Can’t see the wood for the trees?

I went motor racing last weekend – not something I do very often I must say! I was fortunate to spend time with a team coach, and I asked him how he trains top drivers, and what their main obstacles are.

This is what he told me...

When you first learn to drive on a track at speed, the key thing is to be focused 100% on where you want to go. One of the main issues new drivers have is that they focus on what they don’t want.

So, for example, they might be saying to themselves,
‘I mustn’t hit the barrier’, and guess what happens more often that not? Yes, exactly. They hit the barrier.

I find this happens a lot in business too. We get so preoccupied by what we don’t want, that we almost make it come true by our self-talk. In coaching it’s similar; sometimes it’s easier to think about what we don’t want, rather than what we do want.

Take a leaf out of the great racing drivers’ book; a great question to ask yourself if you’re focusing on the barriers, is ‘what do I want instead?’

As the late Ayrton Senna himself said,

'And so you touch this limit, something happens and you suddenly can go a little bit further. With your mind power, your determination, your instinct, and the experience as well, you can fly very high.'

So, what do you want instead of what you have right now?

Liz Kentish The FM Coach 01778 561326 / 07717 787077 coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk