This week’s book learning is part 2 from a 3 part from The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. (Part 1)
When Phelps was a teenager, he often got very nervous before races. So, at the end of each practice, coach Bowman would tell him to go home and “watch the videotape. Watch it before you go to sleep and when you wake up.”
The videotape wasn’t real. It was a mental visualization of the perfect race. Each night before falling asleep and each morning after waking up, Phelps would imagine himself jumping off the blocks and, in slow motion, swimming flawlessly, and imagining what it would feel like to rip off his cap at the end.
He would lie in bed with his eyes shut and watch the entire competition, the smallest details, again and again, until he knew each second by heart.
During practices, when Bowman ordered Phelps to swim at race speed, he would shout, “Put in the videotape!” and Phelps would push himself, as hard as he could. It almost felt anticlimactic as he cut through the water. He had done this so many times in his head that, by now, it felt rote. But it worked. He got faster and faster.
Eventually, all Bowman had to do before a race was whisper, “Get the videotape ready,” and Phelps would settle down and crush the competition.
Sketch by EB
By establishing a ‘keystone’ habit of visualizing victory every morning and night, Bowman and Phelps created a platform from which another habit – calming down and performing during a critical race – became effortless. The visualization keystone habit had prepared the soil from which other habits could grow.
So, how did all this come together when Phelps faced the greatest challenge of his life? Stay tuned..
A Learning a Day 