by Ross Bentley
After you’ve read through the narrative and you’ve got it memorized enough to be able to follow it over and over again for 20 minutes, begin to prepare for your imagery session. Get yourself in position. Close your eyes, and breathe deep and slow. Relax. Feel yourself relaxing. Feel your muscles begin to let go. Feel yourself begin to sink into your chair or seat. Listen to your heartbeat slow down. Notice your breathing slow down, become even more relaxed. Notice the images of you as a relaxed person sinking into your chair or seat. Breathe. Relax your muscles. Breathe.
Your objective is to get into that alpha-theta state. It’s where your mind is slowed down and receptive. You may notice some odd and unrelated images flashing through your mind. It’s near that stage just before you fall asleep, but you’re still awake enough to be aware of what’s going on around you. It can take anywhere from two to five minutes to get to this state (it will probably take less and less time with practice).
And to stress the importance again, the more senses you involve in mental imagery, the more effective the programming will be. Use your hands; hold the steering wheel (even if it’s an imaginary one). Move your feet; feel the pedals. Hear the engine, the wind noise, the brakes, the tires.
Breathe. Relax. As you do each of these imagery sessions, continue to breathe and be relaxed. Part of what you’re programming is the ability to feel relaxed and breathe normally throughout these scenarios.
ILLUSTRATION 23-3 For the ultimate effectiveness, it’s important to get into a relaxed state prior to using mental imagery, and to make it as real as possible. Ideally, you should wear your helmet, hold a steering wheel, hear the engine, and feel the car.
Breathe. Relax.
You’re now ready to begin a mental imagery session.
COMPUTER SIMULATION
Years ago, Jacques Villeneuve may have done more for the computer game and simulation industry than most people realize. You may have read that in his first season in Formula One he used computer games extensively to help learn the tracks that were new to him. Prior to going to Spa, which is generally accepted as the most difficult Grand Prix track, for the first time, he practiced by driving lap after lap on the computer. What happened when he got there for the race? With a limited number of practice laps, he qualified on the pole. At that moment, race drivers around the world ran out and bought more computer games.
I have to admit to not having spent much time with computer games, although I would like to do more, especially with the latest stuff that’s out there. In fact, these computer games, and more realistically, simulations, can be a useful adjunct to mental imagery.
I believe these simulations can be valuable in helping a driver develop a virtual-reality visualization, although there are a couple of limitations. First, of the three sensory inputs a race driver relies on (visual, auditory, and kinesthetic), simulations do a good job with two (visual and auditory), and limited, if any, job of the third (kinesthetic). And second, how much does driving an F1 car at Spa help a Formula Ford driver at Thunderhill? Mental rehearsal of driving one type of car on a specific track does not necessarily apply to another.
Having said that, there are things that a “sim driver” can practice that will help once on a real track. He can practice the ability to focus concentration for a period of time. He can also develop a fine sensitivity and control of the steering wheel. And finally, he can practice learning. As I said earlier, it doesn’t matter whether you are driving a 900-horsepower Champ car, a 6-horsepower kart on an indoor track, or a computer simulation, the process of determining what works, what doesn’t, what effect a change in technique has, or whether a change is necessary is one of the things that separates the great race drivers from the rest.
Earlier, I talked about how a driver must be able to adapt his personality and behavioral traits to suit various situations, to control and trigger the ideal state of mind, and make quick, appropriate decisions. If used correctly, a racing simulation can certainly help a driver mentally program and develop these abilities.
ILLUSTRATION 23-4 Computer games and simulations are becoming more and more realistic, and therefore they are useful training tools. You can use them to develop and fine-tune your reactions, learn new tracks, refresh your memory of a track, practice techniques, develop your ability to focus for long periods of time, and build mental programming.
Overall, I think simulation is another tool that race drivers can and should use to develop and maximize their on-track performance. Just as only using physical practice on a racetrack, simply studying track maps, relying solely on mental imagery, or practicing only in go-karts will limit your ability to learn, only using simulations will not result in you becoming the next world champion. But combined with all the other tools a race driver has today, simulations are valuable.
EXPECTATIONS AND POSSIBILITIES
Expectations can be dangerous things. Possibilities and potentialities can be marvelous things.
Expectations do not have any direction. It is like me saying, “I expect to be in New York City.” That certainly doesn’t get me to New York City, does it? No, there is no plan, strategy, or direction. If I say, “My goal is to get to New York City,” it naturally leads me to developing a plan to get there.
If you expect a particular result, and it does not occur, you become frustrated or disappointed. Neither feelings help get you any closer to the result you were looking for. If you focus on your goals, such as performing at your very best, you then have a direction to follow, one that will more likely lead to the result you were looking for.
