When I was on the US Ski Team as a mogul specialist, I noticed when my peers where in the gate for a competition — a mere second before they pushed off they all abruptly clacked their poles together. Every single one of them did this! So being no dummy, I tried it too.
Clack! And off I went. I’ll be damned if something in me didn’t shift.
It seems most pro athletes have a ritual; the prayer, the nose rub, a tap tap tap on the leg. I know a football player who would tie and untie his shoes 15 times before every game. What the heck are they all doing anyway?
They’re shifting from one form of consciousness into another. They’re shifting into focus, in an instant. Just like us mogul skiers, without any effort.
Imagine you’re standing on the left track of a railroad track, but you want to be on the right track. Same when you’re in one form of consciousness (the normal, unconscious self), but you want to be in another (say, the powerful, athlete self). How do you get there?
Most look up and see it appears the two tracks meet up waaay off in the distance. Hurrah! So they start walking down the left track, hoping with enough effort, time and commitment they will eventually get to the other track. Some will even run, thinking this extra effort will get them closer, faster! But how long will you have to effort down that left track before you’d meet up with the right?
Forever. And the longer you effort down that track the more invested you’ll be with your process, and unwilling then to try anything new.
Stop now. What great athletes know how to do, and most of them don’t even realize they’re doing it, is with just a little pause or ritual, they jump track. In an instant. Into focus. Into the right mindset. It is indeed as simple as walking into a grocery store or lifting up a book. You don’t think about it, you just do it, without the need to understand.
You can’t become powerful, the only thing you can do is realize you already are powerful.
And suddenly like Bruce Lee, you’ll know: “The less effort, the faster and more powerful you will be.”
Want to experience this shifting in person? Come to a camp with Kristen Ulmer this year. Find the consciousness that works best for you, and jump track again and again. The more you practice it, the more easy and familiar it becomes.
Photo Credit: draculina_ak
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