A Thought On Great Performers
This one is a little different today. This is less about sharing specific research or psychoeducation. Today’s post is more of a thought I had. Or collection of thoughts. An opinion. And, I would love to get feedback or hear what you have to say about great performers.
These thoughts formed together as a result of all the research papers, psychology courses, books, blogs, videos, or other things I have consumed about peak performance so far.
I thought I should spend some time reflecting and reprocessing all the things I learned up to this point. For one, it would help me gain a better understanding and achieve a deeper level of mastery on the topic. And two, I can use that deeper knowledge in my counseling practice and to share in with others through this blog.
Here are some of my thoughts on Great Performers.
Great performers are considered great because of their performance during intense moments. Think playoffs in a sports league, a big presentation in an office setting, or terrific display of parenting while your child is having a massive meltdown in the middle of the store. Great performers can perform almost transcendently in these situations, to the awe of others, because they have mastery over their craft. Those are the moments separate them from other good performers.
In these intense moments they are able to regulate their own physiology (heart rate, breathing, emotions, etc.). They do not have a sense of being rushed or overwhelmed. Yet, they move quickly and efficiently and confidently. They do not “choke” because they are calm while being hyper in-tune with the moment (we could call this “deep embodiment”). They move so fast at times everything seems slow. They think so fast and react so fast that it seems to be supernatural to some.
They can do this because of their intense amount of training and practice in their skill or craft. They have mastered the basic fundamentals. Then, because of that complete understanding of the fundamentals and basics they can spend more time training higher level processes.
They train things like mindfulness. Creative and flexible thinking. Diverse thinking. They can also cross train effectively. Studying other areas to improve in their specific area. They do things like biofeedback training to Garner a better control of their own physiology. Learning how to keep their heart rate down. Learning how to influence their breathing.
They have increased awareness of their body and their surroundings. In flow all of these things are heightened so that they can perform at their peak.
They are able to be unwaveringly present in the moment. That deep level of focus (embodiment) and effortless action becomes the reward. Sure they can strive for winning and other external rewards. But, to these great performers the act of doing the thing is more pleasurable and motivating than those other things. This is why you have to start doing what you are deeply passionate about. Only then can you experience the true depth of psychological flow and truly how powerful and motivating it is.
Their level of experience and practice combined with their faster processing and pattern recognition in the brain allows them to make more accurate predictions of what is coming next. Like an elevated intuition that is more accurate than normal. And, with their increased processing, they are able to adjust seamlessly when their initial projection was wrong.
Yes they make mistakes we all do. But, they have enough background and training and wisdom to help them adjust rapidly to make a more fine tuned prediction the next time. Every failure it’s not viewed as failure. It’s just feedback to help correct course and improve.
What does this mean for living better and increasing vitality?
I am a strong advocate for getting good at something as one way improve mental health. Just start with one thing. Gain a high level of mastery and expertise in an area that is truly interesting to you. An area that pushes purpose and is in alignment with your values. You can find this by starting with a list of things you are curious about (your hobbies are also a great place to start).
Then, begin to build momentum by “playing” around in that area a little bit each day. Read things about it. Watch YouTube videos about it. Talk to other people about it. These things will continually add to your level of mastery.
We can all learn from the great performers. We can pick apart their process to help ourselves live with vitality.
For more, check out PODHEALTHLLC.COM.
Thanks for reading!
LIVE BETTER.