Expectations can also be limitations. Going into qualifying, for example, you think that if you turn a 1:20.5, that will put you on the front row. You head onto the track and do a 1:20.8, a 1:20.6, and then a 1:20.5. What are the odds of you going much quicker? Not good. After all, you matched your expectations. Consciously, you may not be satisfied with the time, but if you put a time into your subconscious, your mind will do what it takes to match it, and not go beyond it. But what if the track conditions changed, for the better? Some tracks change significantly throughout a race weekend, becoming faster with each session. Perhaps a 1:20.5 would have put you on the front row based on a previous session, but only put you on the fourth or fifth row in qualifying.
Karl Wendlinger, who was severely hurt driving a Sauber F1 car at the 1994 Monaco Grand Prix, provides a perfect example of this in Christopher Hilton’s book Inside the Mind of the Grand Prix Driver. In this case, he is referring to when he went back to testing for the Sauber team in 1995, having been away from the cockpit for almost a year.
Because I’d only done a little driving I had time to prepare my body, to do training. I did a lot of concentration exercises. Then I arrived at Mugello. It was a two-and-a-half-day test and, the evening before, I thought, “OK, one minute 30.4 would be a good time.” I concentrated, I closed my eyes and as I crossed the line into the lap I started my stopwatch. I did a whole lap in my brain and looked. The stopwatch said 1:30.4. The next day on the track I did 1:30.4.
Then I said to myself, “It was too easy, tomorrow you have to do 1:29.3.” The best lap that Heinz-Harald (Frentzen, Wendlinger’s teammate) did in Mugello all year was 1:29.0 and because I had done so little driving I thought 1:29.3 was competitive. I sat in the hotel again, closed my eyes, and started the watch. I “drove” the lap and looked. 1:29.3. Next day I did 1:29.3. You know the best thing was—and this fascinates me about what you can do with your brain—I only did the 1:29.3 because I made a mistake and lost three-tenths. If I hadn’t made that mistake I would have done 1:29.0, but the evening before I had fixed in my brain 1:29.3 and not zero, and that’s what happened. If I had fixed 1:29.0 maybe I wouldn’t have made the mistake and I’d done the time easily.
Like I said, expectations are limitations, and you rarely exceed your expectations. Wendlinger proved that, along with the power of mental imagery. Expectations program results into your mind, and your mind is very efficient at running those program
s, sometimes too efficient! In Wendlinger’s case, it sounds as if had he expected to turn a 1:29.0, he would not have made the error that ultimately cost him three-tenths of a second. That’s the (negative) power of expectations at work.
SPEED SECRET
Delete your expectations. Focus on your possibilities.
THOUGHTS
Behind the wheel of your race car, have you ever thought to yourself, “that was a dumb move to make” or “why did I turn in so early for that corner”? Did any of those thoughts do you any good? I doubt it. In fact, I bet they did more harm than good. If you are going to have some thoughts while driving (and there is no doubt you will, at least I hope so!), make them nonjudgmental thoughts.
Is there any danger in thinking about the past? There certainly can be. The nanosecond that you focus any amount of your attention on what has happened in the past, that is some attention that is not being spent on what is happening right now in the present.
Can you do anything about what has happened in the past? Absolutely not. If you make a mistake going through Turn 2, does thinking about that while heading into Turn 3 help or hinder? Hinder for sure. Does getting upset about how a competitor shut the door on you entering Turn 5 help? No. Like I said, the second you make an error, forget it. What you did, or what another driver did, is not important now.
Can you do anything about what is going to happen in the future? Yes. How? By what you are doing right now. When you focus your attention on the present, you increase your chances of performing at the level that will result in the goals you have set.
ILLUSTRATION 23-5 What you believe about yourself is the single biggest limitation to your performance. Until you can honestly, deep down inside, believe you can take the pole, it’s unlikely you ever will. Fortunately, you can build up your beliefs about yourself through the use of mental imagery.
Having no thoughts at all is far more desirable than having a mind full of thoughts. In the practice of Zen, you are encouraged to have an empty or beginner’s mind. A mind full of thoughts is one that will not react instantaneously and naturally.
In his book Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, Suzuki Roshi writes, “If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything; it is open to everything. In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities; in the expert’s mind there are few.”
The same thing applies to the use of mental imagery or visualization. In your mental imagery, you want to actualize yourself as being open and ready for anything. Many drivers have asked me how they can visualize the start of a race and predict every possible scenario that could happen. “You can’t,” is my response. The same with trying to mentally prepare, using visualization, to drive a car you have never driven. How can you visualize something you have no idea of what it could possibly look like?
Instead, you need to use a kind of open-ended mental imagery, one that sees you as ready for anything. For example, mentally see yourself at the start of a race; if you can’t go to the inside, you go outside and make a pass. If you don’t get a jump on the field, you make up for it in the second half of the first lap. It’s not that you imagine every possible scenario but that you are ready and make the right moves, no matter what happens.
