Single-mindedness critical to sporting and life success

Emma Radukanu and her coaches have put her extraordinary success at the US Tennis Open and her rewriting of the record books, down to her 'mental strength'. But what exactly does that mean and how do you acquire it?

As an Osteopath and Biomechanic, i spent a number of years in elite sport, mostly working on improvements in symmetry, alignment, flexibility and mobility, in order to overcome and prevent injury and improve performance. In fact, my original Osteopathic partner, Terry Moule, counted Emma Radukanu's chief mentor, Tim Henman, as one of his regular clients.

But, whilst working on the muscle contraction patterns of athletes, and for that matter, all my clients, it has become clear to me that many of the physical limitations experienced by people are actually 'somatised' tensions created not by their physical bodies, but by indecision in their mind.

As well as being an Osteopath, i am also a Naturopath, which means that i have completed the same general medical training as a doctor and i therefore work holistically on all my clients, attending not just to their physical bodies, but also to their functional and mental health as well.

Some years ago, i wrote a book on evolutionary psychology and one of the chapters was on 'do and don't rules' and their profoundly different outcomes on behaviour and success.

In that respect, a free and expressive mind (and body) is bound only by a limited number of don't rules and focuses mainly on do rules instead.

A don't rule naturally sets up an opposition in your mind and body. As you recognise certain sensual triggers, your instinctive mind immediately prepares a set of muscle contractions in order to instinctively react. But when a don't rule has been linked to these triggers, then just as quickly, your rational brain contracts the reciprocal muscles and forces your instinctive action to stop.

Your whole brain and body grinds to a standstill for a split second until it assesses what to do instead, i.e. it searches for the 'do' rule. It is literally held in 'tension' and will remain in that state until the alternative action is found and chosen.

Sometimes, and especially in today's world, alternative actions can be fraught with indecision, often because social convention is so complicated and sometimes paradoxical, such that a whole conversation has to happen in your mind before an 'acceptable' action can be chosen.

And increasingly, in our ever-more complicated social environment, 'acceptable actions' are never clear and so a person's mind and body can remain in this 'tense' state for as long as the indecision remains, sometimes, forever!

From my work with thousands of clients, i can tell you that people now typically have thousands of 'don't rules written in their physical bodies as tensions, such that most people can no longer move freely and these tension play a significant role in their physical diseases.

A 'do' rule, on the other hand, automatically allows the sensual triggers to flow into an action without stopping. They give a permission to act and a single direction to act in, (rather than a road-block and a dilemma), so they offer a way past indecision and avoid tension.

In Emma Radukanu's game (and in her attitude and body movements) it is clear that she only has forward gears and no reverse gears, she has no doubts, or indecisions, only targets. Every shot she hits is designed to be a devastating winner, defense is only ever a reflex, not a strategy.

To build such a game you need to only ever have thought about hitting winners. This is a single-minded 'do' strategy. So, when Emma's mind wants to know what to do in any game situation, the decision is easy and immediate; hit a winner, as hard as you possibly can. There are no 'buts' and there's no 'fear' of the consequences of missing.

The margins are slim for such shots, but if you never contemplate any other strategy, then quickly your body and mind learns to zone in on the slim tolerances. Of course, you will fail a lot at the start, but with determination and single-mindedness, your body and mind will learn to operate within these personal margins of error and not those that dictate the shots of others.

Contrast that approach with being told to hit the ball over the net, in a friendly, gentle fashion, so that your opponent is able to hit it back. Your mindset is then hardwired to play rallies, and not to win points.

It might be infuriating for a practice opponent to have the ball smashed at them constantly, especially if the accuracy is initially poor, but if tolerated and not admonished, it will almost certainly lead to quick improvements and exceptional skills.

But its not just in Emma's game where you can see the results of this kind of single-minded approach. Look at the change that has taken place in cricket recently, where the short version of the game has necessitated a more 'positive' approach to batting. The types of shots and scores are now beyond anything that could have been dreamed of a decade or two ago and the younger players are now capable of working within tolerances that would previously been thought to be impossible.

The single-minded approach to hitting every ball out of the stadium, leaves no room for doubt and indeed it seems that doubt and indecision become the batter's only primary weakness.

On a similar theme, i always remember a quote that the extremely focused England batsman, Jonathan Trott, said made a huge difference to his career. It was:

'concentration is the absence of irrelevant thought'

In a way, this is effectively saying the same thing. Single-mindedness without indecision is the key to success.

Because such an approach leaves no room for doubt or indecision, it is a mindset that will breed winners not only in sport, but also in any walk of life.

Today, half of the mental problems that exist come from indecision created by an increasing set of 'don't' rules and fears and utter confusion over political correctness and acceptable social behaviors. This creates so many barriers to flow and so many road blocks to action that its hardly surprising that many people now exist in a semi-state of paralysis, riddled with tension, with all the compressive forces that this entails and the consequences on their physical freedom and general health.

Disease loves stasis and that's what tension creates.

For those who already have a mind riddled with 'don'ts' and social indecision, their paralysis can be hard to unpick. That's why its so much easier to train a fresh mind to be positive, than retrain an old one. You can't teach on old dog, new tricks.

The brain only works in addition, by which i mean that it can't undo old synapses, it can only create new ones. That's why its so important to start the 'do' rules with children. You then don't have to 'undo' them later.

But retraining isn't impossible.

When a stimulus arises that you already have a don't rule for or have indecision around, you can cultivate an 'alternative' behaviour that rivals the old one, i.e., a bifurcation in the brain rather than an overwriting.

This new alternative then lies in parallel with, rather than sequential to, the old one and you can start training yourself to choose the new pathway more often, until the old one 'grows over' and becomes less accessible. The old reaction will of course, always be there and in stressful times you may still slip back into it, but the longer it remains unused the less likely it is to be chosen.

This strategy of creating alternative behaviours, is of course, a primary method for dealing with addictions, which you can work on in a similar way.

It has always amazed me that psychology, including sports psychology, overlooks these fundamental things and that society continues to create more don't rules and indecisiveness unaware of its grave consequences, but i suppose that's why successes like Emma Radukanu's will still happen and hit us in such a devastating and surprising way.

If you would like to explore more about your brain and its indecisions, then take a look at my 'enlightened thinking' videos on the front page of this website and if you'd like to work on freeing up your mind either for personal or sporting reasons, then feel free to contact me at mark@lightpractice.co.uk.