Page 143 - The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin_Neat plip book

comes to bear when we truly are like water, steadi ly carving stone . We jus t
keep on owing when everything is on t he l ine.

In recent years I have given many talks on performance psychology. At the
beginning of an event in Los Angel es a few years ago , I was appr oache d by a
top Smith Barney producer, call hi m Denni s, who said he was ha ving troubl e
accessing a good performance state and often found hi mself distracted in

important meetings or under deadline. He asked my advice about how to figure
out what his “hot button” was. Denni s knew that some pr ofessiona l athl etes
have routines that consistently put them into a good frame of mind be fore
competition. He just couldn’t find the right rout ine. No matter ho w ha rd he

tried to discover the perfect song, meditative techni que, stretching exercise, or
eating pattern, he just couldn’t make it work. Ideal ly, Denni s said he woul d
like to have a song that slipped him int o the zo ne. W hat sho ul d he do ?
This is a problem I have seen in many incons istent performers. The y are

frustrated and confused trying to find an inspi ring catalyst for pe ak
performance, as if the perfect motivational tool is hovering in the cosmos
waiting for discovery. My method is to work backw ard and create the trigge r. I
asked Dennis when he felt closest to serene focus in hi s life. He tho ught for a

moment and told me it was when he pl ayed catch with his twelve-year-old son,
Jack. He fell into a blissful state when tossing a baseball with hi s bo y, and
nothing else in the world seemed to exist. They pl ayed catch virtua lly every
day and Jack seemed to love it as much as hi s dad . P erfect.

I have observed that virtually all peopl e hav e one or two activities tha t move
them in this manner, but they usually di smiss them as “just taking a br eak.” If
only they knew how valuable their br eaks coul d be! Let me empha size tha t it
doesn’t matter what your serene activity is. Whet her you feel most relaxed and

focused while taking a bath, joggi ng, swimming, listening to classical mus ic,
or singing in the shower, any such activity can take the pl ace of Denni s’s catch
with his son.
The next step was to create a four- or five-step rout ine. Denni s had already

mentioned music, meditation, stretching, and eating. I suggested that an hour
before the next time he played catch with hi s son, Denni s sho ul d eat a light
snack. We decided on a blended frui t and soy shak e that he enj oyed maki ng in
his kitchen. Then he would go int o a qui et room and do a fifteen- minut e

breathing exercise that he had learned a few years bef ore. It was a simpl e
meditative technique where he followed hi s br eath. When he noticed hi s mind