Chapter 10 - The Power of Concentration ___________________________________________________________
Mono-ideaism ___________________________________________________
In 1983, conductor Carlos Kleiber was conducting Strauss‟s Der Rosenkavalier at La Scala, when all of a sudden, the entire building started shaking and a giant chandelier hanging above Kleiber started vibrating uncontrollably. A major earthquake was in the works. Everyone in the building was frantic…everyone that is, except Kleiber. He was concentrating so intently on the piece of music that he was conducting that he was completely unaware of the earthquake or the disturbance it had caused in the symphony hall. Obviously, Kleiber had achieved an extremely high level of single-mindedness and exclusive concentration and attention. A mind-set that most World Class athletes have achieved, but a skill seldom achieved by athletes of a low classification. Learning to associate would certainly seem easy enough. Just pay attention. Well, that helps, but unfortunately, this is not that easy. Like other skills, there are levels of competence. Paying attention to what you are doing takes understanding and considerable training. As mentioned, the ability to concentrate is a skill, and like any other skill, it can be developed and improved through practice. Basically, there are two ways to increase your concentration. You either learn to become totally focused on relevant stimuli or learn to ignore extraneous and irrelevant stimuli. You must learn the process or selective awareness the skill of selectively paying attention to what is important and ignoring the things that are not. Generally, athletes learn selective awareness by the process of trial and error and it‟s usually learned during competition. Unfortunately, this learning by doing strategy does not always work. As a matter of fact, for many athletes such a strategy can actually teach inappropriate behavior. For instance, if an athlete experiences extreme anxiety and performs poorly during competition, he or she is in reality learning that competition is anxiety provoking and detrimental to performance. In light of the aforementioned, it would seem imperative that an athlete be able to control both internal and external stimuli before entering competition. Fortunately, that is a very real possibility. Contrary to what many athletes and coaches believe, athletes can be systematically trained prior to competition to be independent and totally focused. Here are a few tips to help you link mind and body together: 1. First of all, put forth an effort to eliminate all distractions. It only makes sense that the more extraneous stimuli you have in your environment, the harder it will be to concentrate. Consequently, by eliminating extraneous stimuli, Learn to fuse mind and body into each and you can create an environment every skill you attempt. that is more conducive for focusing on your task. Music, talking, noises, and even people Incredible as it may sound, world at times can become a class marathoners focus on every step distraction. Ideally, it would be of their race. best to eliminate anything and everything that could divert your attention from the task at hand. From strictly a concentration standpoint, it would probably be best to work in a sterile environment. This is virtually impossible, especially if you train in a commercial gym. Remember, your sole purpose is to become “one” with the muscles you‟re working. It is not your intention to become a social animal or an active observer of your training environment. Like I said earlier, perform every act as if nothing else in the world matters. Again, the old Zen principle applies… you put your whole soul and