by Ross Bentley
The strategies—the triggers, actions, centering, and integration exercises—presented in this book have a double-whammy effect: They work in two ways. First, they physiologically and psychologically “switch you on.” And second, if you believe they will help you perform better, they will. That is the power of the belief system.
Your mind—or should I say the use of your mind in a deliberate, productive manner—has the ability to shape reality. In other words, what you believe, and what you mentally “see” will come true—become reality—if you focus on it.
SPEED SECRET
If you believe you can’t, you can’t. If you believe you can, you can.
Where do a driver’s beliefs come from? They are programmed into his subconscious in three different ways:
• Physically/Experiential: When you experience being quick, your belief system is programmed to believe you are quick. If you are not quick, you will form a belief that you’re not quick. This is how most of your belief system is developed.
• Mentally: You can affect your beliefs about being quick by preplaying being quick in your mind, using mental imagery.
• Externally/Internally: You, and other people, can have a great effect on your belief system. If someone were to continually tell you that you’re quick, over a period of time you will begin to believe that you’re quick. Of course, the opposite is also true. And your self-talk can also affect your beliefs. If you keep telling yourself that you’re quick, it will have some effect.
If most of the programming of your beliefs came about from past experiences, how can you begin to believe you’re quick before you go quick? It’s a chicken-and-egg situation. Which comes first, the belief of being quick, or actually being quick which results in the belief of being quick? Of course, there is no definitive answer to that question.
Often, a driver’s beliefs about his or her abilities and quickness comes before he or she ever sets foot in a race car. If the driver has been successful in other areas of his or her life, particularly other sports, the driver begins to believe that he or she is good at everything. The more success the driver has had in other areas, the stronger the driver’s beliefs will be.
The good news is that you can change your beliefs about yourself.
The first step in you changing your belief system is getting an awareness of just what your beliefs are. You should make a list of both your positive and negative beliefs, being totally honest with yourself. The list should include what you believe about yourself from both the physical technique aspect and the mental side. You do not need to share the list with anyone else. This is simply for you to become more aware of yourself. After all, if you don’t know what to change, how are you going to change it?
Once you’re honestly aware of what your beliefs are, you can choose to reprogram any negative ones. That will rarely happen overnight. It usually requires doing a couple of mental imagery sessions per day, backing that up with some physical signs of improvement, more mental programming, more physical evidence and programming, and so on. Without the mental programming, it is unlikely your beliefs will ever change, unless, by some fluke, you happen to go quickly, in which case you will have experienced it.
ILLUSTRATION 28-1 Your list of beliefs may look something like this. With this list you can deprogram, reprogram, and program the beliefs you want.
I’m sure you’ve witnessed this yourself many times. A driver who seems to have what it takes to win keeps finding ways to lose; either he or she makes a mistake near the end of the race or the car breaks. Then, practically out of the blue—by fluke—everyone in front of the driver breaks, the driver wins, and then look out! That driver begins to win everything in sight. What was the difference? Did the driver gain a bunch of driving talent all of a sudden? No, just one thing changed: the driver’s belief system.
THE IMPACT OF PAST SUCCESSES
There is nothing that will build or improve your confidence like a little success. Fortunately, these successes do not necessarily have to be behind the wheel of a race car. Any success in anything will trigger your confidence level. So focus on past successes. See them vividly in your mind’s eye. Recall the emotions, the feelings, the performance you experienced with these successes.
Recall, using mental imagery, past successes you’ve had in other sports, in school, business, relationships, or hobbies. Replay every detail about those performances from a technique point of view, and how you felt, your emotions, and your state of mind before, during, and after.
As I said earlier when talking about learning, confidence builds success and success builds confidence. It’s a loop. The more confidence you have, the more likely you will have success. The more success you have, the more confidence you will have. Unfortunately, the opposite is also true!
Setting short- and long-term goals—and achieving them—are important to your confidence. To do that, they must be realistic. Do not try to move up the racing career ladder too quickly. If you get behind the wheel of a race car that you are not mentally or physically ready for, it’s easy for you to lose confidence.
The same goes for something as simple as increasing your speed through a corner. If your immediate goal is to increase your speed through a turn by 2 miles per hour, that’s achievable and helps build confidence so that you can improve even more. If your immediate goal is to increase your speed by 10 miles per hour, that may be too large a jump. If you don’t succeed in making that jump, you may lose confidence and not make any further improvement.
Feed off your successes, no matter where and when they are in your life.
