Mindset for Racing

This issue is key at the beginning of anything you do

2009-07-01T18:02:00.003+01:00

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This issue is key at the beginning of anything you do

How putting first things first will help you hugely
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Hi there

Following on from last month’s Mindset for Racing, which was all about ‘beginning with the end in mind’, here is a newsletter with a similar, but complementary tack.

Whilst ‘beginning with the end in mind’ being all about mentally creating what you want to happen, ‘putting first things first’ is all about taking action and making your mental plans happen in reality.

Any quality engineer will ‘measure twice and cut once’. This measuring is an example of the mental creation we referred to last month and without it you’re stuffed. Putting ‘first things first’ is the day-in, day-out, moment-by-moment doing of the job in hand.

Of course, you need to do both to be an effective racer and continuously improve.

So what exactly does ‘putting first things first’ mean to you and your racing?

Well, ask yourself this question:

What one thing, which you’re not getting done at the moment, could you do on a regular basis that would make a massive difference to your racing performance?

This is a ‘first thing’ that you need to be doing day-in and day-out. But it’s likely there are some things you can say in answer to the question above that you just aren’t getting done. eg Are you consistently working on lowering body fat levels after your fitness assessment suggested you’d struggle with heat retention in hot races? Are you consistently focussing on being in the zone ready for a new tyre run, because your pace is high on old tyres but never quite there when new rubber goes on?

Or, are you actually spending a huge amount of time on stuff which just isn’t important to your racing goals. As well, if you spend time on important stuff, is it always the urgent stuff you do, running around in a constant fire-fight?

* The Mindset for Racing Finish Line *

Putting ‘first things first’ means you spend more time on the important stuff that is NOT urgent. You get things done consistently that give you a stronger foundation to be consistently better.

Adjust your tasks and planned actions on a weekly basis.

Have the goals and agreed roles in mind when you adjust your schedule weekly. This allows you to be flexible enough to take advantage of new opportunities.

You know what the top guys do and what you should be doing, don’t you?

Enjoy your racing and never give up.

Regards

Mike

Mike Garth
Helping karters and racing drivers perform better
+44 (0) 7737 655 912
www.sun1400.com
Sun1400: Sunday 2pm - Ready to race?

© Sun1400, 2009. All rights reserved. You are free to use material from the Mindset for Racing eZine in whole or in part, as long as you include a complete attribution, including live web site link. Please also notify me where the material will appear.

The attribution should read:

"By Mike Garth of Sun1400. Please visit Mike's web site at www.sun1400.com for additional articles and resources on helping karters, racing drivers and their teams perform better." (Make sure the link is live if placed in an eZine or in a web site.)

Five scenarios in which you must be clear on the outcome

2009-06-01T12:52:00.003+01:00

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Five scenarios in which you must be clear on the outcome

How well do you begin with the end in mind?
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Hi there

You’re now well into your 2009 racing season and all the plans, aims and strategies you worked on over the winter will now be implemented and actioned.

Where are you now with your racing, compared to where you wanted to be at this point?

How well you answer that question, will for the most part, depend upon how well you ‘begin with the end in mind’. ‘Beginning with the end in mind’ means you must be clear, in a highly specific way, what your desired outcome is. This is easy to give lip service to, but how often do you consistently deliver on this?

Here then are five scenarios in your racing, when being clear on the outcome you want and ‘beginning with the end in mind’ are of huge importance to you:

1 – Where are you going to be with your racing in three years’ time?

This is the Big Picture, the Dream Goal, the End Game.

You’d be surprised how many racers cannot answer this in detail that really means something to them, and this only ever hurts them in the long run.

2 – What do you want to have achieved by the end of this season?

What will you have, be or be able to do at the end of this season that fits with your over-riding plan?

3 – In one month’s time, what development processes will you have nailed?

In your development and training plan, what will you be doing in one month’s time, that makes you faster and more consistent than you are today?

Will you have nailed braking with more efficiency? Will you have gained control of your concentration when fatigued? Will you have made that step change with upper body strength? Etc, etc.

4 – What’s the main ‘job of the day’ today?

There will usually be a handful of tasks and achievements that are key to each day. What are the key process goals of today that mean the most to you in your racing improvement?

5 – In the next hour, what do you need to get done or sorted?

This could easily be ‘kick back, relax and get some ‘recovery units’ in’ but such a focus on an end-point can be a great way of improving your efficiency and increasing forward momentum with your progress.

* The Mindset for Racing Finish Line *

Anybody who is effective in anything always begins with the end in mind. Rather than begin different, racers such as you need to do this even more.

You know what the top guys do and what you should be doing, don’t you?

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Next Edition – This issue is key at the beginning of anything you do

How putting first things first will help you hugely
===================================================

If you know someone you think will like this eZine newsletter then please pass it on.

Enjoy your racing and never give up.

Regards

Mike

Mike Garth
Helping karters and racing drivers perform better
+44 (0) 7737 655 912
www.sun1400.com
Sun1400: Sunday 2pm - Ready to race?

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About This eZine and About Your Subscription
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© Sun1400, 2009. All rights reserved. You are free to use material from the Mindset for Racing eZine in whole or in part, as long as you include a complete attribution, including live web site link. Please also notify me where the material will appear.

The attribution should read:

"By Mike Garth of Sun1400. Please visit Mike's web site at www.sun1400.com for additional articles and resources on helping karters, racing drivers and their teams perform better." (Make sure the link is live if placed in an eZine or in a web site.)

Four ways to choose how you react to a situation

2009-05-02T16:39:00.001+01:00

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Four ways to choose how you react to a situation

When something happens in your race team, how much choice do you really have?
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Hi there

When stuff happens in your race team, what controls the way you react?

Is it the case that whenever certain things happen, when certain people say certain things, you will always react the same way, be that effective or ineffective?

There will definitely be situations that annoy you, and sometimes you’ll be right to get annoyed! However, sometimes you may ‘fly off the handle’, ‘retreat into your shell’ or ‘storm off in a huff’ when the reaction you choose only makes the situation worse. When at the track, of course, all we really care about is making the best laptime out of what we’ve got in front of us.

The key word in the sentences above is ‘choose’.

Even in the face of a tirade from the Team Numpty during a key racing moment, YOU have FREEDOM TO CHOOSE how you react in these four ways:

1st Way – Your self-awareness

When your self-awareness and performance state awareness is high, just as it is for all the top drivers, you will know when you need to exercise your ability to choose how you react.

2nd Way – Your imagination

Any top athlete can create in their minds what they want to have.

3rd Way – Your conscience

You will have your own inner ‘code of conduct’, your ‘rules of the game’ that you will naturally act according to, even without thinking. This could equally be ‘I’m happy to fire someone off at the start’ as it could be ‘they were wrong for launching me’.

4th Way – Your right to choose

Any racer at any level always has independent will. They always have the right to choose, but when under pressure, and without some basic mental skills, this right isn’t always exercised.

* The Mindset for Racing Finish Line *

You don’t have to react to the same situation in the same way everytime. You always have the freedom to choose how you react to an event, even if at times, that will test you to your limits, but that’s why we all go racing, isn’t it?

You know what the top guys do and what you should be doing, don’t you?

===================================================
Next Edition – Five scenarios in which you must be clear on the outcome

How well do you begin with the end in mind?
===================================================

Enjoy your racing and never give up.

Regards

Mike

Mike Garth
Helping karters and racing drivers perform better
+44 (0) 7737 655 912
www.sun1400.com
Sun1400: Sunday 2pm - Ready to race?

© Sun1400, 2009. All rights reserved. You are free to use material from the Mindset for Racing eZine in whole or in part, as long as you include a complete attribution, including live web site link. Please also notify me where the material will appear.

The attribution should read:
"By Mike Garth of Sun1400. Please visit Mike's web site at www.sun1400.com for additional articles and resources on helping karters, racing drivers and their teams perform better." (Make sure the link is live if placed in an eZine or in a web site.)

Would you tighten the diff with a tail-happy driver?

2009-04-01T17:09:00.002+01:00

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Would you tighten the diff with a tail-happy driver?

How your racing mindset relates to your differential on the setup sheet
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Hi there

If you’re racing cars at a decent level, then differential settings may well be an item on your setup sheet. Maybe you’re still in karting, where the rear axle is fixed or you’re in the junior formulae where adjusting the differential is not an option?

If you’re not sure what the diff is and how it can tune your car’s balance then feel free to call me on +44 (0) 7737 655 912 and I’ll take the time to explain it to you. No cost, no problem.

So whether you can adjust the diff on your car or not and whether you fully understand what it can do for you, you now know for sure the diff is potentially an important setup device you can use to your advantage.

One area you can get the diff to help you is on corner entry. If your diff is set ‘loose’ on the over-run side, ie the side that affects corner entry rather than corner exit, then your driving style better be smooth and controlled else you may find yourself pointing the wrong way down the track.

Equally, if you’re last of the late-brakers, ‘tail-happy’ and carry a lot of brake pressure and car speed in towards the mid-corner, perhaps with more violent steering applications, then you may well need your diff set up the other way, ie ‘tight’. (Of course, the real solution depends on aero balance, brake balance, balance of tyre grip, etc, but the basic principle remains.)

So sometimes with the diff, the natural style of the driver both causes you and allows you to set the diff up in a compensating and opposing way.

So what the hell has this got to do with your racing mindset?

As a racing driver, you will have a natural style of thinking, feeling and acting, ie you will have a certain mindset ‘template’ that is natural for you when competing. (Did you know you can measure this? Contact me and I’ll send you some examples.)

Depending on what this natural racing mindset is, determines what you should do to maximise your chances of being on the limit more often and increasing your overall performance. ie As for the diff, you need to take account of your natural competitive style before you set things up for best performance.

* The Mindset for Racing Finish Line *

To maximise performance (which is why you’re signed up for Mindset for Racing, isn’t it?) you need to know what your competitive mindset is and THEN you need to BE PREPARED TO SOMETHING VASTLY DIFFERENT to get the gain you’re after. If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always got.

eg If you’re structured, well planned and methodical, you need to act before you are ready on occasion, going outside your comfort zone and accepting a higher chance of failure. Conversely, if you’re far more gun-ho and impulsive, you need to lay down some structure and specific monitoring methods that keep your actions more focussed.

Remember, if you want to be sent some examples of the measurements of competitive mindset, then email me and I’ll email them back by return.

You know what the top guys do and what you should be doing, don’t you?

===================================================
Next Edition – Four ways to choose how you react to a situation

When something happens in your race team, how much choice do you really have?
===================================================

Enjoy your racing and never give up.

