Shut the Fuck Up and… Play!

6 May 2024 - Sport

I know! It’s straight forward and hard, but sometimes you just need to Shut the Fuck Up and continue to play your game. We talked in the last article the reason why you’re not a badass athlete and this can be one of the reasons. Let’s think about a Tennis match when you don’t agree with the judge and you start to argue with him about the point, or during a Formula 1 race when you see an incorrect move from another driver and you start to show disappointment on the radio.

How much time do you lose or how much energy and focus do you lose to complain? And if you lose the focus, how much time do you need to re-focus again? Maybe 1 sec, maybe 10 sec, maybe 1 min, but in that moment you give an advantage to your opponent. He scores a point, he overtakes you, he takes 0.1 sec distance that can be the end of your game and bye bye zone!

The zone is actually the moment where you perform at your peak of your physical, technical and tactical skills. Your mind is 100% dedicated to that moment and you are performing at your best, but if you cut that moment and you let negative emotions pass… the magic disappears.

We need to think that mind and body are not separated. So what are feelings like anxiety, fear, anger for our body? Just electrical signals.

Feelings like confidence, energy, aggressiveness, and fun reflect a very specific biochemical and neurochemical balance in the body. Feelings of helplessness and fatigue are rooted in opposing biochemical processes. Blood sugar level, glycogen, adrenaline, noradrenaline, neurotransmitters change directions when you change your mindset from positive to negative.

Your muscles don’t react like before, they’re tight, your awareness changes and so on. Negative feelings can block our effort to achieve the Zone, so, sometimes but not always, you need to understand when is time to Shut the Fuck Up and Play. Play for the Victory.