Page 135 - The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin_Neat plip book

quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts. Being a huge Jets fan, I had no t always
rooted for Jim, but I had watched him play for years and adm ired hi s fi ry

competitive spirit. He had an arm like a canno n, was famous for last-minut e
comebacks, and was simply a fabul ous athl ete. I was sur pr ised whe n Jim told
me that he was also an avid chess pl ayer and had followed my career for a long
time. We fell into a conversation about the ps ychologi cal parallels of top- no tch

chess competition and quarterbacking in the NFL. I was amazed by ho w many
of the same issues we wrestled with. I thi nk that thi s conv ersation in the LG E
gym was my first real inkling of how uni versal the arts of learni ng and
performance really are.

*

The two intertwined issues I want ed to take on at LG E were cons istenc y as a

competitor and my complicated relations hi p to the bag gag e tha t ha d come
with Searching for Bobby Fischer. When I first went down to Orlando sho rtly
after my twentieth birthday, I was still a pretty intui tive per former, ope rating
from a natural mix of intensity, diges ted exper ience, and dr ive. As I de scribe d

above, when things got rocky, my habit was to hit the gas and bl ow my
opponent and myself out of the water with wildl y ener getic focus. Thi s was
clearly less than an ideal approach for the l ong t erm.
The main trainer that I worked with at LGE was a deepl y insight ful spo rts

psychologist named Dave Striegel. Over the years, Dave and I develope d a close
relationship and frequently spoke on the pho ne bet ween my trips to Orlando .
Although many valuable insights emerged from our di alogues , pe rha ps the
most explosive revelation emerged from an inno cent ques tion dur ing our fi st

meeting. I remember it clearly: after a few hour s of conv ersation in whi ch I
described my life, my career, my current issues , Dave sat back, scratche d hi s
head, and asked me whether or not I believed the qual ity of a che ssic tho ught
process was higher if it was preceded by a period of relaxation. Thi s simpl e

question led to a revolution in my appr oach t o peak perfo rmance.
That evening, after a long day of eye-open ing sessions with Dave, Jim
Loehr, and Jack Groppel, I sat down with my laptop and chess no tebo oks and
spent a few hours looking over my previous year of compet itions . Dur ing che ss

tournaments, players notate their games as they go along. The che ssbo ard is
seen as a grid, with vertical ranks runni ng a–h from left to right , and the