Michael Jordan, one of the greatest athletes of all times, would recall images of past successes in high-pressure situations. As Jordan’s Chicago Bulls coach Phil Jackson says in his book Sacred Hoops, “Jordan doesn’t believe in trying to visualize the shot in specific detail. ‘I know what I want the outcome to be,’ he says, ‘but I don’t try to see myself doing it beforehand. In 1982, I knew I wanted to make that shot [the last-second shot he used to take his University of North Carolina team to the NCAA Championship]. I didn’t know where I was going shoot it or what kind of shot I was going to take. I just believed I could do it, and I did.’”
That’s open-ended imagery. That’s having an empty mind, a beginner’s mind, one without expectations.
How important is your state of mind to your level of performance? Critical, right? Unfortunately for most drivers, their state of mind is something that just happens, and they have little to no control over it. In other words, they either get into a great state of mind or not, and it is almost totally by accident. It is rare for a driver to have a defined process or ritual for triggering the ideal performance state of mind.
Your state of mind covers many areas: your level of anxiety, happiness, anger, nervousness, fear, passion, enthusiasm, empathy, and so on. As I’m sure you already know, these states of mind play a huge role in your performance.
Where does our state of mind typically come from? Out there. Things that happen to us, things that people say to us, external happenings, whether positive or negative. And what do we typically focus on when we’re in a poor state of mind? The rotten state of mind we’re in. We say things like, “I’m just in a bad mood today; I got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.” And of course, that just leads to a further decline of our state of mind. In other words, it spirals out of control.
You can hope that you show up at each race in the right state of mind, but hope is not an effective strategy. Or you can learn to trigger a performance state of mind.
Your emotional or mental state of mind must be controlled if you want to be successful. If you are excited, nervous, depressed, stressed, distracted, angry, or whatever, you may not be mentally effective. Your decision making will be slowed; your mind will not be focused.
You don’t need to be psyched-up. You need to be calm, relaxed, and focused.
ILLUSTRATION 24-1 Recalling the images of past successes can help lead to future successes.
Psyching-up usually makes you overly excited, and therefore, less effective. You want to drive with a “clean mind,” not one cluttered with useless thoughts.
Once you get into the car, it doesn’t matter what is happening outside the car. All that matters is you, the car, the track, and other competitors. Forget everything else. I think this is why many drivers find racing so relaxing. They can forget absolutely everything else that is happening in their lives.
PERFORMANCE STATE OF MIND
How do you induce a performance state of mind? The best technique is to simply ask yourself to recall, and replay in your mind, a great past performance. The interesting thing is that this great performance does not have to be while racing. It could be anything, from playing another sport to a positive business experience, or while participating in a hobby or a great personal relationship experience.
Anything that results in being extremely positive, happy, energized, and calm will do the trick. I use this technique often when coaching drivers, particularly just prior to a qualifying session. I like to find out beforehand about a great performance in the driver’s past and then ask him to tell me about it just before qualifying. I’ve had drivers relate stories about a past hockey or soccer game, a previous qualifying session or race, or a positive business experience. In each case, I could see it on their faces that they were in a positive, performance state of mind after telling me their story.
SPEED SECRET
Replay a past success to trigger a performance state of mind.
Another technique that I like to use with drivers is to have them walk to their cars like they imagine a champion would. In other words, act like a Schumacher, a Johnson, a Franchitti. I’m sure you have noticed this yourself, how some drivers just look like they are there to win, and others do not. Most of that is in the way they present themselves, the way they walk.
If you model your walk after Schumacher, for example, your state of mind cannot help but be closer to ideal. Used in conjunction with relating a past experience, it is an extremely effective tool.
Your decisions in the car cannot be made at the conscious level. If they are, you will make a lot of bad decisions. The reason, of course, is there is not enough time to make them at the conscious level. They must just happen, being made at the subconscious level.
Remember the information I present
ed earlier about how quickly your brain processes information—2,000 bits of information per second at the conscious level; 4 billion bits of information per second at the subconscious level. Any wonder why decisions, and just about everything else done in a race car should be accomplished at the subconscious level?
If you consider what it takes to make a good investment decision, one of the keys is having as much quality information as possible. The more, and the higher the quality, the better. Sound familiar? Many bad decisions made by race drivers are a result of a lack of quality information. Where does that information come from? Visually, kinesthetically, and auditorily—sensory input.
If you can increase the amount and improve the quality of the sensory input heading into his brain, you will make better decisions on the race track. Fortunately, that can be done. How? Sensory Input Sessions.
Sensory Input Sessions can do more to improve your on-track decision making than anything else. The more reference points you have, the sooner you can make adjustments; the smaller the adjustments need to be. The more sensory information, the more clear the picture of what’s going on is, and therefore, the better your reactions.
As you read this sentence, do not think about a pink elephant. I said, do not think about a pink elephant! So what are you thinking about? A pink elephant, right? In fact, it is impossible not to think about something. The only way your driver cannot think or focus on something he or she doesn’t want is to think or focus on something he or she does want.