Regards

Mike

Mike Garth
Helping karters and racing drivers perform better
+44 (0) 7737 655 912
www.sun1400.com
Sun1400: Sunday 2pm - Ready to race?

© Sun1400, 2009. All rights reserved. You are free to use material from the Mindset for Racing eZine in whole or in part, as long as you include a complete attribution, including live web site link. Please also notify me where the material will appear.

The attribution should read:

"By Mike Garth of Sun1400. Please visit Mike's web site at www.sun1400.com for additional articles and resources on helping karters, racing drivers and their teams perform better." (Make sure the link is live if placed in an eZine or in a web site.)

How your kart’s or car’s handling balance relates to your mental approach

2009-03-03T18:31:00.002Z

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How your kart’s or car’s handling balance relates to your mental approach

Why you need to catch your mental slides early
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Hi there

It’s now March and you’ll either have just had your first race of the 2009 season or will be close to having it. Are you 100% happy you’ve done all you could and have everything in place to do the world class job your racing demands?

As a subscriber to this Mindset for Racing newsletter you are in great company because there is a whole range of top quality racers who read it every month. From National level Cadet karters and their associated Team Staff all the way up to people in Formula1, this Newsletter is being read, digested and acted upon by an ever increasing number of movers and shakers in motor racing, including, of course, YOU.

If you’re in the quicker group in your series, you’ll already be on the pace technically. Your kart or car control will be so well developed you’ll catch the understeer or oversteer very early. Without thinking, you’ll naturally make many tiny corrections as you set out to nail the perfect lap and get on the limit of tyre grip all the way around the track.

In fact, your skill in being able to sense the handling balance EARLY and act with an appropriate input on the controls is what sets ‘the quick’ apart from the ‘merely good’. When you were a novice, by the time you’d sensed some slides, you were already facing the wrong way or had scrubbed off so much speed you’d lost the lap.

Now then, you have ‘mental slides’ too. Sometimes these ‘mental slides’ can equally cause you to lose the lap or even the whole session or indeed the whole race weekend. For example, if you get emotionally wound up and lose control of your performance state, then beyond a certain threshold level you are unlikely to get it back under control in a short amount of time. In such a case, by the time you’ve got it back under control, you’re on your way out of the circuit gates…

The key with these mental slides then, is to catch them EARLY.

* The Mindset for Racing Finish Line *

If you’re going to say ‘good-bye’ to a problem, you’re better off saying ‘hello’ to it in the first place.

The earlier you catch your ‘mental slides’ (and they will come in many and varied forms) the better you’ll be at dealing with them effectively and getting on with the real business of going motor racing.

AWARENESS then is what this is all about. Ignorance is not bliss when it comes to elite racing performance. Be aware of when you are off-line mentally and identify this as early as possible. The resultant mental slide you’ll have to deal with will then be smaller and you’ll correct it better and faster, losing less lap-time in the process.

You know what the top guys do and what you should be doing, don’t you?

================================================================
Next Edition – Would you tighten the diff with a tail-happy driver?

How your racing mindset relates to your differential on the setup sheet
================================================================

Enjoy your racing and never give up.

Regards

Mike

Mike Garth
Helping karters and racing drivers perform better
+44 (0) 7737 655 912
www.sun1400.com
Sun1400: Sunday 2pm - Ready to race?

© Sun1400, 2009. All rights reserved. You are free to use material from the Mindset for Racing eZine in whole or in part, as long as you include a complete attribution, including live web site link. Please also notify me where the material will appear.

The attribution should read:

"By Mike Garth of Sun1400. Please visit Mike's web site at www.sun1400.com for additional articles and resources on helping karters, racing drivers and their teams perform better." (Make sure the link is live if placed in an eZine or in a web site.)

Three reasons why learning to relax will make you a better racer

2009-02-03T10:49:00.003Z

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Three reasons why learning to relax will make you a better racer

How well-drilled relaxation techniques increase your performance
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Hi there

It’s now February 2009 and your pre-season preparations will be coming to a peak.

As your first major race of this new campaign approaches, your stomach may tighten, your excitement may rise, your heart may race and your mood may lift as you anticipate putting all your proper practice to the real test of going racing. The start of a new season is always a fun time for racers.

Some of your reactions like this may help you go faster more often, but other reactions you have might slow you down. Sometimes you might not be sufficiently ‘up for it’, sometimes you might be too wound up.

What you then need is a solid system of calming yourself down when you notice yourself being too wound up, if you’re going to give yourself the chance of performing at your best.

So why should applying such targeted relaxation skills make you a better racer?

Reason 1 – Your brain will operate at a more helpful frequency

When you’re awake, alert, perhaps anxious and a little ‘on edge’, your brain will operate towards the top end of what’s known as the ‘beta’ range of frequencies (between 14 and 30 Hz). The lower you can get this frequency of brain waves, the calmer, more focussed, more attentive to the job in hand you will be. Get the frequency down and you’ll make less mistakes.

In fact, if you can get your brain waves down to between 8 and 14 Hz then you’ll be in what’s known as the ‘alpha’ zone. You will rarely experience this in the race car but if you ever do, you will truly be ‘in the zone’. The outside world will slow down to you, every braking point will be nailed and the track will seem wider as you get close to your perfect lap. With what seems like no effort, you’ll be on the pace everywhere.

Reason 2 – Both sides of your brain will work together more

When you’re calm and relaxed, your brain will be far more ‘integrated’. This means both sides of your brain will work together more.

You know how the left side of your brain controls the right side of your body and the right side of your brain control the left side of your body? Well also, in rough terms, the left side of your brain is more logical and systematic whilst the right side of your brain is more creative and intuitive.

What matters to you is that when both sides of your brain are in-tune and working together, your performance will increase. Being relaxed helps this happen.

Reason 3 – You will have less unhelpful nerves

The reduced brain wave frequency of Reason 1 will actively reduce any tendency to think negatively under the pressure of competition.

You will allow yourself to carry more confidence into the pressure situations when you apply the practised skills of relaxation.

* The Mindset for Racing Finish Line *

Sometimes you can be too relaxed, but 99 times out of 100 with young aspiring racers, they go the other way and get too wound up.

Bringing in well-honed physical and mental relaxation skills gives you another tool with which to beat the opposition. You might get so good at it you’ll experience truly ‘being in the zone’.

(And by the way, Sun1400 R&D is working on some revolutionary measurement and feedback sensors that can show you how unconsciously ‘wound up’ you are and then how to control it. Stay tuned!)

You know what the top guys do and what you should be doing, don’t you?

================================================================
Next Edition – How your kart’s or car’s handling balance relates to your mental approach

Why you need to catch your mental slides early
================================================================

Enjoy your racing and never give up.

Regards

Mike

Mike Garth
Helping karters and racing drivers perform better
+44 (0) 7737 655 912
www.sun1400.com
Sun1400: Sunday 2pm - Ready to race?

© Sun1400, 2009. All rights reserved. You are free to use material from the Mindset for Racing eZine in whole or in part, as long as you include a complete attribution, including live web site link. Please also notify me where the material will appear.

The attribution should read:

"By Mike Garth of Sun1400. Please visit Mike's web site at www.sun1400.com for additional articles and resources on helping karters, racing drivers and their teams perform better." (Make sure the link is live if placed in an eZine or in a web site.)

Your BIG problem with Goals and how to solve it

2009-01-02T16:01:00.003Z

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Your BIG problem with Goals and how to solve it

A new year with new targets but it’s likely you need to bin some old plans
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Hi there

You’ve likely been thinking about 2009 for a good few months. Regular punters make their New Year’s Resolutions right now but racers make them all the time. A real racer is a goal setting machine. Goals are set and ‘resolutions’ made every month, every week, every day, every session outing.

Quality racing drivers and karters will often be saying to themselves such things as “I will do three cardio workouts this week”, “I will move up to cars by the end of this season”, “I will act on the plans to increase my budget by 25% by the end of next month”, “I will take Turn4 flat in the next outing”, “I will practise my mental skills for 30 mins by the end of today”. And on it goes.

We’ve already covered the 11 steps in high quality Goal Setting in Mindset for Racing. No need to repeat them.

However, an outcome driven racer such as you, can lose out on a consistently high quality performance when goals are clung to when they should be dumped.

What if, in the examples above, we’re four months on and even though you acted on your plans you’re still 15% shy on your budget increase? Either your plans weren’t good enough or your goal was too much of a stretch. Either way, change tack and reset the strategy.

* The Mindset for Racing Finish Line *

Even if you know, deep down, there are things you’ve committed to doing in the past that now are just not going to get done, they can be a real energy-sap and emotional drain if you don’t go through a quick process of binning them / writing them off.

If things haven’t been achieved or completed off plans / goal sheets / wall planners / to do lists and they’re dragging on then re-jig them with a new strategy or plain bin them. Get them out of your sight. Spare your time, money and energy for the ones that get you nearer to your major outcomes because otherwise you’re creating your own psychological and organisational drain. And such a drain will only ever reduce performance.

You know what the top guys do and what you should be doing, don’t you?

================================================================
Next Edition – Three reasons why learning to relax will make you a better racer

How well-drilled relaxation techniques increase your performance
================================================================

Happy New Year and here’s to you making 2009 your best racing year so far!

Enjoy your racing and never give up.

Regards

Mike

Mike Garth
Helping karters and racing drivers perform better
+44 (0) 7737 655 912
www.sun1400.com
Sun1400: Sunday 2pm - Ready to race?

© Sun1400, 2009. All rights reserved. You are free to use material from the Mindset for Racing eZine in whole or in part, as long as you include a complete attribution, including live web site link. Please also notify me where the material will appear.

The attribution should read:

"By Mike Garth of Sun1400. Please visit Mike's web site at www.sun1400.com for additional articles and resources on helping karters, racing drivers and their teams perform better." (Make sure the link is live if placed in an eZine or in a web site.)

Two key things you MUST have in common with successful businesses

2008-12-01T09:51:00.002Z

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Two key things you MUST have in common with successful businesses

How to Test and Measure where you’re at
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Hi there

You know how the best drivers can break down how the car/kart handles in great detail? There’s often a link between how much detail they can go into and how quick they are.

It’s the same with the engineers. The more things they know about then the more options they have for improving the setup. If they monitor and evaluate ever more parameters on the car, they can understand what the key variables are and take control of them. This avoids ‘paralysis by analysis’ (if done with a decent overview of what matters) yet still allows the performance related items to show up and be controlled.

