Ce-i face pe marii campioni sa fie The Greatest?
Sunt oameni care se confrunta cu durerea, fizica si emotionala, cu o rata mult mai mare decat media. De cele mai multe ori vorbim de tineri, chiar adolescenti, care dupa ani de munca imensa rateaza intr-o mare competitie si reusesc cumva ca in doar cateva zile sa-si gaseasca motivatia sa se intoarca la antrenamente ca sa lupte pentru o victorie mare.
Noi, oamenii care nu suntem The greatest in niciun domeniu de activitate, ne uitam la ei cu admiratie si proiectam vietile noastre pe infringerile si/sau victoriile lor .
Rareori ne gandim: daca un copil de 17-20 de ani gaseste resurse sa o ia de la capat, eu de ce nu pot? Ce are el/ea in plus fata de mine? Sau suntem din acelasi aluat iar eu sunt mai rasfatat(a) si imi caut scuze sa nu muncesc la fel de determinat pentru visul meu?
Cineva mi-a spus – poate ca ei (campionii) au un destin mai bun – si m-am gandit: Pe bune?! Adica dam vina pe altii (e sportul nostru national, invatat de la politicieni), chiar si cand altii e o notiune abstracta precum “destin” pentru faptul ca nu muncim noi constant si cu determinare, cu propria persoana pentru a fi mai buni?!
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De felul meu sunt o persoana disciplinata, care se simte confortabil cu un to do list pe care sa-l urmareasca. As putea spune ca, intr-unele momente, am chiar un temperament/caracter autist: procedurile imi dau confort, lucrurile noi ma incurca. Am invatat sa ma uit la mine cu atentie, am invatat sa-mi corectez multe dintre aceste momente de autism social, dar am un confort (poate ca vine din increderea in sine) care ma face sa nu-mi pese de gura lumii si sa ma ghidez dupa ceea ce simt ca e bine sau ceea ce-mi spun ca e bine oamenii in care am incredere. Sa caut mereu drumul meu, in liniste, chiar daca e greu de parcurs.
Am observat ca, la intervale regulate de timp (care se masoara in ani), mintea mea are nevoie de antrenamente pentru a fi mai motivata, mai concentrata, pentru a invata sa (re)elimine elementele nocive care m-au indepartat de la claritate.
Nu vorbesc aici de exercitiile de meditatie care ajuta la curatarea zilnica a creierului, pe astea le fac, dar dincolo de ele, pentru ca – dupa reperele mele – mi se pare ca uneori ajung sa cobor ritmul la ceea ce am de facut pe o durata mai mare de cateva saptamani (pentru ca ma fura viata cu toata avalansa de informatii si de tentatii), simt nevoia de noi “antrenamente”.
Asa am ajuns in decembrie sa caut ce ii motiveaza pe sportivi, cum functioneaza mintea lor, ce exercitii mentale fac. Pe drumul acesta am ajuns si la o carte care se numeste The Greatest , scrisa de unul dintre cei mai mari cronicari sportivi ai momentului, Matthew Syed
Eu am citit-o in engleza fara sa stiu ca exact in ianuarie apare si la noi. O gasiti la editura Publica (Cei mai buni. Cum să atingi perfecțiunea în sport), m-am uitat putin pe traducerea ei pentru ca intre timp am daruit-o pe cea primita de la editura, si e foarte frumos tradusa.
Las mai jos cateva ganduri din carte care sper sa va motiveze si sa va faca sa va ganditi la propria performanta (ca e vorba de croitorie, de reparat masini sau actorie) si la cum poate fi ea imbunatatita.
(cum pe drumul meu pentru a ma remotiva si a-mi regasi ritmul am ajuns si la o doamna care a facut exercitii mentale pentru sportivi si a lucrat cu Ivan Lendl si Andy Murray pentru a avea concentrarea si determinarea sa fie nr 1 in tenis, dar si cu alti campioni olimpici, la sfarsitul acestui articol las un exercitiu pentru antrenarea atentiei si concentrarii care e util de facut dimineata inainte de a va da jos din pat)
Exemplele pe care le dau mai jos sunt in engleza pentru ca mi-a fost mai usor sa le au din versiunea ebook pe care am citit-o.
Federer despre rutina zilnica de dinaintea unei final de Grand Slam, rutina care-l ajuta sa nu puna presiune pe el si sa-si faca treaba cat mai bine.
‘The strange thing is that I was always incredibly nervous on the morning of a grand-slam final. At Wimbledon, I would often wake up at five thirty a.m., my body pumping with adrenalin. My mind would be racing. I had a terrible fear of failure. I lost a few times in grand-slam finals and it sucked. The hard truth is that nobody cares about the loser. It was the fear of failure that drove me. ‘But something would happen when I walked on to play at two p.m. Suddenly I felt in control. In control of myself, in control of my emotions, in control of the crowd. I was comfortable. My head would clear out all the other stuff and focus on something incredibly simple. I would lose myself out there. The best way to describe it was like the body taking over the mind.’ It is a revelatory phrase. I ask how easy it was for the mind to cede control to the body. ‘You need confidence to be able to do it,’ he says. ‘Don’t get me wrong. Before that second-serve ace, I was nervous as hell. During matches, I would get feelings of anxiety. But the act of playing would free my mind: when I toss the ball up, my arm swings and my body takes over. It just clicks. It’s about repetition as a kid; it’s about good technique; it’s about having everything in place. It’s about confidence and muscle memory. It’s the 10,000 hours.’