During the 1997 World Sports Car season, the average number of positions I improved during the first two laps was six. The first race was the 12-hour at Sebring, where I qualified 10th. In the drivers meeting prior to the race, the officials said they had to start the race on time due to television coverage. During the pace lap a car had a mechanical problem, which meant they had to run a second pace lap. Because of the TV time constraints, I knew right then that the green flag was going to fly at the end of that second pace lap, no matter what. Let’s just say I was in second place at the end of the first lap. Prior to the next race, I kept replaying that Sebring start over and over in his mind. I got another great start. In fact, for the rest of the season, I kept playing those race starts in my head—and kept getting great starts. I knew, prior to the start of every race, that I was going to pass at least four or five cars on the first lap. Replaying those successes in my head led to many more.
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Replay your successes.
Right now, for a few minutes, imagine being in your car sitting on the grid for your next race. Imagine as many of the details as possible: the other cars, the track, weather, sounds, everything. Now see yourself just before the start, on the pace or formation lap. Stop reading and do this.
Have you ever noticed how you can “see” a person’s confidence level? It’s interesting how you can often notice how strong a belief a person has in himself or herself, especially in sport. You can watch drivers walk to their cars and often get a feeling which one is going to win. I’ve never seen a driver casually stroll to his car, looking like he doesn’t care, looking like he doesn’t mean business, looking like he doesn’t believe deep down inside that he’s going to win, then go out and win. Drivers who consistently win look like they’re going to win. You can “see” the belief in their eyes and in their walk
Now, go back to your image of you being on the grid and driving the pace or formation lap. What grid position are you in?
If you imagine yourself in any position other than the pole, the likelihood of you being on pole is small. Until you can imagine yourself on the pole, you can’t believe you can be on the pole, and for you to be there would almost be a fluke. In other words, until you believe you can be on the pole, it’s unlikely that you will be.
The power of your belief system is amazing. This fact has been proven time and time again by world champions and amateurs a
like. Do you think that Michael Schumacher consistently had a stronger belief in himself than his competitors had in themselves over his championship years? There’s no doubt about it. You could hear it in the words of his competitors: They talked about having to beat him; whereas, Schumacher mostly talked about himself and his team. What about Fernando Alonso’s belief in himself? You know that he knows he can beat Schumacher. He knows that he is every bit as good as, or better than, Schumacher. You can see it in his walk, you can see it in his eyes, you can hear it in his words, and you can see it on the track.
How does one develop a set of beliefs that are as strong as Schumacher’s or Alonso’s? Where do your beliefs come from? Yes, they certainly do come from past experience. But if you’ve never done something in the past, such as taking the pole, how can you begin to believe that you can? If you’ve never experienced winning, how can you believe that you can win? And if you can’t believe you can win, it’s proven that it’s less likely that you will win.
The answer to these questions, and the solution to the problem of developing a belief in being able to do something before you’ve actually experienced it, is all in your mind. Yes, you can develop your belief in being able to take the pole by using mental imagery. In fact, by preplaying something in your mind you develop a belief in being able to do it.
But, let’s assume for a minute that you’ve never qualified better than 10th. If you begin doing mental imagery of great qualifying performances and see yourself now on the pole, will that change your beliefs enough to enable you to take the pole next time out? Maybe, maybe not. The problem is that your mind, your current belief system, may not accept that much of an improvement. You know, you may be able to fool other people, but you can’t fool yourself. Your belief system is a bit like an elastic band. You can stretch it, but if you stretch it too much it will snap. Seeing yourself moving from 10th to 1st may be too much of a stretch, and your belief system will then snap. You won’t accept it.
One way to stretch your belief system is to have a reason for stretching it. If you’ve not made any changes in your skills or your approach, it’s difficult to see why you should change your beliefs. But if you’ve learned something new, you have a new chassis setup, or you have a new team member, then there is a reason for your belief to stretch. It’s one reason a driving coach can help so much. While a good coach will help improve your technique and mental preparation, often a big reason for improvement is that your belief system can accept there is a reason for improvement. And if you believe you can or should improve, you will improve. By simply having a coach—or a new engineer, a new shock setup, or whatever—there’s a reason for your belief system to accept a stretch from tenth to pole.
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Stretch your belief system, bit by bit, through self-talk and mental programming.
Driving a race car is a series of compromises. The ideal line for a particular corner may vary slightly from lap to lap, due to rubber build up or oil on the track, the position of competitors around you, or how your car’s handling changes as the fuel load is reduced. You constantly have to monitor and adjust your driving to best suit the condition of your tires. You have to consider and reconsider practically every lap what your race strategy should be. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, more compromises and decisions to be made every lap.
The driver that chooses the best compromises is most often the winner. A driver whose mind is best prepared is more likely to make the ultimate compromises.