As you probably know, one of the major problems in doing this is to continually develop an ever-finer measurement system. Where a 1% improvement might have gained you the edge before, perhaps now you need to know when you’ve found 0.1% as the competition gets tougher. However, if your measurement system can’t tell the difference between 0.1% and 0.2% then you might not find your 0.1%! It could be there right in front of you but you measure it as zero so ignore it!

So you’re happy that looking at, delving into, measuring and analysing your set-up and driving style in more and more detail allows you to find lap-time then, aren’t you?

It’s the same with business. Or at least it’s the same with the successful ones. They go through exactly the same process so they focus on what makes money and dump the things that don’t. The better the model of what’s going on, the better the business.

It’s also the same with you mindset: Your thoughts, your feelings, your behaviours – your confidence, concentration, motivation, muscle tension, anxiety, breathing rate, heart rate, brain-wave state, etc.

There are then two key things you must have in common with successful businesses to take you forward:

1 – Test 2 – Measure

By testing and measuring your mindset you can do exactly what you do with the set up at the track and with any business you’re involved with.

Measure a Baseline, make a change, go and test it, measure again. Simple as. The difficulty for you is that you may not have the tools and skills to measure your mindset. Without such tools, you can’t go through the all important Test and Measure process.

* The Mindset for Racing Finish Line *

By using appropriate mindset measuring tools and processes you can implement a system of testing and measuring that will truly break down this racing ‘mindset’ of yours and allow you to find out what’s key and improve what really matters.

There’s even a suite of ‘Baseline’ services from me at Sun1400 that allows you to do just that. Check out www.sun1400.com/services.html .

You know what the top guys do and what you should be doing, don’t you?

Have a great Xmas and here’s to a great Racing 2009 for you!

================================================================
Next Edition – Your BIG problem with Goals and how to solve it

A new year with new targets but it’s likely you need to bin some old plans
================================================================

Enjoy your racing and never give up.

Regards

Mike

Mike Garth
Helping karters and racing drivers perform better
+44 (0) 7737 655 912
www.sun1400.com
Sun1400: Sunday 2pm - Ready to race?

© Sun1400, 2008. All rights reserved. You are free to use material from the Mindset for Racing eZine in whole or in part, as long as you include a complete attribution, including live web site link. Please also notify me where the material will appear.
The attribution should read:

"By Mike Garth of Sun1400. Please visit Mike's web site at www.sun1400.com for additional articles and resources on helping motor sports athletes and their teams perform better." (Make sure the link is live if placed in an eZine or in a web site.)

The 11 Steps that take you to your Goal

2008-11-01T01:00:00.003Z

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The 11 Steps that take you to your Goal

Here are the 11 things you must go through to consistently hit your performance targets
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Hi there

Goal setting: Many talk about it, some theorise about it, many think they do it but few nail it.

It’s the easiest concept to take on board in the work I do with you but the hardest to implement effectively in a useful day-to-day way.

Here then are 11 things you can do to set effective goals and hit your performance targets:

1 – Write your goal in a very specific way

2 – Write your goal in the present tense

3 – Write down what you will avoid by achieving this goal

4 – Write down what you will enjoy by achieving this goal

5 – Take a reality check – objectively, where are you at now with this goal? Write this down

6 – What’s going to get in your way? Write this down

7 – How do you reckon you’ll clear these obstacles? Write this down

This can be unspecific. Yours is not to reason how with this goal just yet, only to reason what, why and when.

8 – Write down what rewards you will give yourself when you’re half-way there and when you achieve your goal

9 – Write down what you’re committing to start doing and continue doing, towards this goal

10 – Own your goal. Sign and date the document that includes everything you’ve written above.

11 – Print off your goal and display it somewhere prominent and private.

* The Mindset for Racing Finish Line *

There’s a lot of writing in there, isn’t there?! You bet. Writing helps program your mind and that’s part of what quality goal setting will do for you.

High achieving racers are goal setting machines. They’re focussed but not obsessive and always maintain a sense of child-like fun in their racing, training and testing.

You know what the top guys do and what you should be doing, don’t you?

================================================================
Next Edition – Two key things you MUST have in common with successful businesses

How to Test and Measure where you’re at
================================================================

Enjoy your racing and never give up.

Regards

Mike

Mike Garth
Helping karters and racing drivers perform better
+44 (0) 7737 655 912
www.sun1400.com
Sun1400: Sunday 2pm - Ready to race?

© Sun1400, 2008. All rights reserved. You are free to use material from the Mindset for Racing eZine in whole or in part, as long as you include a complete attribution, including live web site link. Please also notify me where the material will appear.
The attribution should read:

"By Mike Garth of Sun1400. Please visit Mike's web site at www.sun1400.com for additional articles and resources on helping motor sports athletes and their teams perform better." (Make sure the link is live if placed in an eZine or in a web site.)

These are the ways you can maximise control over what happens

2008-10-01T10:38:00.003+01:00

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These are the ways you can maximise control over what happens

What are you attracting into your racing life and is it helping you get what you want?
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Hi there

How much control have you had over what’s gone on in your racing life this past season? In fact, how much control have you had over your life as a whole? (Although I’m not intending to directly help you with that one!)

There is a ‘pop’ psychology concept known as the The Law of Attraction and like many such concepts, there’s considerable flannel surrounding it. However, with this, there’s strong evidence to suggest there’s something in parts of it too.

Have a think through what’s gone on in your racing season this year. What sponsors, what opportunities, what deals have come your way? Equally, what problems, what ineffective solutions have come your way? You have attracted some of these situations into your world, both the good ones and the bad ones.

The aspect of control all starts with your own beliefs, then with your own attitude, then your thoughts and then finally your actions.

What beliefs do you have that give you certain attitudes, where these attitudes don’t help you get more budget / more fitness / faster laptimes / etc. You know that with targeted work you can change some of these beliefs for the better too?

* The Mindset for Racing Finish Line *

Your outer world is a reflection of your inner world. What you get / have / become reflects where you were at mentally a short while ago.

There is no voodoo in this. What you focus on and think about determines how you act and how you act determines what happens.

You’re in the driving seat. You are in control. When you puncture / get fired off / get excluded when you never jumped the start / get injured / blow an engine / etc. the one thing that’s totally up to you and only you is your attitude and your response to all this hassle that the racing we love throws at us! (Some of these setbacks mentioned here will, of course, always happen to you, no matter how you think, because they happen to everybody from time-to-time. Where you can edge out your rivals is by turning the negatives into positives and attracting helpful things on the big scale.)

You know what the top guys do and what you should be doing, don’t you?

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Next Edition – The 11 Steps that take you to your Goal

Here are the 11 things you must go through to consistently hit your performance targets
================================================================

Enjoy your racing and never give up.

Regards

Mike

Mike Garth
Helping karters and racing drivers perform better
+44 (0) 7737 655 912
www.sun1400.com
Sun1400: Sunday 2pm - Ready to race?

© Sun1400, 2008. All rights reserved. You are free to use material from the Mindset for Racing eZine in whole or in part, as long as you include a complete attribution, including live web site link. Please also notify me where the material will appear.
The attribution should read:

"By Mike Garth of Sun1400. Please visit Mike's web site at www.sun1400.com for additional articles and resources on helping motor sports athletes and their teams perform better." (Make sure the link is live if placed in an eZine or in a web site.)

Four BIG problems with your sub-conscious mind and how to solve them

2008-09-02T12:50:00.005+01:00

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Four big problems with your sub-conscious mind and how to solve them

How and why you need to upgrade the software of your mind
=================================================================

Hi there

It’s almost the end of your 2008 racing season. How’s it gone? Did you step up and make the performance improvements you were aiming for?

What plans have you got for 2009?

Whatever those plans and realities are, your sub-conscious mind will play a huge part in how well you approach your next racing season. The downside for you is that there are four big problems with your sub-conscious.

Here’s what your problems will be and how to solve them:

- Problem 1

When you’re under pressure, you’ll go to where you’re comfortable.

Take note of how you act and think when you’re short of time, short of space, short of energy or when expectation is high. When the pressure is on and your sub-conscious programming takes over, is your natural, ‘comfortable’ state one that helps you race faster or does it slow you down?

- Problem 2

When mentally anxious, your brain naturally functions at the wrong frequency for you to drive your kart or car.

You don’t consciously control this; it comes from your sub-conscious programming.

I haven’t yet worked out a way of installing electrical frequency sensors in your racing helmet yet and plugging them into your data logger, but such a measure would tell me how positive and effective your mental state would be when you’re racing.

By the way, such sensors exist and can be used right now, but until they are developed further, only for use in the lab. Watch this space!

- Problem 3

You have deep-rooted beliefs and not all of them will help you go faster in the next session.

These beliefs are held in your sub-conscious and will rise to the surface when you’re under pressure. When we work together, we can work out what these are by observing what you do and hearing what you say. When we know what they are, we can do something about them to help you go faster more often.

- Problem 4

You have trigger points that cause you to react in unhelpful ways.

Remember last month’s Mindset for Racing? You will have predictable and repeated patters of behaviour, driven by your sub-conscious, when faced with certain situations. Not all of them will help you get what you want in your racing.

* The Mindset for Racing Finish Line *

There are many ways your sub-conscious comes into play when out there racing, including when under the awning, on the data logging PC in the truck and in the de-brief room. Unless you’ve put quality training routines in place, not all of your sub-conscious reactions will help you. Indeed, some of them will hurt you, big time.

There are then many solutions to these Big Four Problems. Here’s a good one you can begin to implement right now:

Get hold of an Applied Relaxation mp3 file, there are loads of them out there, including one from Sun1400, and develop the skill to actively increase your control of the frequency at which your brain operates. When you’ve got your brain in a helpful state, implement a series of positive affirmations, perhaps said by your own personal audio script, that begin the process of updating your sub-conscious programming.

You know what the top guys do and what you should be doing, don’t you?

================================================================
Next Edition – These are the ways you can maximise control over what happens

What are you attracting into your racing life and is it helping you get what you want?
================================================================

Enjoy your racing and never give up.

Regards

Mike

Mike Garth
Helping karters and racing drivers perform better
+44 (0) 7737 655 912
www.sun1400.com
Sun1400: Sunday 2pm - Ready to race?

© Sun1400, 2008. All rights reserved. You are free to use material from the Mindset for Racing eZine in whole or in part, as long as you include a complete attribution, including live web site link. Please also notify me where the material will appear.
The attribution should read:

"By Mike Garth of Sun1400. Please visit Mike's web site at www.sun1400.com for additional articles and resources on helping motor sports athletes and their teams perform better." (Make sure the link is live if placed in an eZine or in a web site.)

