Grow with the Flow
The importance of ‘flow’ was highlighted in a meeting this week by one of my amazing colleagues. Flow is so important when it comes to managing our thoughts, I wanted to share a couple of examples of it in action.
So, what is flow? One definition is ‘ a state when you’re completely absorbed in what you’re doing, and have no distracting thoughts in your head or from the outside world.’
In my previous blog, we talked about some of the great tennis players who are able to stay present in extremely challenging situations. Today let’s consider arguably the greatest tennis player of all time, Serena Williams - the only person to have won 23 grand slam titles, and who is also a 4 time Olympic gold medalist. She’s faced more than her fair share of challenges on and off the court, and has always risen to the top, in part by cutting out the negative thoughts and being able to stay completely absorbed in the actions she’s taking.
Source: https://flic.kr/p/dfzTMg
When Serena is playing a critical point in tennis, she obtains a state of flow by focusing acutely on the moment, and then letting herself become totally absorbed in what she’s doing. It’s what neuroscientist Joan Vickers called her ‘Quiet Eye’ - a science based technique derived from the teaching of Zen Masters. The ‘Quiet eye’ is utilised during periods of high stress, when games can be won or lost by cutting out distractions. Serena famously came back from 2-5 down in the final set of the Australian Open semi-final in 2003, where she was a whisker from defeat, but through using her quiet eye managed to stay focused, and went on to win the match and the championship. She also did it again in 2005, and at Wimbledon 4 years later.
Serena’s ability to stay in flow helped her overcome distractions and negative thoughts, as well as her opponents.
TIger Woods has also talked from an early age about letting go in the moment, and detaching from his thoughts. According Dr. Patrick Cohn, Tiger was able to fully immerse himself in the execution of each and every shot without attaching consequences to it, thereby letting the results come to him.
“I get so entrenched in the moment, I guess my subconscious takes over. There are many putts and shots where I don’t remember hitting (the ball). I remember preparing for the shot, pulling the club out of my bag, and once I’m behind the ball I’m in the shot, I don’t remember until I see the ball leave. It’s a weird thing.”
Sports psychologist Jay Brunza calls it the ‘40 second sanctuary of the pre-ball routine’. “Tiger is in a state of heightened awareness, an absorbed focus, he’s always in the here and now, with a clear uncluttered mind, absorbed in the moment.”
Getting out of your own way
Tiger goes on to say: “There are a lot of times where I don’t hear noise, I don’t hear anything, I’ve just become so enthralled in that particular moment - hitting a shot, and being mentally prepared, it’s almost as if I get out of the way. When my father was in the special forces, there were a lot of times when he said the training would just take over, as if his body was doing the work, and he was just sitting back and watching it do it.
That’s what it feels like in golf. I just get out of my own way, and let the training just take over.”
How often do you get distracted or let unhelpful thoughts take over when faced with a challenge, rather than trusting yourself and letting things flow? It’s not something that comes naturally to everyone - where you trust the skills you have developed rather than overthinking or worrying about the outcome - but it’s something we can all experience if we let it.
See what happens next time you’re faced with a challenging situation, and notice whether you get distracted by negative thoughts, or start worrying about what could go wrong. If that happens, try not to let the stress take over and instead bring your attention to the matter at hand, rather than the thoughts about it. Get out of your own way and try to let things flow a bit more.