In her interview after her winning race Daphne Schippers, the Dutch World Champion Athlete 200m sprint, said what we know but don’t always practice yet. Being asked what she did in her race to win she mentioned a few things, but to me most striking was that she focused on being ‘relaxed’. Especially the last 30 m of her race she had to focus on the right muscle tension which made her even accelerate. It was not the thinking about ‘winning’, no it was the focus on her ‘process ‘ of running and by have the right relaxation she could accelerate. Winning is the result of great preparation and an excellent focus on your process. Too much focus on end result instead of the process might have cramped her muscles and could have had a counter effect, slowing her down.
Now try to stand up, tense your leg muscles to the max and try to run 100m. Cumbersome isn’t it?! Our brains work similar, too much tension (stress) on our thinking muscles (brain) will slow us down. Too much pressure on people or focusing too much on the end result will create unnecessary stress. Well designed process and focus on the right relaxation will avoid ‘sprinting the marathon’. We started to use the LEAN mindset to get closer to this ‘right relaxation’. Avoiding the things you shouldn’t do anyway will generate the room to focus on the things you should do, will bring the right relaxation (fit for purpose) and will boost the individual and as a result the team and so on…
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