Despre ratare, infringere, nereusita
Failure is generally considered a pejorative. It has profoundly negative connotations. But, to Coleman, it has a very different meaning. ‘I’m not afraid to fail,’ he said. ‘Everybody fails. I have had more failures than I’ve had success.’ His point was simple and powerful. Failure is central to life and learning. It is how you grow, develop, and ultimately flourish. As Michael Jordan, the basketball ace, once put it: ‘I fail. But that is why I succeed.’ If failure is stripped of its negative associations, if it is no longer an indictment of who you are, but an opportunity to learn, what reason is there to be fearful? If football is a game of expression, and you accept the mess-ups that are inherent to any creative enterprise, why freeze at the point of executing a pass? And if you are with a group of like-minded people, cohesive and strong, united in resolve and ambition, why worry what the media might say if things go wrong?
Despre personalitate si caracter
Most of us are, to use a term from economics, risk-averse. We avoid risk, we try to live our lives by minimising its influence, we hedge our bets. That is why there is rather a large sector of the economy known as the insurance industry and why we hike millions of pounds into its claws. But it is also why we are mesmerised, at some profound level, by those among us who embrace uncertainty, who take the daring course, who risk the world to gain the world.
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Most of us think we are better than we are. In fact, the tendency is so powerful that psychologists have given it a name: illusory superiority.
In Being and Nothingness, Jean-Paul Sartre wrote that the vast majority of us are inclined to misgauge the calculus of risk. We fear to step outside the comfort zone because of a morbid trepidation of what might lie beyond, when the unspoken reality is that, whatever we do, however much we insure and barricade ourselves in, the existential endgame is always the same. ‘Fear?’ he wrote. ‘If I have gained anything by damning myself, it is that I no longer have anything to fear.’
The phenomenon of illusory superiority is not, by any means, all bad. When we rate ourselves highly, we tend to become more positive, optimistic and resilient, as Martin Seligman, the psychologist, has noted. But when we are overlooked, it can lead to a sense of injustice that can be destructive. Every now and again, isn’t it worth accepting that we failed to make the cut, not because the boss or selector is a raving lunatic, but because we were not good enough? This means that, instead of stewing or, worse, quitting, we find new ways to improve.
Despre smerenia de a o lua de la capat
I remember talking to David Beckham about when he was out of favour at Real Madrid under Fabio Capello. Many felt that the Italian had made a mistake by dropping the midfielder, and it would have been easy for Beckham to have regarded the decision as prejudicial. He was wealthy, famous, popular, and could have coasted through his remaining months at the Spanish club before joining Los Angeles Galaxy. In extremis, he might have had a slanging match with his coach. Instead, he forced himself to accept that Capello was doing what he thought was best for the team, which was the first step in trying to convince the coach to change his mind. ‘I knew that Fabio wanted the club to do well, and that the best way to get back into the team was working harder, showing my stuff on the training pitch, giving it everything,’ Beckham said. A few weeks later, Capello, an arch rationalist, performed an about-turn. ‘I started to see that he was working hard and this week he has trained perfectly,’ the coach said. ‘He was better than good. He has behaved like a great professional . . . the only thing that has influenced my decision is the work that Beckham has put in. This is not about the players saying they want him back in the squad and nor do I think that my decision to recall him undermines my authority.’
Despre puterea subconstientului… si de ce e nevoie sa-ti exersezi mintea ca sa lasi subconstientul sa te conduca in unele momente.
The power of the subconscious has much to do with the basic architecture of the brain (according to neuroscientists, the subconscious can process up to 11 million bits of information per second while the conscious mind can only process 40), but it can also be gleaned from the testimony of top performers. When a sportsman (or, for that matter, musician) is at peak performance, the conscious mind is often very still. Very serene. Rather, it is the subconscious competence, built up over many years of practice, that is given full rein. There is a gargantuan amount of processing going on, and a huge amount of effort, but it is all taking place beneath the radar of conscious awareness. The zone in sport, rather like the state of Zen, can be compared to a duck gliding effortlessly across the water while its legs are going like the clappers.
Si citatul meu preferat din carte, care apartine unui mare fotbalist si antrenor, Jonatan Cruyff, si care se potriveste minunat oricarei activitati daca vrei sa fii printre cei mai buni. Si mai ales se potriveste cu aceste vremuri in care cei mai multi cauta victoriile pe scurtatura, cu cat mai putina munca, daca se poate cumparandu-le, imitind forma si uitand continutul.
Winning is just one day, a reputation can last a lifetime,’ Jonatan Cruyff said. ‘Winning is an important thing, but to have your own style, to have people copy you, to admire you, that is the greatest gift.’
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Mai jos unul dintre cele 36 de exercitii faimoase ale coach-ului pentru campioni B Alexis Castorri. (am primit cartea ei zilele trecute, am comandat-o la un anticariat din America pentru ca nu a mai fost editata din 1992 si am sa revin cu un nou articol despre exercitiile ei).
Prin acest text nu vreau sa spun ca trebuie sa faceti asa, sa urmati pasii acestia, sa faceti exercitii de motivare sau de activare a memoriei si concentrarii. Vreau doar sa pun in fata, in spatiul public, si o alta perspectiva despre nereusitele noastre ca societate. Daca toti ne-am face mai bine treaba, cat mai bine si mai etic, in dreptul nostru, lumea s-ar schimba din interior.
Nu destinul e de vina pentru nereusitele noastre.
