From Thinking (Behind) to Doing (Ahead)

When you’re in the subconscious mode, the anticipation circuit is projecting forward. It is anticipating what’s going to happen and it is coordinating all of your movements to bring about the action you’re about to do or that you’re in the process of doing; but the instant you begin to think, the anticipation retreats back to behind where you are.

Let’s just use a nebulous number as an example. You go from 18 dots ahead of the bird. The minute you begin to think about the lead or think about what you’re doing, you’re all of a sudden two dots behind the bird. It happens instantaneously and you wonder why you feel so strange when it happens.

You go from doing (which is ahead) to thinking (which is behind). We always talk about being in the present. Everybody has got to be in the present. You’ve got to be in the present to win – everyone says that.

When you’re in the present, you’re in the subconscious because that’s the only way you can be there, and the anticipation circuit goes way out in front of you. The better you are, the farther out in front it goes, which means it can correct anything that might happen along the way, like a contingency plan.

But the instant you start thinking, the focus ratio goes from 95/5 to 60/40 or 80/20. That’s what’s so critical about the focus ratio. The instant it leaves 95/5, the thought process has begun, and you go from way out in front of it to what’s going on to behind it.

This is an excerpt from the August 2012 Coaching Hour podcast. You can listen to it and read a written transcript, along with more than 20 years of archived episodes with your Knowledge Vault membership.