Page 142 - The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin_Neat plip book

is a competitor’s ability to sleep at night . Even the stronges t Grandma sters
need their energy to come through in t he h omestretch.

In the martial arts world, this theme is also critical. The abi lity to wait for
hours on end without exploding with tension or losing your edge is often wha t
separates the top fighters before they step in the ring. Big tour nam ent s inv olve
a lot of downtime between matches . Some fight ers keep them selves in a state of

feverish alertness, always poised for action for fear thei r moment might come
and they won’t be ready. The more seasoned compet itors relax, listen to
headphones, and nap. They don’t bur n thr ough thei r tanks before steppi ng on
the mats.

This phenomenon is not unique to the fields I hav e cho sen. We do n’t live
within a Hollywood screenplay wher e the crescendo erupt s jus t whe n we want
it to, and more often than not the climactic moments in our lives will follow
many unclimactic, normal, humdrum ho ur s, day s, weeks , or years. So ho w do

we step up when our moment suddenly arises?
My answer is to redefine the question. Not onl y do we hav e to be go od at
waiting, we have to love it. Becaus e waiting is not waiting, it is life. Too many
of us live without fully engaging our minds , waiting for that moment whe n

our real lives begin. Years pass in bo redom, but that is okay becau se whe n our
true love comes around, or we di scover our real calling, we will be gi n. Of
course the sad truth is that if we are not pr esent to the moment, our true love
could come and go and we woul dn’t even notice. And we will have be come

someone other than the you or I who would be able to embrace it. I bel ieve an
appreciation for simplicity, the everyday —t he ability to dive deepl y int o the
banal and discover life’s hidden richnes s—i s wher e succes s, let alone ha ppi ne ss,
emerges.

*

Along these lines, when considering the issue of performance state, it is

important to avoid focusing on tho se rare climactic moments of hi gh- stake s
competitive mayhem. If you get into a frenzy ant icipating the moment tha t
will decide your destiny, then when it arrives you will be overwrought with
excitement and tension. To have succes s in crunch time, you need to int egr ate

certain healthy patterns into your day-to-day life so that they are compl etely
natural to you when the pressure is on. The real po wer of incr ement al gr owth