Sports Archives

How to Win Competitions When the Margins Are Slim

Is there a trick to winning competitions? How do the world’s top athletes consistently stay on top of their game? According to American chess player Josh Waitzkin, the key to winning competitions, even when the margins are incredibly slim, is to operate on a deeper, more subtle level than your opponents. In practice, this means achieving enhanced perception through deep refinement of your skills and control of your mental arena. Here’s how to win competitions even when the margins are small.

How to Master a Skill: Deepen Your Fundamentals

What is the key to mastering a skill? Should you focus on one technique or diversify your practice? According to Joshua Waitzkin, the author of The Art of Learning, real skill comes from a deep, singular focus. In terms of skill-building, he argues that you reach excellence by refining a set of fundamental skills, rather than practicing a wide range of techniques. For example, focus on learning a single style of piano, like baroque classical, rather than trying to learn classical, jazz, and ragtime piano all at once. Here’s how to master a skill, according to Waitzkin.

How to Keep Training With an Injury

How do you continue training with an injury? How can you use your injury as an opportunity to grow? Skipping training to let your body heal from an injury is frustrating. While many choose to see injuries as setbacks, you can choose to see them as opportunities to grow. American tai chi champion Josh Waitzkin says you should keep training through injury but only practice psychological aspects of your skill. Here’s why you shouldn’t stop training when injured.

Josh Waitzkin: The Key to Athletic Success Is Creativity

What is the key to athletic success? What do the world’s greatest athletes do differently? According to American tai chi champion Josh Waitzkin, when it comes to competing in the top league, it’s not skill or technical mastery that makes an athlete stand out—it is creativity. Your creativity is a unique asset—just like every musician makes their own music, you’ll express your skill in a way unique to you. Here’s how to find your creative style as an athlete.

Learning Proper Form: Practice Makes Perfect

Why is proper form so important? How do you train yourself to maintain the correct form without constantly thinking about it? When you are learning a new move, it’s important to practice it with proper form from the get-go. If you practice with improper form, you don’t just risk injury, but also make it harder to retrain yourself as your body gets used to an incorrect form. Here’s how to learn the proper form for any move or exercise.

How to Achieve a State of Peak Performance

How do athletes achieve peak performance states? What are the two ingredients required to reach your peak performance? According to Joshua Waitzkin, the key to performing at your peak is to refine your skills until they flow seamlessly, intuitively, and effortlessly. Once you’ve reached such technical automaticity, you’ll be able to access enhanced perception as your brain will be able to process more information with less effort. Learn about the two ingredients for enhanced perception, according to Josh Waitzkin.

10 Can’t Hurt Me Challenges From David Goggins

What Can’t Hurt Me challenges does David Goggins propose to his readers? Could completing these challenges help you reach your own goals? In his book Can’t Hurt Me, former Navy SEAL and ultra-racer David Goggins presents ten challenges to his readers. The goal of these challenges is to help you work efficiently towards your goals and overcome obstacles in your life. Here are David Goggins’s ten challenges.

The Way of the Samurai: Principles for Success

Who were the Samurai and what was their job? Do the Japanese Samurai still exist? The Samurai were the warriors of premodern Japan whose role was to defend territories and fight enemies of the authorities. While the Samurai have ceased to exist as an active force, samurai principles still apply to some modern martial arts contexts. In his book The Book of Five Rings (The Wind Book), Miyamoto Musashi highlights two such principles: know your competitor and use skill over strength. Here’s how the samurai principles apply to the modern-day.

How to Get in the Zone of High Performance

Have you ever been “in the zone”? Is there a way to enter the performance state on demand? In his book, The Art of Learning, American chess player and tai chi champion Joshua Waitzkin explains how to get in the zone and activate peak performance states. The key, he says, is to use “triggers.” Think of this trigger as an on/off switch that instantly activates your competitive spirit. Here’s how to use triggers to enter the zone of high performance.

How to Read Your Opponent—Chess Prodigy Explains

How do you read your opponent in a fight or a competition? What signals can help decipher their intended actions? At the highest level, competition takes place on the psychological battlefield. To win, you have to learn how to read your opponent and exploit the chinks in their mental armor. This is especially true when you’re evenly matched in technique. Here’s how to read your opponent, according to American chess player Josh Waitzkin.