Page 123 - The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin_Neat plip book

style a unique resonance. During our training for the Worlds , Dan and I
squared off on the mat every night with the intensity of tour nam ent oppo ne nt s.

It was strange going to war with each other after so many years of friends hi p.
We knew each other’s games intimately—t her e were no techni cal secrets—s o
our battles were largely of the mind. In the final thr ee mont hs of pr epa ration,
we made the risky agreement to each be respo ns ibl e for his own safety, whi ch

liberated us to play as we would in the championships. There was no holding
back. If one of us was slightly off, he got anni hi lated and had to stew in hi s
juices until the next session. If one of us detected a tell or weakne ss in the
other, he went after it relentlessly unt il a defens ive adjus tment was made . We

weren’t just competing in the ring, we were honi ng our abilities to read and
mask the subtlest signs on the y.
Dan is a brilliant guy with tremendo us ly expl osive po wer and razor-sha rp
technique. He knew even my tiniest habits. Every exhal ation was dange rous . If

my presence diminished for a fraction of a second, I was on the fl or. The air
felt electric during these sessions. We taped our training and every week I
broke down the video. Depending on the day, one or bo th of us seemed to be
operating in a different dimension. Time felt slowed down or sped up. A coupl e

of times when Dan was really on, I bl inked and by the time my eyes were ope n,
I was in midair, flying out of the ring. Thi s was my secret! No one ha d ever
turned it on me before. An adjustment was called for, and I go t int o the ha bi t
of taking a tiny step back or pulsing into Dan on my blinks , creating a little

space so he couldn’t fire in on me. A few times when I was really fl wing, I
used Dan’s awareness of my eye patterns against hi m, bl inki ng to pul l hi m int o
an overextension. He quickly caught on to my rus e and our ps ycho logy
continued to evolve. If both players are aware of a tell, then it will be

neutralized, made ineffective, and other s will have to be une arthe d and
exploited. T he game goes on.
This type of psychological warfare is at the cent er of nearly all high- level
competitive disciplines—and I mean competitive in the loosest sense imaginable.

For example, the car salesman and po tential buy er are opponents. When two
highly trained minds square off, in any field, the pl ayers are in a fight to enter
each other’s heads. These exchanges feel like epi c tenni s rallies in whi ch the tilt
of battle sways back and forth as one player pi cks up on a faint tell tha t may or

may not exist long enough to be expl oited, and the other has to feel the da nge r,
and swat the rival out of his mind bef ore it is too late.