How good is the finger on your trigger?

2008-08-02T15:49:00.003+01:00

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How good is the finger on your trigger?

What are your patterns of thinking and can you control your personal triggers?
=================================================================

Hi there

How’s your racing being going recently?

How much do you find yourself repeating the same behaviours? If you find this happening at key moments in your racing, then how much are these repeated behaviours helping or hurting your performance? If they’re hurting your performance, then you need to do something about it to improve.

These repeated behaviours will come from standard patterns of thinking and will be triggered by your reaction to events. The more control you have over these personal triggers, then the better you’ll be at overcoming setbacks and distractions in your racing.

For example, when you’re fatigued, perhaps because of a heavy testing schedule with lots of travelling, and you don’t end up on the free practice timesheets anywhere near the position you’d expected to be in, do you tend to react in a certain and predictable way? Does the combination of fatigue and disappointment trigger you into an unhelpful state?

For the next two weeks, simply take note of how you are when under pressured conditions. Don’t change anything, just be aware.

Awareness is everything in this game. The more you’re aware, the more you can personally control how you react and therefore how you think and behave. As a racer, you already know that a system under control is a consistently fast one. That’s why we put third dampers on IndyCars back in the 90s. (Ask me about separated ride and roll control next time we speak!)

* The Mindset for Racing Finish Line *

You have a personal setup that means you think in repeatable patterns. You need to find out which patterns are helpful and which patterns are unhelpful when it comes to going faster more often. When you’ve identified these two things, make sure you do something to change the unhelpful ones. Your rivals will be doing something today that will gain them a tenth tomorrow. You need to make those personal ‘triggers’ work for you, not against you.

You know what the top guys do and what you should be doing, don’t you?

================================================================
Next Edition – Four big problems with your sub-conscious mind and how to solve them

How and why you need to upgrade the software of your mind
================================================================

Enjoy your racing and never give up.

Regards

Mike

Mike Garth
Helping karters, racing drivers and motorcycle racers perform better
+44 (0) 7737 655 912
www.sun1400.com
Sun1400: Sunday 2pm - Ready to race?

© Sun1400, 2008. All rights reserved. You are free to use material from the Mindset for Racing eZine in whole or in part, as long as you include a complete attribution, including live web site link. Please also notify me where the material will appear.
The attribution should read:

"By Mike Garth of Sun1400. Please visit Mike's web site at www.sun1400.com for additional articles and resources on helping motor sports athletes and their teams perform better." (Make sure the link is live if placed in an eZine or in a web site.)

Three BIG ways to build better rapport within your team

2008-07-08T23:05:00.002+01:00

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Three BIG ways to build better rapport within your team

How asking open-ended questions will help your team perform better
=================================================================

Hi there

Have you ever been in a post-race debrief and walked away thinking “my driver/engineer just didn’t get what I was trying to say there, at all”?

Have you ever been in a team meeting and walked away wondering if anyone actually understood each other? ie Was there any point to this meeting at all?

Well, having people understand each other better is often down to having decent rapport in place. Rapport exists when people feel they’ve a good working relationship with others.

Here are three big ways to build rapport in your race team:

1st Way

Stop asking so many closed questions

A closed question is one that can only be answered with a yes or a no. “Did that rear bar change reduce the exit traction problem?” is a closed question. The answer to it is not going to hold much value for you. You may be better off when you know the answer, but not by very much. If you have the time available, there are much better ways of asking questions to glean information from team members.

2nd Way

Ask open-ended questions

An open-ended question begins with one of only five words, ‘how, what, why, when, where?’

“Since we made the rear bar change, how was the traction on exit?” is a much better way of asking the question we asked earlier. The potential answers will tell you much more about the latest handling of the car.

Extra tip 1 – Sometimes, replacing ‘why?’ with ‘tell me why?’ is a softer and more effective way of keeping rapport.

Extra tip 2 – In the open question above about the rear bar change, we’ve used a simple but powerful technique called pre-framing, to open up the relevant files in the mind of the person answering the question. More on this another time!

3rd Way

Seek to understand, before trying to be understood

Don’t try and mind-read. Unless it’s a burning issue of safety or you’re dealing with a youngster who’s still learning, take the small amount of time to understand the other point of view before you go steaming in with yours. I know it’s racing and time is precious, but you’ll actually save time in the long run.

* The Mindset for Racing Finish Line *

With rapport, you can say anything and it still have some meaning. You already know this. Just look around under any race awning and see the team members, all of whom know each other really well, taking the mickey, having a laugh and still (for the most part!) getting a quality job done.

Building rapport is key to communication and communication is key to the performance of a race team. Will you take action and create better rapport in your team? Almost everyone will say “we do all the above already” but I bet, when push comes to shove, you don’t do it enough.

You know what the top guys do and what you should be doing, don’t you?

Enjoy your racing and never give up.

Regards

Mike

Mike Garth
Helping karters, racing drivers and motorcycle racers perform better
+44 (0) 7737 655 912
www.sun1400.com
Sun1400: Sunday 2pm - Ready to race?

© Sun1400, 2008. All rights reserved. You are free to use material from the Mindset for Racing eZine in whole or in part, as long as you include a complete attribution, including live web site link. Please also notify me where the material will appear.
The attribution should read:
"By Mike Garth of Sun1400. Please visit Mike's web site at www.sun1400.com for additional articles and resources on helping motor sports athletes and their teams perform better." (Make sure the link is live if placed in an eZine or in a web site.)

Two massive reasons why quick action will bring you confidence

2008-06-04T10:18:00.003+01:00

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Two massive reasons why quick action will bring you confidence

How open to change are you?
=================================================================

Hi there

Your 2008 racing season will be well under way now, so much so that the quick guys will already be planning for 2009. Who are you going to bring into your team that will make the difference you’re after? Remember, if you do what you’ve always done, you will get what you’ve always got. If you’re fully content with what you’ve got then hey, no worries. But if you don’t think you can make an improvement, you need to be thinking about sitting in an armchair with a pipe and slippers rather than being a karter, racing driver or motorcycle racer.

The further you are from where you want to be then the more radical your first action must be. You’re a racer, so you must take risks.

The racers that will make huge steps forward in 2009 will take action before they feel completely ready. This action habit stops them from waiting until they feel absolutely certain before they make a move.

There are two massive reasons why such quick action will bring you confidence:

1st Reason

Your brain rewards you when you do something different

When you go out of your comfort zone and take action on something different, your brain releases huge amounts of dopamine (your brain’s motivation chemical). Taking action will motivate you!

2nd Reason

When you achieve something, your brain rewards you again

When you reach your goals, however big or small they are, your brain releases serotonin (your brain’s happy chemical) which physically enhances the structure of your brain, increasing your capacity for even greater feelings of satisfaction.

* The Mindset for Racing Finish Line *

In racing it’s often a case of pass or be passed. You haven’t got time to faff about before making a move. The top guys mostly won’t know it in these terms (unless they work with me), but they will gain the benefit of dopamine and serotonin when they take quick action.

Don’t just plan something, do it!

You know what the top guys do and what you should be doing, don’t you?

================================================================
Next Edition – Three BIG ways to build better rapport within your team

How asking open-ended questions will help your team perform better
================================================================

Enjoy your racing and never give up.

Regards

Mike

Mike Garth
Helping karters, racing drivers and motorcycle racers perform better
+44 (0) 7737 655 912
www.sun1400.com
Sun1400: Sunday 2pm - Ready to race?

© Sun1400, 2008. All rights reserved. You are free to use material from the Mindset for Racing eZine in whole or in part, as long as you include a complete attribution, including live web site link. Please also notify me where the material will appear.
The attribution should read:

"By Mike Garth of Sun1400. Please visit Mike's web site at www.sun1400.com for additional articles and resources on helping motor sports athletes and their teams perform better." (Make sure the link is live if placed in an eZine or in a web site.)

Three ways we make it hard for ourselves when we put the mental brakes on

2008-05-01T23:20:00.003+01:00

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Three ways we make it hard for ourselves when we put the mental brakes on

The negative effect of self-handicapping and how to overcome it
=================================================================

Hi there

There’s a thing in sport psychology known as self-handicapping, and from time-to-time we all use it as a defence mechanism. From our sub-conscious beliefs, we can say things to ourselves and to others that will sabotage and limit what we can achieve.

We mostly do this without even knowing we’re doing it, but there are ways of catching the problem early and quickly getting your thoughts and focus back on-line.

Here then are three ways we self-handicap and more importantly for you, here are some ways of reducing the downside:

1st Way

“This always happens because I’m crap at that”

If you say you’re no good ‘in the wet’, ‘at starts’, ‘towards the end of the race’ then guess what, you will be. This is very different from ‘I’m typically weak at that so I’ll work on it’, which is healthy. Over the next month listen out for such comments from yourself and others. Don’t try and change what you say and hear, just listen and take note.

2nd Way

“Every time I go to Shenington I do badly”

Really? That happens EVERY time? Truly every single lap of every event there? I bet such ‘catastrophe language’ is skewed from the truth, but you may be shaping your future by programming your mind with such an untruth. This is a future you are unlikely to be happy with. Tomorrow, how many times will you say ‘never’, ‘always’, ‘nobody’?

3rd Way

“I don’t need to try that new method to get what I want”

Maybe you’re right, but then again, maybe you’re missing out on something that could give you the next breakthrough in performance. What are you scared of / anxious about that stops you taking positive action? What are the benefits of not changing that you hold so dear, even if ‘not changing’ means you might stay in a performance rut. In the next three days, how many opportunities to change and increase performance do you turn down instantly? What do you think caused you to make that intuitive decision? Answer these questions to help yourself go faster more often.

* Special Month of May FREE offer *

To celebrate the continued benefit that Sun1400 is giving to an expanding range of clients, here’s a great FREE offer for you. Be quick to act though, it’s only valid throughout the upcoming month of May!

If you’re on this distribution list but not currently paying for the benefit of the improved mental approach that Sun1400 brings to you, then you can have a FREE half hour ‘phone / Skype video discussion.

Call Mike on 07737 655 912 to arrange it and take your motor sport to the next level.

* The Mindset for Racing Finish Line *

If you use sport psychology skills in a professional and structured manner then you will rapidly increase your awareness of the words you use. And the words you use will tell you and me what you’re feeling. Raise your awareness of what you do to a decent level and you’ll catch yourself self-handicapping nice and early, so that you can adjust before it becomes a real problem.

