Timothy
Galloway, in his book ‘The Inner Game of Tennis’, explores the possibility that
concentrating too much on a skill has profound negative effects – especially
during the coaching phase of skill acquisition.
In short you can concentrate too much creating the conditions of
indecision, or paralysis by analysis.
I
have often wondered at which point in time is a human decision made? When, and
how does a thought transmit into a behaviour, and equally important is a
decision without a visible behaviour really a decision. I once heard a story about the Commanding
Officer of the SAS, he would personally interview new young Officers arriving
at Hereford, and without exception he would always make the same statement.
“Right
decision, well done. Wrong decision, unlucky; learn for next time. No decision,
unacceptable!”
I
have repeated this story many times when trying to coach someone into becoming
decisive and taking action. Indecision is the friend of procrastination,
delaying the call for momentum that acts as a precursor for a positive, or even
negative, choice.
The
question still remains, when does the decision take place, and is deciding to
do nothing still a valid decision?
To
help answer this interesting suggestion perhaps I could look at the decision
making process of a TT motorbike racer, performing thousands of life or death
decisions each lap of the infamous Isle of Man TT course. Athletes often
describe a Zen like state called ‘flow’, in which everything falls into place
without thought. The scientific minded people would ask how do we quantify this
‘flow’ and how do we know when exactly an athlete has it, what is present
during flow that is not present without it?
The simplest explanation could be the surrender of the decision making
process from the conscious mind to the unconscious mind. If the common
hypothesis is true that the conscious brain can process around 7 bits of
information (plus or minus 2), at any one time, surely there would be reliance
on recruiting other resources needed to deal with incredibly fast processing of
the world around at 180 mph. Decisions would need to be made instantaneously,
without the benefit of hindsight, and without time for an effective review of
the various options available – the right decision, every time, with no second
chances.
Ayrton
Senna once famously backed of a flying qualification lap; around a blind corner
an accident had taken place without his knowledge. Had Senna attacked this flat
out corner he would certainly of collided with the wreckage of the car in front,
something told him to take is foot of the accelerator in a split second
decision? Somehow Senna had interpreted
information outside of his conscious awareness leading him to make this
incredible decision – he had effectively listened to his gut feeling! Senna at
the time was the biggest star in F1; he was accustomed to all eyes being on him
during races and qualification. This corner was different somehow, when the
footage was reviewed of Senna’s approach to the corner the thousands of eyes
usually looking at Senna were not, they were looking to their right at the
crash scene, this piece of information, outside of Senna’s conscious awareness,
was enough for him to abort the lap on the strength of a split second feeling
inside his gut.
So,
if an athletes ‘flow’ is achieved in the surrender of decisions to the
unconscious brain could accidents occur when the conscious brain tries to
muscle back in on the act? This can be quantified most clearly with footballers
taking penalties under extreme pressure. Most missed penalties are a result of
indecision that can be observed early in the attempt. Getting ‘caught in two
minds’ suddenly becomes an ironic commentators pun. Contrast this 2 minded
approach often seen by footballers taking penalties with that of the rugby
player Johnny Wilkinson, he makes every aspect of the kick a ritual, almost entering
a mild trance in which he can silence all around and hand over the task, in its
entirety, to his unconscious mind.
The
difference, however, between the decisions of footballers and rugby players
should not be compared to TT racers. Richard ‘Milky’ Quayle once said, from his
hospital bed after a 150mph crash, that the 37 mile course was incredibly hard
mentally and that often he would have to battle to ‘stop his mind wandering’.
This wandering of the mind could be the switch backwards and forwards between
conscious decision process and unconscious decision process, science would
suggest that travelling at 170mph through Kirk Michael village with houses
either side added to the almost infinite other pieces of information,
represents more than the 7 afforded to our conscious brain?
Science
and neuroscience are providing us with some of the most incredibly interesting
research on the point in time when a decision is made. Research from the Max
Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences suggests that a decision
is actually made up to 7 seconds before we are consciously aware, which in and
of itself provides ideas and theories to be explored in future blogs.
One
thing is for certain though, through heightened awareness comes a heightened
reliance on the unconscious mind. Information processing, situational awareness
and decision making all require cognitive skill, perhaps there is no greater
example of this than the men who average 130mph around a road circuit
sandwiched between houses, hedges and stone walls.
Timothy
Galloway discovered that rather than over coaching specific details, if he
asked his tennis players to think only of bounce – hit, in time with the game,
they had incredible results. The surrender of the skill to the unconscious
brain allowed them to achieve the ‘flow’ so sought after by athletes.
