Page 147 - The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin_Neat plip book

be able to click into the zone at a moment’s no tice. Thi s is wher e my system for
condensing the routine comes in.

Let’s return to Dennis. W here we left off, hi s rout ine w as as follows:

1. at a light consistent snack for ten minut es
2. 5 minutes of meditation
3. 0 minutes of stretching

4. 0 minutes of listening to Bob Dylan

He had already learned to export thi s rout ine from pl aying catch with hi s
son Jack, and could now go through the four steps bef ore bus ines s meetings or
any other stressful event and be in a great state of mind thr ougho ut . Denni s
loved the results and now did his rout ine bef ore every meeting. He ha d take n

to scheduling important events right after lunch, so he had some time alone to
prepare. He felt great, was more pr oduct ive, and loved the fresh ene rgy with
which he was tackling anything he put his mind (and rout ine ) to. Tha t’s
already pretty good.

The next step of the process is to gr adual ly alter the rout ine so tha t it is
similar enough so as to have the same phy siologi cal effect, but slight ly di fferent
so as to make the “trigger” both lower-maintenance and more fl ibl e. The ke y
is to make the changes incrementally, slowly, so there is more similarity than

difference from the last version of the rout ine. Thi s way the body and mind
have the same physiological reaction ev en if the p reparation i s slight ly sho rter.
Dennis started doing his routine every day before work, the onl y di fferenc e
being that he would eat a larger br eakf ast than the light snack, and he woul d

listen to Dylan during his short dr ive to the offi Steps two and thr ee took
place at home, after breakfast, as origi nal ly planned . Everythi ng was go ing
beautifully.
Next, for a few days, Dennis meditated for twelve minut es instead of fi teen.

He still came out in the same great state of mind. Then he stretched for eight
minutes, instead of ten. Same pr esence. Then he chan ged the orde r of the
stretch and meditation. No problem. Over time, slowly but sur ely, Denni s
condensed his stretching and medi tation rout ine down to jus t a few minut es.

Then he would listen to Bob Dylan and be ready to roll. If he wasn’t hungr y, he
could do without the snack altoget her. His rout ine had been conde ns ed to
around twelve minutes and was more po tent than ever. Denni s left it at tha t