You know what the top guys do and what you should be doing, don’t you?

================================================================
Next Edition – Two massive reasons why quick action will bring you confidence

How open to change are you?
================================================================

If you know someone you think will like this eZine newsletter then please pass it on.

Enjoy your racing and never give up.

Regards

Mike

Mike Garth BSc (Hons) MSc BASES Accredited
07737 655 912
mike.garth@sun1400.com
www.sun1400.com
Sun1400: Sunday 2pm - Ready to race?
Maximising your mental approach in motor sports

© Sun1400, 2008. All rights reserved. You are free to use material from the Mindset for Racing eZine in whole or in part, as long as you include a complete attribution, including live web site link. Please also notify me where the material will appear.
The attribution should read:

"By Mike Garth of Sun1400. Please visit Mike's web site at www.sun1400.com for additional articles and resources on helping motor sports athletes and their teams perform better." (Make sure the link is live if placed in an eZine or in a web site.)

Four Big Ways a Dashboard will get you going faster

2008-04-01T20:50:00.004+01:00

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Four Big Ways a Dashboard will get you going faster

How to apply the idea of a data dashboard to your racing life
=================================================================

Hi there

In the game of motor sport that we’re all in, we’re familiar with dashboards, aren’t we?

A quick and effective feedback tool to know where the key things are at. That’s what a dashboard is and gives you.

With the right mental measures, you can apply the same principle to your racing mindset and will improve it in the following four ways:

1st Way

Know what to focus on next

What are your mental weaknesses that you need to focus on to raise your game?

2nd Way

Know where you’re at

To move forward, you need to know what really ‘is’. Where are you with all the things in your racing you decided to work on?

3rd Way

Know what to stop doing

A winner always cuts their losses. Are all the things you’re bothering with really taking you forward? A dashboard will give you the data to consistently make effective decisions on what actions to forget about.

4th Way

Gain confidence

In line with the second way, when you truly know where you’re at and what you’ve already done, you’ll gain confidence because the data says you’re in control and have already achieved the small steps necessary.

* The Mindset for Racing Finish Line *

I bet you know all about dashboards in your racing, but do you regularly use them for your racing mindset? There are many ways performance coaching can give you ways to measure your mindset and so set up your own mental dashboards. There are also many ways to bring such a dashboard into your ‘daily headlines’.

You know what the top guys do and what you should be doing, don’t you?

Enjoy your racing and never give up.

Mike Garth BSc (Hons) MSc BASES Accredited
07737 655 912
mike.garth@sun1400.com
www.sun1400.com
Sun1400: Sunday 2pm - Ready to race?
Maximising your mental approach in motor sports

© Sun1400, 2008. All rights reserved. You are free to use material from the Mindset for Racing eZine in whole or in part, as long as you include a complete attribution, including live web site link. Please also notify me where the material will appear.
The attribution should read:

"By Mike Garth of Sun1400. Please visit Mike's web site at www.sun1400.com for additional articles and resources on helping motor sports athletes and their teams perform better." (Make sure the link is live if placed in an eZine or in a web site.)

Three Key Steps to the Ultimate Professional Attitude

2008-03-01T07:36:00.003Z

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Three Key Steps to the Ultimate Professional Attitude

Are you going to ‘C the Cs’ in 2008?
=================================================================

Hi there

The Ultimate Professional is the racer who ‘Controls the Controllables’. I call this ‘C the Cs’.

A constant drive to effectively control evermore factors in their racing is part of what separates the great from the good.

So, how can we do this in three easy steps?

1st Step

Write down all the things in your racing life that you control

Just get a blank sheet of paper and write it all down. Writing it is very important as it helps transfer the ideas into your sub-conscious and your daily actions, whether good or bad, will be a result of what is going on in your sub-conscious. You and I need to program it well!

Make sure the list reflects what you’re currently controlling, not what you want to control but aren’t.

Examples of things I reckon you’ll put here are bike / car setup and choice of line on the track.

2nd Step

Write down all the things in your racing life that you don’t control right now

This step is more important than Step 1. Be honest with yourself. Get things down on paper quickly and turn off your ‘internal editor’ that may well want perfection and will make the task bigger than it really it is. You remember what we think of perfectionists here on Mindset for Racing, don’t you?

No matter who you are, the list of things in this 2nd Step will never be complete. If you’re always learning, which you need to be to go faster more often, then there’s something you’ll put down in Step 2 in a month’s time that you could not have thought of today. This is a reflection of the progression you’ve made during that month. If you’re improving, your awareness is always going up and fast guys have high awareness.

3rd Step

Focus your time, energy and attention on things that came out of Step 2, that should be in Step 1

This is the ‘money-step’. This is where you set yourself up to act and actually do something that will make a difference to your racing. Knowledge is one thing. Taking action is another. And by the way, be mentally prepared to act before you’re ready, just like the top guys!

Get specific. Get measurable. Sign-up to your own strategy that will allow you to control some key things in your racing that you currently leave to chance. Even after you’ve finished this step, I bet you there’s something I could notice you should be controlling that you currently aren’t! Why not give me call and hold me to this?

It is a fundamental law of human beings that the more control we believe we have over our lives the better we perform and the more mentally sound we are. Racing is just a specific example of this. When you get into a massive tank-slapper and your heart jumps into your mouth, you experience this law in reverse!

* The Mindset for Racing Finish Line *

One thing you must learn to control is your performance. Two things you will never fully control are winning and losing. Youngsters often have a problem with understanding this.

You know what the top guys do and what you should be doing, don’t you?

All the very best for the upcoming 2008 season. Sun1400 has clients in many series including F1, Formula BMW, Rotax karting and British Masters MX. May these and all the others achieve their goals this racing year!

Enjoy your racing and never give up.

Mike Garth BSc (Hons) MSc BASES Accredited
07737 655 912
mike.garth@sun1400.com
www.sun1400.com
Sun1400: Sunday 2pm - Ready to race?
Maximising your mental approach in motor sports

© Sun1400, 2008. All rights reserved. You are free to use material from the Mindset for Racing eZine in whole or in part, as long as you include a complete attribution, including live web site link. Please also notify me where the material will appear.

The attribution should read:"By Mike Garth of Sun1400. Please visit Mike's web site at www.sun1400.com for additional articles and resources on helping motor sports athletes and their teams perform better." (Make sure the link is live if placed in an eZine or in a web site.)

Nine Ways to be Mentally Tough

2008-02-01T10:27:00.001Z

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Nine Ways to be Mentally Tough

What do the top racers consistently do that makes them tougher than the rest?
=================================================================

Hi there

What does the phrase ‘mental toughness’ make you think of? Hard nose geezers who finish a race with a broken arm? Well yes, such a chap is likely to be mentally tough, but here are nine ways the research tells us will make you mentally tough in your racing.

A mentally tough person will have the following 9 things going for them:

1st thing

They don’t rely on others but they know when and where to get help

It’s better to be non-dependent rather than independent. You will never succeed on your own.

2nd thing

They are committed (they decide on their goals and go for them)

With self-belief comes a high expectation of success. High expectations breed constant and effective goal setting that remain on track even when it all turns pear-shaped. (You know it sometimes turns pear-shaped for all of us, don’t you?)

3rd thing

They are in control of their emotions

When you come in from free practice in a non-qualifying position and face 1 hour to sort things out before qualifying, you need to be mentally tough. Keeping all your ineffective and defensive patterns of reacting in check and positively focussing on what matters will keep your mind calm and creative.

4th thing

They are single-minded but not obsessive

Just like a car or bike on the limit, it’s all about the balance. You might be a racer, but you’re still a human being. Neglect your real needs and you’ll store big problems for your future.

5th thing

When it’s called for, they are aggressive

It’s not called racing for nothing. When on-track, you need to nail that pass on the next guy without caring a fig about them, even if off-track they’re your best mate. If you’re not setting up to pass, you’re likely going to get passed!

6th thing

They are prepared to take appropriate risks (they are not scared of failing)

They are not perfectionists and their need to achieve is way bigger than their fear of failure. In racing, mistakes will happen if you’re going to improve.

7th thing

They see pressure as a friend not an enemy

The weak will fold under pressure. The mentally tough love the pressure as it sorts the best from the good.

8th thing

They are self-confident

They have a high self-concept and a high expectation. When things take a turn for the worst their inner belief in themselves keeps their confidence up and their actions positive.

9th thing

They have a ‘go and do it’ attitude

The things I tell you about have no value to you whatsoever until you act on them. Mentally tough people constantly act before they are fully ready and constantly reap the benefits of this positive forward march.

* The Mindset for Racing Finish Line *

If the nine key things above are condensed into one single thing then that thing is ‘being open to change’. A mentally tough racer will always take action on the next step they believe will move them towards faster and more consistently fast lap-times.

Remembering that competition is a continuous presentation of problems, ask yourself what you are doing to increase your coping capacity in relation to your racing. What change are you open to today that will make you mentally tougher and allow you to perform better tomorrow?

You know what the top guys do and what you should be doing, don’t you?

If you know someone you think will like this eZine newsletter then please pass it on.

Want to receive the FREE 37-point Test for the Racing Mindset? Contact Mike at mike.garth@sun1400.com if you do!

Enjoy your racing and never give up.

Regards

Mike

Mike Garth BSc (Hons) MSc
07737 655 912
mike.garth@sun1400.com
www.sun1400.com
Sun1400: Sunday 2pm - Ready to race?
Maximising your mental approach in motor sports

© Sun1400, 2008. All rights reserved. You are free to use material from the Mindset for Racing eZine in whole or in part, as long as you include a complete attribution, including live web site link. Please also notify me where the material will appear.
The attribution should read:

"By Mike Garth of Sun1400. Please visit Mike's web site at www.sun1400.com for additional articles and resources on helping motor sports athletes and their teams perform better." (Make sure the link is live if placed in an eZine or in a web site.)

These are the four main things you can concentrate on

2008-01-01T18:56:00.001Z

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These are the four main things you can concentrate on

Where can your focus wander to and how do you get it back on the right line?
=================================================================

Hi there

Happy New Year!

Concentration is a key skill of a top racer. If you’re focussed on what happened on the previous lap when you approach a major corner then you might miss your braking point. If you’re solidly staring at your exit point on a corner you might miss some important information from your rev counter. You can concentrate on all sorts, but are you concentrating on the right things at the right times?

