You know that I am a big advocate of helping racers get into the flow
on the track. The ability to let it happen and trust your skills is
critical to peak performance.

Clay Filson, a driver coach for Formula BMW USA and a student of my
mental training system, recently had some success helping his drivers
find the flow on the track.

Clay told me that drivers have the ability to tune into a massive
amount of data in racing today. But sometimes focusing too much on
the data can limit your ability to focus on driving the car!

Here if the email I received from Clay about data acquisition and
focus while racing.

"I have an example of getting one of our drivers to focus on the flow
of driving with pretty good results."

"As you are aware we use a tremendous amount of data acquisition to
record both the car parameters and the driver's performance. While
this tool is a valuable asset for defining the performance and tuning
of the driver and equipment, it can be very distracting."

"The driver starts judging himself by the data results instead of
'feeling' his performance. At one point the driver was paying too
much attention to the RPM and speed values displayed on the dash
while on the track."

"During the next on-track session we taped over the dash display and
allowed only the shift and warning lights to be displayed. The driver
picked up over .50 seconds per lap - he started to 'feel' the flow
and concentrated on his sensory perception and stopped concentrating
on what was in the cockpit."

"Needless to say his confidence level increased and he learned to
tune out irrelevant information and trust his abilities."

What a novel concept. Block out excess information that may distract
a young driver. The result - you get faster lap times because the
racer's mind is freed to focus on the task of driving and feeling
the car. Faster lap times increase the racer's confidence.

This concept sounds simple enough. But you and I both know this can
be very complex because of the many distractions, internal and
external, that can run through your head when racing.

The lesson of the day is to identify what is only important to focus
on when racing and eliminate any extraneous distractions that take
your focus away from racing.

I can help you improve focus and filter out the distractions so you
can concentrate on the task of racing. Check out my one-on-one
programs:

For motocross racers:
http://racingpsychology.com/moto_programs.html

For auto racers:
http://racingpsychology.com/at_programs.html

Your Confidence Coach,

Patrick J. Cohn, Ph.D.,
Master Mental Game Coach

p.s. Not ready to commit to a one-on-one mental coaching program? I
have another option for you that will not smash the budget. Learn the
top mental strategies to get into a confident, focused, and relaxed
state of mind before each race with my new CD Program,
"The Confident Racer:"

http://www.peaksports.com/the_confident_racer.php

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Instilling A Mindset for Racing Success
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