I recently had lunch with a just-retired professional Moto GP racer and put the question to him.
I was quite surprised with the answer.
He said: “most of the time my mind is filled with random passing distracting thoughts. For instance: the last argument I had with my girlfriend, the accident that happened yesterday during qualifiers at the next rapidly approaching corner, will I be able to afford the new bike for next season? Why did my dad not call me to wish me good luck? And so on.
My mind is cluttered with thoughts during most of the race which is a huge drain. I have to force myself to focus and concentrate, even at high speeds or around crazy tight corners!”
I was quite surprised. I thought a Moto GP rider of his caliber would have a quiet perfectly focused mind during the race, busy only with the task at hand. I put this to him and he agreed. I was also surprised that despite the continuous wave of random thoughts he could do so well. He was usually in the top three.
I asked him if he ever won a major title. He said: “yes, once”.
I then asked him if he remembers what was going on in his mind during that particular race.
He paused, dropped his head in deep thought, went chillingly silent, then suddenly lifted his head and said “bl***y h*ll! I was singing my favourite song during the whole race!”
He looked totally astonished by his own answer.
And there we have it! During his winning performance his mind was free of all the random thoughts and he sang his favourite tune!
His mind was in what we call “alpha-theta frequency”. What some call “the zone”, what I call “the state of dynamic tranquility”. Fully alert yet calm, fully focused yet also fully aware, fully open yet fully locked on the task at hand, fully creative yet structured.
I asked him if he could produce this state “at will”. He said he couldn’t and wished he could. Something was different that day but he could not put his finger on exactly what it was that had his mind be that way.
Now had he not been retired, I might have taught him how to identify what that missing formula was and how to, upon demand, get his mind into the zone, that winning state of dynamic tranquility!
Keen to learn how to alter your state of mind at will? Call me or email me for an initial free performance diagnosis.