So here are the four main ways you can set your attention. ie These are the four main things you concentrate on:

1st thing

- One or two things from the world around you

eg Watching intently for the fifth red light to go out or the gate to drop.

2nd thing

- Many things from the world around you

eg Noticing someone in your mirrors, smelling oil on the track up ahead, seeing the marshal wave the oil flag and feeling the revs spike as you ride the exit kerb, all at the same time.

3rd thing

- One or two things in your head

eg “I can win this.”

4th thing

- Many things in your head

eg “If I push on this in-lap then we’ll be on plan to get back out in front of our rival, and then I’ll have the benefit of the option tyre all the way to the flag. Push, push, push.”

Your problem is that you must adopt the correct way to concentrate for the situation you are in. It’s easier said than done and without quality mental skills, you won’t know you’re concentrating on the wrong thing until it’s too late.

* The Mindset for Racing Finish Line *

When you start to realise where you attention is, you can make your own judgement as to whether you’re concentrating on and attending to the right things at that time. If you’re not concentrating on the right things then a clear system of ‘concentration cues’ can bring you back on line.

Here are the three main types of ‘concentration cue’ that you can use to switch between the four main ways on concentrating, the specifics of them depend entirely upon you:

1. Verbal cue

eg “Next corner.”

2. Visual cue

eg Look at your pit board or a something in the cockpit / on the bike that you use as a ‘trigger switch’.

3. Action cue

eg Squeeze the bike between your knees / loosen your grip on the steering wheel. Use this action as a ‘trigger switch’.

However, it’s not all that easy. When you’re under pressure you’ll favour your naturally strong style of concentrating, you’ll miss cues from the outside world and you’ll narrow down your focus. You need to practise your mental skills so that you can still attend to the right things even when the pressure is on. After all, the race winner is the person who delivers the best technical skills when under the pressure of competition. The trigger switches / concentration cues need to have their effectiveness built up through proper practice.

You know what the top guys do and what you should be doing, don’t you?

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Next Edition – Nine Ways to be Mentally Tough

What do the top racers consistently do that makes them tougher than the rest?
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Want to receive the FREE 37-point Test for the Racing Mindset? Contact Mike at mike.garth@sun1400.com if you do!

Enjoy your racing and never give up.

All the best for the 08 season!

Regards

Mike

Mike Garth BSc (Hons) MSc
07737 655 912
mike.garth@sun1400.com
www.sun1400.com
Sun1400: Sunday 2pm - Ready to race?
Maximising your mental approach in motor sports

© Sun1400, 2008. All rights reserved. You are free to use material from the Mindset for Racing eZine in whole or in part, as long as you include a complete attribution, including live web site link. Please also notify me where the material will appear.
The attribution should read:

"By Mike Garth of Sun1400. Please visit Mike's web site at www.sun1400.com for additional articles and resources on helping motor sports athletes and their teams perform better." (Make sure the link is live if placed in an eZine or in a web site.)

Five ways to success for a motor sports parent

2007-12-11T16:51:00.001Z

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Five ways to success for a motor sports parent

How to help your youngster be a better racer
=================================================================

Hi there

*** Special December 07 end-of-season deal

Extension of Special Deal:

Order a Sun1400 24-Pack during the month of December 2007 and you will receive up to £250 worth of complementary benefits.

Why not make use of easy-to-use Skype video-conferencing and get set for 2008?

Call Mike on 07737 655 912 to ask any questions and raise any concerns you have. Perhaps you’d like a copy of the Sun1400 Client Information Pack, which may well answer some of your concerns and questions?

This Special Offer is limited and will end on December 31 2007.

***

Have you ever been a motor racing parent? Have you ever been a little Johnny or little Janet going racing with the help of a motor racing parent? Like me, I’m sure you’ve seen some comical sights at the kart tracks and moto-cross parks. At a schoolboy moto-cross, I once saw two young lads run into each other on the track, only for them then to watch together in amazement as their Dad’s pushed and shoved about it at the side of the track! For sure, there’s a time for being assertive, whether on-track or off, but far too many incidents involving parents hinder their loved-ones progress, rather than help it.

So what are the five ways to success for a motor sports parent?

1st way

Let the child’s motivation come from within

We call this ‘intrinsic motivation’ and this is the motivation the champions have. Consider it use of the carrot rather than the stick. Create an environment where the child can love the sport for the sheer joy of doing it, whether win, lose or draw. When the stakes get high (and you do want to maximise your performance, don’t you?) you and your offspring will be in big trouble if your youngster doesn’t get a thrill from the day-to-day demands of motor sport.

2nd way

Criticise the action, not the child

“Johnny, the line you took through the last corner during Q was awful” is a world away from “Johnny, you were awful”. Use the former, not the latter. Repeated messages will become beliefs and ultimately, we will act on our beliefs. Let’s not instil the wrong kind of belief, eh?

3rd way

Praise the action, not the child

We touched on this previously in Mindset for Racing. This goes hand-in-hand with the 2nd way, but for a different reason. If young Janet does well and you say “Janet, you were awesome” then what happens next week when the racing demons come out to play and you don’t qualify? (Quite possibly because you chose the wrong tyre pressures and Janet did all she could…) Your little racer then believes the confidence she gained because you said she had talent has gone out the window. We can’t change our talent but we can change the job we do next time. We get confidence from knowing we can change.

4th way

Create an environment where failure is fine

Do you know the one thing all successful racers have in common? Failure! If you never make a mistake, you’ll never make anything of yourself, period. Top racers take risks and deal with the consequences. If your young hot-shoe stuffs it in the kitty litter whilst trying to be the last-of-the-late-brakers then hey, at least they’re taking a risk and having a go. (If they get to the last lap of their first potential national title then this is a different story. But they won’t reach that point if they fear failure, believe me.)

5th way

Focus on mastery, not the outcome

It’s hard to separate the thrill of winning from the thrill of racing when our youngsters have so many races. Sure, the top guys will block pass you in an instant as they care so much about winning. It’s racing after all! This is the way it has to be. However, those top guys also love trying to master all the skills and techniques their racing demands. They will constantly aim to do all the important stuff better. How many young racers do you know that were the ‘next big thing’ but didn’t make it when it got serious? There are dozens and this is one of the main reasons why.

* The Mindset for Racing Finish Line *

If you are a parent then you have a massive influence over the mindset of your little racer. Their patterns of thinking and therefore behaving will, for a large part, be set by you. Effective patterns of thinking are what separates those that make it from those that don’t. Are you setting them up for success?

You know what the top guys do and what you should be doing, don’t you?

*** Special December 07 end-of-season deal

Extension of Special Deal:

Order a Sun1400 24-Pack during the month of December 2007 and you will receive up to £250 worth of complementary benefits.

Why not make use of easy-to-use Skype video-conferencing and get set for 2008?

Call Mike on 07737 655 912 to ask any questions and raise any concerns you have. Perhaps you’d like a copy of the Sun1400 Client Information Pack, which may well answer some of your concerns and questions?

This Special Offer is limited and will end on December 31 2007.

***

Want to receive the FREE 37-point Test for the Racing Mindset? Contact Mike at mike.garth@sun1400.com if you do!

Enjoy your racing and never give up.

All the best to you, your team and your family for this Xmas. Here’s to a great 2008 and see you at the tracks.

Check out this Sunday’s Observer Sport section for the latest Sun1400 media coverage! Read the article women in sport.

Regards

Mike

Mike Garth BSc (Hons) MSc
07737 655 912
mike.garth@sun1400.com
www.sun1400.com
Sun1400: Sunday 2pm - Ready to race?
Maximising your mental approach in motor sports

© Sun1400, 2007. All rights reserved. You are free to use material from the Mindset for Racing eZine in whole or in part, as long as you include a complete attribution, including live web site link. Please also notify me where the material will appear.
The attribution should read:

"By Mike Garth of Sun1400. Please visit Mike's web site at www.sun1400.com for additional articles and resources on helping motor sports athletes and their teams perform better." (Make sure the link is live if placed in an eZine or in a web site.)

The four things that affect your racing confidence and how to use them to your advantage

2007-11-01T13:59:00.001Z

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The four things that affect your racing confidence and how to use them to your advantage

You’ll find out which one of the four will help you the most
=================================================================

Hi there

*** Special November 07 end-of-season deal

Order a Sun1400 24-Pack during the month of November 2007 and you will receive up to £250 worth of complementary benefits.

Why not make use of easy-to-use Skype video-conferencing and get set for 2008?

Call Mike on 07737 655 912 to ask any questions and raise any concerns you have. Perhaps you’d like a copy of the Sun1400 Client Information Pack?

This Special Offer is limited and will end on November 30 2007.

***

Some people think sport psychology is all about motivation. To a man, woman and child, all of the people I work with already have goodly amounts of it, but they know they can always have more and control it better. Other folk think sport psychology is all about confidence. Every single person I work with can always gain benefit from more of this.

Sport psychology is about motivation and confidence and many more things besides. This month we’ll focus on confidence, what it is and the four main ways you gain more of it.

Confidence is simply the belief that you can go on to succeed at what you attempt. Another description might be that confidence is simply the ‘application of confidence’. Read on and you’ll see why this phrase applies.

So here are the four main things that affect your racing confidence:

1st thing

Getting a similar job done before

‘Performance accomplishments’ as they’re known are a great source of confidence. The flip-side of this is why we feel anxious and low in confidence if we make a big jump in our racing expectations, such as moving up quickly through the ranks. That is, when enter an arena we’ve never been in before, it’s harder to remain confident. The solution? Learn ways of winding in the pressure and the degree to which you get out of your comfort zone, such that effective steps are taken. Make nothing too easy and nothing too hard. This is not easy but with effort it can be done.

2nd thing

Seeing someone else achieve what you want to achieve

How many times do we see perceived ‘barriers’ in sport broken in a wave of excitement only for the same barrier to be repeatedly broken straight afterwards?

Youngsters in particular can gain plenty of confidence just by observing what is possible by others.

3rd thing

Telling yourself or being told that you can do it

We are often fickle soles, who need constant encouragement to keep our confidence levels up. There’s nothing wrong in being this way, as despite being racers, we are all still human beings. What needs to be done is to recognise this need and feed it, either by positive comments from others or through our own positive ‘self-talk’.

4th thing

Controlling your emotional and physical state

As I’ve mentioned before and will certainly mention again, performance is emotional. So is confidence. If the dials that control your emotional settings are in all the wrong places then that in itself will lower your confidence. Specific techniques that control these ‘dials’ can help you keep your confidence up when the pressure is on.

