
Once my hand healed and the National s were over, the ques tion on my

mind was: how can I make time slow do wn witho ut br eaki ng a limb? Everyone
has heard stories of women lifting cars off thei r childr en or of time seeming to
slow down during a car accident or a fall down the stairs. Clearly, the re is a
survival mechanism that allows hum an bei ngs to channel thei r phy sical and