%% ID: 13204980 Updated: 2022-01-28 %% ![](https://readwise-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/static/images/article4.6bc1851654a0.png) # About Title: [[Other/Obsidian Starter Vault(Second Brain)/Readwise 1/Articles/Here’s the Strategy Elite Athletes Follow to Perform at the Highest Level]] Author: [[observer.com]] Category: #articles Number of Highlights: ==26== Last Highlighted: *2021-11-15* Readwise URL: https://readwise.io/bookreview/13204980 Source URL: https://observer.com/2015/12/heres-the-strategy-elite-athletes-follow-to-perform-at-the-highest-level/ # Highlights They tell us every game, every day, ‘trust the process.’” ^278320550 --- Nobody has enough brainpower or motivation to consistently manage all the variables going on in the course of a season, let alone a game. They think they do—but realistically, they don’t. ^278320551 --- the average play in football lasts just seven seconds. Seven seconds—that’s very manageable. ^278320552 --- “Don’t think about winning the SEC Championship. Don’t think about the national championship. Think about what you needed to do in this drill, on this play, in this moment. That’s the process: Let’s think about what we can do today, the task at hand. ^278320553 --- Let’s say you’ve got to do something difficult. Don’t focus on that. Instead break it down into pieces. Simply do what you need to do right now. And do it well. ^278320554 --- Follow the process and not the prize ^278320555 --- back-to-back championships ^278320556 --- taking it one step at a time, not getting distracted by anything else ^278320557 --- Not the other team, not the scoreboard, or the crowd. ^278320558 --- Finishing the smallest task you have right in front of you and finishing it well. ^278320559 --- Don’t think about the end—think about survivin ^278320560 --- one day at a time. ^278320561 --- when you really get it right, even the hardest things become manageable ^278320562 --- Even mammoth tasks become just a series of component parts. ^278320563 --- Don’t let your imagination be crushed by life as a whole. Don’t try to picture everything bad that could possibly happen. Stick with the situation at hand, and ask, “Why is this so unbearable? Why can’t I endure it?” ^278320564 --- Focusing on what’s immediately in front of you. No strain, no struggling. So relaxed. No exertion or worry. Just one simple movement after another. That’s the power of process. ^278320565 --- First, you don’t panic, you conserve your energy. You don’t do anything stupid like get yourself choked out by acting without thinking. You focus on not letting it get worse. Then you get your arms up, to brace and create some breathing room, some space ^278320566 --- Being trapped is just a position, not a fate ^278320567 --- You get out of it by addressing and eliminating each part of that position through small, deliberate action—not by trying (and failing) to push it away with superhuman strength. ^278320568 --- How often do we assume that change is impossible because it’s too big? ^278320569 --- how many people are paralyzed by all their ideas and inspirations? They chase them all and go nowhere, distracting themselves and never making headwa ^278320570 --- We are A-to-Z thinkers, fretting about A, obsessing over Z, yet forgetting all about B through Y ^278320571 --- Shut up. Go back to your stations and try to think about what we are going to do ourselves, instead of worrying about what’s going on out there. You know what your job is, stop jawing and get to work. ^278320572 --- Moving forward, one step at a time. Subordinate strength to the process. Replace fear with the process. Depend on it. Lean on it. Trust in it. ^278320573 --- Take your time, don’t rush. Some problems are harder than others. Deal with the ones right in front of you first. Come back to the others later. ^278320574 --- The process is about doing the right things, right now. Not worrying about what might happen later, or the results, or the whole picture. ^278320575