* The Mindset for Racing Finish Line *

The most powerful of the four main things is the first one. Getting a similar job done will increase your confidence by the most amount for the least input of time and energy. This is why the phrase ‘confidence is the application of confidence’ applies. Or put another way: Fake it until you make it! Getting out there and doing it, or perhaps nearly or partly doing it, is what will fuel your belief to go on and do it more often.

Put simply, get out there and do it! At whatever level, getting a performance under your belt will up your confidence to go out there and try even more.

So, you know what the top guys do and what you should be doing, don’t you?

================================================================
Next Edition – Five ways to success for a motor sports parent

How to help your youngster be a better racer
================================================================

*** Special November 07 end-of-season deal

Order a Sun1400 24-Pack during the month of November 2007 and you will receive up to £250 worth of complementary benefits.

Why not make use of easy-to-use Skype video-conferencing and get set for 2008?

Call Mike on 07737 655 912 to ask any questions and raise any concerns you have. Perhaps you’d like a copy of the Sun1400 Client Information Pack?

This Special Offer is limited and will end on November 30 2007.

***

If you know someone you think will like this eZine newsletter then please pass it on.

Want to receive the FREE 37-point Test for the Racing Mindset? Contact Mike at mike.garth@sun1400.com if you do!

Enjoy your racing and never give up.

See you at the tracks, including the Sheffield Supercross this coming Saturday.

Regards

Mike

Mike Garth BSc (Hons) MSc
mike.garth@sun1400.com
www.sun1400.com
Sun1400: Sunday 2pm - Ready to race?
Maximising your mental approach in motor sports

© Sun1400, 2007. All rights reserved. You are free to use material from the Mindset for Racing eZine in whole or in part, as long as you include a complete attribution, including live web site link. Please also notify me where the material will appear.
The attribution should read:

"By Mike Garth of Sun1400. Please visit Mike's web site at www.sun1400.com for additional articles and resources on helping motor sports athletes and their teams perform better." (Make sure the link is live if placed in an eZine or in a web site.)

Seven key steps to making sport psychology help you go faster

2007-10-14T15:25:00.001+01:00

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Seven key steps to making sport psychology help you go faster

What is sport psychology and what actions should you take to improve by using it?
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Hi there

Many of you will be unsure of what sport psychology is and if this is the case, then you’ll certainly be unsure of how it can help you go faster more often.

This edition of Mindset for Racing will address these two questions.

Here then are the seven steps to going faster with sport psychology:

1st Step

• Understand what you’re aiming at

You must commit to a narrowly focussed goal. You can think big, and the bigger the think the better, but you must act small, especially in the early days of setting out to achieve what you want. To make this commitment you must generate, with input from those around you, an intention to achieve something you truly need and want. The more benefits you can come up with for achieving your goal, the more likely you are to stay the course and get there in the end.

2nd Step

• Know who you are

What you do and think is an expression of your values. Get familiar with what you’re like. If you know who you are then you’ll understand how you react to pressure and will nip problems in the bud before they become too great. Find out what you believe in and what you think are the right and wrong ways to go about your racing.

3rd Step

• Narrow down your focus

You narrowed your focus in Step 1, now narrow it again! Step 1 was about the bigger picture. Step 3 is about specific action. There may well be 101 things you can do to help achieve your aim, but I guarantee you success will lie within a handful of them. What are the few things worth bothering with and therefore the many we can just ignore for now?

4th Step

• Get ‘Team You’ around you

You can’t get the job done alone. You need a support structure. Who helps you when you need rest, recovery and downtime? Who or what helps you keep a balanced approach that keeps you fresh for the major challenges? When you feel you can’t cope, who or what do you turn to?

5th Step

• Get out of your comfort zone

You must engage fully in the process of change. Establishing a better mental approach is a form of training and so the same principles apply as though you were gaining muscle by lifting weights. You need controlled overload, to learn from the experience so that you come back stronger. If it doesn’t get uncomfortable at key times, you don’t move forward. (This doesn’t mean ‘no pain, no gain’ all the time though!)

6th Step

• Never give up

Winstone Churchill roused a nation against a wartime enemy with these three words. What thoughts, actions and objects do you have in your life to remind you of the same sentiment?

7th Step

• Continuously improve

A maximised mental approach is not a destination; it’s a never ending process. There will not be a time when you say, ‘that’s it I’ve got it!’ There will be big breakthroughs, but there will always be ‘more to come’. Ever heard a racer say ‘that’s it, we’re maxed out now’? I bet you have, but I bet they’re not consistently getting the most out of themselves and their team.

* The Mindset for Racing Finish Line *

You now know seven basic steps to make sport psychology work for you. Of course, and just like the engineering set up on your cars, karts and bikes, the devil is in the detail. The principles are simple but the process is tough. The ‘what’ is easily defined but the ‘how’ depends upon many, many things, with your personality being one of them. If it was nice and easy then everyone would be doing it!

You know what the top guys do and what you should be doing, don’t you?

Want to receive the FREE 37-point Test for the Racing Mindset? Contact Mike at mike.garth@sun1400.com if you do!

Enjoy your racing and never give up.

See you at the tracks.

Regards

Mike

Mike Garth BSc (Hons) MSc
mike.garth@sun1400.com
www.sun1400.com
Sun1400: Sunday 2pm - Ready to race?
Maximising your mental approach in motor sports

© Sun1400, 2007. All rights reserved. You are free to use material from the Mindset for Racing eZine in whole or in part, as long as you include a complete attribution, including live web site link. Please also notify me where the material will appear.
The attribution should read:

"By Mike Garth of Sun1400. Please visit Mike's web site at www.sun1400.com for additional articles and resources on helping motor sports athletes and their teams perform better." (Make sure the link is live if placed in an eZine or in a web site.)

Five ways a word that generates a snigger can help you achieve your racing goals

2007-09-19T12:16:00.001+01:00

Hi there

There’s a word in sport psychology that always generates a snigger whenever I introduce it to a client and especially so when I use it at a workshop.

That word is ‘arousal’.

Trying to introduce the concept of ‘arousal’ and its effect on performance can sure generate a few laughs, believe me. Imagine explaining it to a group of primary school aged hot-shoes and their parents!

So what’s it all about, and why should you bother about it if you want to go faster?

Arousal is the degree to which you are ‘up for it’ (no please, stop sniggering now…), ‘geed up’ or ‘wound up’. Having a higher level of arousal doesn’t necessarily mean you are more ‘in the zone’. It simply means you’re closer to being manic than you are to being asleep. Being more manic means your heart will beat faster, your breathing rate will increase, you’ll take in fewer sights and sounds from the world around you and you’ll have more adrenaline pumping throughout you. It also means you could well have more thoughts racing through your head, and probably not all positive ones either.

Here then are the five ways arousal can help you achieve your racing goals:

1st Way

- Block out the irrelevant

More arousal will narrow your field of vision. At times there will be all sorts of peripheral rubbish going on around you that have absolutely nothing to do with helping you go faster.

2nd Way

- Hit the sweet spot of your emotions

Your arousal level can affect your emotions. If you take one thing from this edition of Mindset for Racing, remember that performance is an emotional event. There are a set of emotional levels at which your best performance exists. Get the set-up on the arousal and then the emotions right and you’ll be flying. (Unless you’ve got the right tools, it’s a lot easier to change the rear tyre pressure though, isn’t it, but is that where the next tenth is going to come from?)

3rd Way

- Kick back and recover

Champions recover their expended energy better than non-champions. When it’s time to rest, boy do they rest. These quality athletes can drop their arousal level when they need to and take advantage of down-time.

4th Way

- Avoid complacency

Some of you will need a higher level of arousal to perform than others. You folks are similar to a race horse that needs a dab of mustard under the tail! When it’s a low pressure event, being able to up your arousal as you need to can stop you being too laid back and unfocussed.

5th Way

- Get a solid sense of personal control

Control is everything with performance. The more you control your car or bike the more confident you get, right? Well what if, even when events and others are piling on the pressure, you knew you could control your arousal, just as you wanted to?

* The Mindset for Racing Finish Line *

There is no ‘off-the-peg’ solution to giving you optimum performance for a certain level of arousal. Thankfully, we are all different, even if we are all racers.

Dependent on whom we are, what we are doing and when we are doing it, there will always be an optimum level of arousal to get the most performance gain at that time. Quick riders and drivers are always aware of their arousal level, aware of what it should be and have the skills to turn it up or down as needs be. Their tool for changing arousal is a dial, not a switch.

The better the athlete, the finer the dial.

You know what the top guys do and what you should be doing, don’t you?

Enjoy your racing and never give up.

See you at the tracks.

Regards

Mike

Mike Garth BSc (Hons) MSc
mike.garth@sun1400.com
www.sun1400.com
Sun1400: Sunday 2pm - Ready to race?
Maximising your mental approach in motor sports

© Sun1400, 2007. All rights reserved. You are free to use material from the Mindset for Racing eZine in whole or in part, as long as you include a complete attribution, including live web site link. Please also notify me where the material will appear.
The attribution should read:

"By Mike Garth of Sun1400. Please visit Mike's web site at www.sun1400.com for additional articles and resources on helping motor sports athletes and their teams perform better." (Make sure the link is live if placed in an eZine or in a web site.)

These three big reasons will explain why perfectionism brings trouble to racers

2007-08-03T12:57:00.001+01:00

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These three big reasons will explain why perfectionism brings trouble to racers

Why total dedication and absolute perfectionism can STOP success at the big races
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Hi there

Do you think being more motivated always leads to faster lap-times, more race wins and more championships? Is having bucket-loads of motivation always the way to go, with no possible downside?

Well folks, motivation is a good thing, no question, as without it we may as well give up this petrol-fuelled sport we love and go fishing. (At the Cleveland Champ Car Race in 2000, after a particularly tough weekend, a fellow engineer felt so ‘beaten-up’ by it all he nearly went and did just that. Thankfully for the fish, he still had enough motivation not to jack it all in.)

However, what’s not so widely understood is that a belly-full of motivation can sometimes bring a dangerous downside with it. In sport psychology it’s known as ‘maladaptive perfectionism’. I don’t bother myself with what it’s called and neither do my clients but I am bothered when I see racers doing it because it can really hold them back.

Here are the three big reasons why perfectionism can bring you trouble:

Reason 1

You imagine everything should go perfectly well and may even visualise doing so. (Visualisation is a useful technique we’ll discuss another time.) Something completely out of your control then happens that ‘ruins’ your ‘perfect’ race weekend. For example, you get stuck for a short while behind a back-marker whilst leading. It only takes one, sometimes small thing, to set your emotions off in all the wrong directions.