PERFORMANCE VERSUS COMPETITION
You’re going to be more successful if you concentrate on your own performance rather than on the competition.
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Focus on your own performance rather than on the competition.
Many drivers become too focused on what their competitors are doing. They’re constantly looking at what the competition is doing to their cars, at how they are driving a particular corner, and watching the mirrors to keep them behind.
Instead, if they would put that much focus and concentration on their own car and driving; they would probably be so far ahead they would never have to worry about the competition.
Concentrate and work on getting 100 percent out of yourself and your car. Don’t worry about the competition. If you’re getting 100 percent out of yourself, there is not much else you can do about the competition anyway. If you don’t win, there is not much you can do other than improve your car’s performance level or work at raising your own 100 percent. After all, your 100 percent today may be only 90 percent six months from now, because your technique has improved. And you can always improve.
ILLUSTRATION 29-1 Once behind the wheel, there is only one thing you can control, your performance. One of the keys to consistent performance is focusing on your performance, the act of driving, and not on the result. If at any time you find yourself focusing on the result, think about one specific driving technique, such as how quickly you are turning the steering wheel entering the next turn.
By the very definition of the word “competitor,” we compete against others. If your focus is on competing, however, you lessen your chances of performing well. When you focus on your performance, you increase your chances of performing well, and therefore, of winning. Ironic, isn’t it? Perhaps then, instead of “competitors,” we should consider ourselves “performers.”
Focus on your performance, your execution, rather than the result. Paradoxically, your best results will come when you are least concerned with them, when you focus on your performance. This may be one of the most difficult “inner” concepts to accept. After all, racing cars is all about competition, beating the competition. And yet, when you detach yourself from the results, you will reduce your stress level, become more relaxed, your brain integrated—you will be “in the flow”—and the results will take care of themselves.
If you think about it, you really can’t control what your competition does, anyway. You have little direct influence on them. All you can do is control your own performance. So focus on what you can control, not what you can’t.
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Focus on your performance, and the results will look after themselves.
Research has actually shown that athletes focused on their own performance—their technique—have sharper vision and quicker reflexes than athletes focused on their results.
Don’t worry about what other people say. Don’t compare yourself to others. Compare yourself with your past performance, and strive to improve, no matter how you compare to the competition. Of all the drivers I’ve coached through the years, it’s the ones who are constantly looking at and comparing themselves to their competition that struggle the most. The drivers who focus on themselves and don’t worry about anyone else are the ones who win most often.
Only judge or evaluate yourself based upon what you’ve done, your performance, not on what other people say or think. Do what you think is right for you to achieve the goals you’ve set for yourself. Only you know what is right for you.
Winners focus on themselves today, in the present. They spend little time, if any at all, looking at or talking about what they did or achieved in the past or what they will do in the future. They look at the past only to learn from and improve. And yes, they have short- and long-term goals, but they know it is today’s performance that will enable them to achieve these goals.
It is when you are totally focused on the task at hand in the present and not on what has or will happen, that you most effectively activate your subconscious performance programs.
Expectations, thinking about a particular lap time or a qualifying or race finish position, can really limit your performance. Often, with expectations, you are so focused on the outcome, the result, that it distracts you from the moment, from your technique, and ultimately, from your performance.
When you have no expectations, you have no limits, no preconceived ideas or thoughts to unfocus your mind. With expectations, you have pressure, stress, and anxiety
that will negatively affect your performance. Plus, you will rarely ever exceed your expectations.
With many of the race drivers I coach, one of the first things I do is take the stopwatch right out of the equation. I have the drivers just go out and drive, without thinking about or worrying about their lap times or expectations. After all, why do you really care what your lap times are? If you turn a certain lap time, are you going to stop working at going even faster? I hope not! One of your objectives should be to always go faster.
Now, I know what you may be thinking: Your lap times are a measurement, a comparison with your competition. The point is, though, you may be focusing too much on measuring and comparing yourself with the competition, the result. If you put that much focus and attention on your own performance, you may be so far ahead of the competition that there is no need to compare.
COMFORT ZONE
When you first start racing, in whatever type of car you choose, it feels very fast. In fact, it’s almost as if you can’t keep up. But with experience, you become more comfortable and accustomed to the speed and feel of the car. I call this your Comfort Zone.
When you progress up to a faster car, you’re once again having to push the limits of your Comfort Zone. But again, with experience, your Comfort Zone expands, and you feel confident racing at the new speeds.
Some drivers adapt more quickly to faster cars than others. This doesn’t necessarily mean they are better drivers, just that they can expand the limits of their Comfort Zone quicker.