Reason 2

You place unreasonable expectations upon yourself and so create unnecessary anxiety that slows you down. You think Michael Schumacher, Valentino Rossi or Stefan Everts have mostly perfect race weekends so you should too. (All three of course have had some shockers in their time.) I’ve been with successful teams and unsuccessful teams and both types have an enormous amount of mechanical and human problems to solve. The good ones just deal with the problems better, but they are far from perfect.

Reason 3

You can be so bothered about getting it all nice and neatly perfect that you don’t apply focussed attention to the job in hand. That is, you can be so concerned about getting it perfect that you don’t start it at all. The ‘it’ could be testing a new part, trying a new line on the track, trying a new training technique, etc. (To those that know me well, I hold my hands up to this one in my younger days, but working at it has brought a huge improvement.)

* The Mindset for Racing Finish Line *

Motivation is the bedrock for moving forward and being successful but it can fuel perfectionism and cause you to get in your own way. Not all highly motivated racers are ‘negative perfectionists’ but those that have these non-helpful patterns of thinking, feeling and acting are putting the brakes on when they could be accelerating.

Riders and drivers who are quick year-on-year understand the balance that is needed between focussing on what they did wrong and planning what they are going to do. It’s about the next corner, not the last one. They also understand that these helpful patterns of behaviour are learnable and can always be improved with proper training.

As a quick tip: When you do your post-event reviews (you do these, don’t you?) make a rule to ‘drop the guilt’ say two days later. Make ‘drop the guilt’ a slogan within the team, get it printed up, say it to team-mates when you feel they need a nudge. You obviously need to know the technicalities of what could be improved, whether it’s mechanical or human, but trying to get everything right to the nth degree and then feeling bad when it (inevitably) doesn’t happen will not help you.

Another quick tip: If you’re going to fail (and we need to do this if we’re going to get better), work on ‘failing fast’.

You know what the top guys do and what you should be doing, don’t you?

================================================================
Next Edition – Five ways a word that generates a snigger can help you achieve your racing goals

Can you turn your arousal up and down in order to perform, all by yourself...?
================================================================

If you know someone you think will like this eZine newsletter then please pass it on.

Want to receive the FREE 37-point Test for the Racing Mindset? Contact Mike at mike.garth@sun1400.com if you do!

Enjoy your racing and never give up.

Regards

Mike

Mike Garth BSc (Hons) MSc
mike.garth@sun1400.com
www.sun1400.com
Sun1400: Sunday 2pm - Ready to race?
Maximising your mental approach in motor sports

© Sun1400, 2007. All rights reserved. You are free to use material from the Mindset for Racing eZine in whole or in part, as long as you include a complete attribution, including live web site link. Please also notify me where the material will appear.
The attribution should read:

"By Mike Garth of Sun1400. Please visit Mike's web site at www.sun1400.com for additional articles and resources on helping motor sports athletes and their teams perform better." (Make sure the link is live if placed in an eZine or in a web site.)

Fear of Failure or Need to Achieve?

2007-07-13T14:30:00.001+01:00

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Fear of Failure or Need to Achieve?

Which side of the line are you on? The battle between fear of losing and the need to achieve and which trait the top racers have
=================================================================

Hi there

Britons are doing well in world motor sport right now, with Lewis Hamilton (despite mistaking a flipped-over lollipop for a lifted one during a pit-stop yesterday) placed top of the F1 Drivers’ standings and Tommy Searle racing to a recent moto win in World MX2.

What do you think motivates athletes like Lewis and Tommy to succeed? It’s very likely their motivation to do so has far more to do with a real need to achieve rather than a strong will to avoid failure. On reading this sentence you may think that these two things are one and the same, but although they are indeed two sides of the same issue, the consequences of which one you choose are massive.

Imagine going into a race gripped by fear of cocking it up, how are you likely to be? How close to ideal is your mind and body going to be? Fear of failure will put the brakes on your performance and in some cases can cause you to avoid challenges that might help you in your quest to become faster and better.

For example, this might be during a race:

“I’ll look stupid if I attempt that double and come up short. I mustn’t come up short.”

But it can equally be during the week or off-season:

“If I sign that deal to race international single-seaters next year and don’t do well, that could be the end of my career. I can’t let that happen.”

Needing to achieve however means you’re not so bothered about failing and are ready to face the challenges head-on, just like Lewis and Tommy.

* The Mindset for Racing Finish Line *

Bjorn Borg, who until Roger Federer beat Rafael Nadal yesterday, was the only man in history to win five consecutive Wimbledon Men’s Singles Titles, once said

“If you’re afraid of losing, then you daren’t win”.

This sums up what this month’s Mindset for Racing is about. Just because you hate losing, doesn’t mean you should fear it.

Winners have some major things in common, including a lot of failure early on and a lot of action to bring improvement!

You know what the top guys do and what you should be doing, don’t you?

* Reminder of the previous Mindset for Racing *

In the last issue ‘Why Did That Happen?’ we talked about the reasons racers give for success or failure and the four key challenges to those reasons. You’ll remember that the top people always believe they can control the reasons for an outcome. This is something that some people do naturally, but you should know that it can be learned through specific training.

What happens though when the reason we give for success is “I am a good rider / driver”, ie it’s down to talent. What are you going to do when you step up a class / level and you’re not top dog anymore? How talented will you feel then and what will you feel you’ll be able to do about it?

Very recent research (‘Subtle linguistic cues affect children’s motivation’ in the journal Psychological Science) has established that kids respond to challenges better when they believe they did a good job in a similar challenge before. Crucially, kids are less likely to respond well when they believe the reason they did well before was their talent.

Like all of us, the kids cannot change or control their talent, but they can change and control the job they do next time.

This has huge implications for how we coach youngsters. => Praise the action, not the person, or we may be giving false confidence.

The next time you’re down at the kart / moto-cross track with little Johnny / little Janet, you’ll think about this, won’t you?

Why not take a look at some of the updates and new links at www.sun1400.com? There are a number of FREE resources for you.

Enjoy your racing and never give up.

Regards

Mike

Mike Garth BSc (Hons) MSc
mike.garth@sun1400.com
www.sun1400.com
Sun1400: Sunday 2pm - Ready to race?
Maximising your mental approach in motor sports

© Sun1400, 2007. All rights reserved. You are free to use material from the Mindset for Racing eZine in whole or in part, as long as you include a complete attribution, including live web site link. Please also notify me where the material will appear.
The attribution should read:

"By Mike Garth of Sun1400. Please visit Mike's web site at www.sun1400.com for additional articles and resources on helping motor sports athletes and their teams perform better." (Make sure the link is live if placed in an eZine or in a web site.)

Why Did That Happen?

2007-07-13T14:21:00.001+01:00

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Why Did That Happen?

Four key challenges to the millions of reasons the top racers give for why things happen and the one simple answer we should all give
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Hi there

What reasons do you give for your racing failures? What reasons do you give for your racing successes?

If you’ve ever worked on a race team then what reasons have you heard the rider or driver give?

“I was just unlucky”

“I may have won but the others had a bad day with problem pit-stops”

“We should have been on the same strategy as my team-mate”

“This car sucks!”

“That pre-season testing we did with the bike on the Dutch sand tracks has got me on the podium today”

Like me, you’ll have heard all these and hundreds more besides. Some are true, some are offensive, some are ridiculous and some are hilarious. The bottom line is that decision makers in race teams say these things and perceive them to be correct. And perception folks is reality, make no mistake.

In the first instance it doesn’t matter a fig what reasons are given. It only matters what answer is given when the four key challenges confront our ‘reason’. These challenges are just simple questions.

The four-key questions for the reasons you give:

Reasons for success:

1. Can you repeat it?

2. Can you control it?

Reasons for failure:

3. Can you change it?

4. Can you control it?

The top guys always answer ‘yes’ to the above four questions (two questions relate to success, two to failure). They do so because they learned to do it that way. They were not born instantly doing it just as they didn’t learn how to trail brake whilst in the womb. Mental skills are learned, even if in some cases they were learned very early.

To make it simpler, you can reduce the four key challenges to just one. When you give your reason for why things happen, just ask yourself – can you control it?

For example, the last quote above talking about pre-season testing being a reason for getting on the podium is one that can be controlled (and therefore repeated). This fuels confidence in going out at the next race and being successful yet again.

Mechanics and Race / Design Engineers are especially good at this, at least with practical and tangible problems. They tend to see such problems as ‘things that just need solving’ and so do just that. A former Technical Director I worked with, Malcolm Oastler, once said that after the basic layout of next year’s car was confirmed, to deliver a quick car at the first race was ‘just engineering’.

‘Just engineering’ = Cost pressures, tight deadlines, cash flow problems, material supply issues, breakages, failures, development, redesign, track testing, competitor pressure, etc.. However tough though, these are just controllable problems that give in to effort and smart thinking.

It’s also a whole load of fun!

Now what if us pragmatic racers could apply that approach to our Mindset for Racing? Starting with the reasons we give for why things happen? How much faster could we go?

* The Mindset for Racing Finish Line *

Analyse the answers you give when you evaluate a day’s training, testing, practising or racing. The more important the outcome of that day is to you, the more effort you should spend on analysing. (There are reasons why we should avoid and specific ways to avoid overdoing this at times, and Mindset for Racing will discuss these in future.)

What reasons are you giving and most importantly can you answer ‘yes’ to the four key questions? When under pressure, your reasons will tend to be given at an emotional level, rather than a thoughtful one. If these emotional answers often result in a ‘no’ from the four key questions, then your mindset is letting you down.

These reasons can relate to any issue: Equipment, fitness, diet, technique, team organisation. Understand that your psychology / mindset is fundamental in how you evaluate everything to do with your racing.

You know what the top guys do and what you should be doing, don’t you?

Enjoy your racing and never give up.

Regards

Mike

Mike Garth BSc (Hons) MSc
mike.garth@sun1400.com
www.sun1400.com
Sun1400: Sunday 2pm - Ready to race?
Maximising your mental approach in motor sports

© Sun1400, 2007. All rights reserved. You are free to use material from the Mindset for Racing eZine in whole or in part, as long as you include a complete attribution, including live web site link. Please also notify me where the material will appear.
The attribution should read:

"By Mike Garth of Sun1400. Please visit Mike's web site at www.sun1400.com for additional articles and resources on helping motor sports athletes and their teams perform better." (Make sure the link is live if placed in an eZine or in a web site.)