Mind Games
We all play them, consciously or not. Our thinking shapes our surfing as surely as our physical form but while we tend to be aware of our physical frailties, we are much less conscious of our mental weaknesses. You can buy the books on sport psychology ranging from densely referenced, in depth academic tomes, to the latest pop masterpiece describing how to control your monkey brain only to be confused by the jargon and bored by the bullshit.
Yet it is important and with a little application some basic psychology will improve your surfing and maybe your life. So a few hints, with the qualification that we are all different. What works magically for one does nothing for another. Just as we need to work out some sort of physical regime that keeps us fit without leaving us exhausted or causing injury, so we need to know how to best use our own minds.
First Principle: Negative thinking is much more powerful than positive thinking. It has its role but most of the time you don't want to go there. More about that later. The key thing is that believing you can do something is a prerequisite, not a guarantee, while believing you can't do it is a guarantee. In practice this means it is more important to suppress negative thoughts than to concentrate on positive ones. In fact there are some real traps with positive thinking including the development of unstable high self esteem. This occurs when the self image is out of line with reality. If you are constantly telling yourself that you are surfing really well when in fact, you aren't, you leave yourself open to crushing blows to your ego. Many violent young men suffer from unstable high self esteem. It is not a nice place to be! So if you are using positive self talk remember to schedule a reality check from time to time.
Second Principle: Visualisation is a powerful tool, use it. There are a number of ways of doing this. The first is to view good surfing and mentally recreate it as a visualisation. That's good, but even better is to grab mental snapshots of your best surfing and replay them with as much intensity as you can. Mental rehearsal is another related technique that involves imagining how you would surf a particular wave. The important thing in this technique is to get it right and this can actually take a bit of time. Mentally erase the stuff ups until you have created a clear image of the whole wave or the part you were concentrating on.
Third Principle: Get your arousal level right. Arousal refers to how intensely you respond to stimuli and is a measure of your excitement and anxiety level. The higher your arousal, the stronger your response. The problem is that no-one really knows how it is related to performance......except you. You know when your are too amped up, you know when you couldn't be stuffed and you know that, to surf anywhere near your best, you need to be somewhere in the middle. Exactly where will vary for different people and different circumstances. You need to find out what suits you. For some lower arousal in difficult conditions can reduce impulsiveness and result in better decisions. If you find yourself frequently choosing the wrong waves or getting caught inside on challenging days, it may be worth trying to lower your arousal level. It is ironic then that higher arousal levels are often more useful in lower quality conditions. Frothing in the shorebreak for many is simply a way of lifting their performance.
Fourth Principle: Focus on what you are doing. This might seem so obvious that it would not need to be mentioned, but look around you at how many surfers sit there and chat, or float around in positions where they are simply not going to catch a wave. That's fine if that is what you want but don't come in and kid yourself by whinging about the crowd or the lack of waves. Stay focused, think about what you are doing and you will usually get your share of whatever is on offer.
Fifth Principle: Know why you are out there. There is a big difference between a quick constitutional on a poor day when the goal may be no more than to catch a dozen waves of any description and a session in which you are aiming to surf quality waves at your best. Gear your psychological effort to the desired outcome.
Sixth Principle: There is such a thing as bad luck. You will get your share. There will be days when for no apparent reason things don't go well. No matter how well you know a break and are psychologically up for it, Huey is a fickle old bastard and sometimes he will do you down and send the waves to everywhere you aren't. Sooner or later you will break your favourite board on the day of the year. If these are the worst things that ever happen to you rest assured you have been blessed. Most people will experience much worse. Resilience is the ability to overcome adversity. Whatever happens in the surf, get over it, it will be good practice for when the shit really happens.
Finally a word about negative thinking. Don't ignore it. A certain amount is normal and useful. It is our natural check on stupidity, poor judgement and all the other ills of the human condition. It can be a helpful cue to solve the problems that have initiated it, but it can also become clinical depression. If you think you are going there, get help, it is always available.
Comments
Now I got this in my head!
Sorry Ben, definitely not his best work!
But in my eyes your best work BB. Great article. Surf orientated, considered , thought provoking and original.
Great stuff. Cheers
PS don't want to appear unhip, but I like that song.
Great BBoy, now you've added another obstacle to the line up, the "Mind Surfer". "aroused" dudes paddling around 'visualizing' themselves snaking set waves with the power of positive thinking and half a hard on.
.......you mean you haven't noticed them already adam?
Great article and an enjoyable read.
I'm so guilty of neglecting the fourth principle. Such a daydreamer and I love a chat. Drifting off the bank, floating out the back, sitting too far in and copping it on the head. Whoops, missed that set! While my mate is the nicest guy on land but all business in the water- and consequently jags most of the best waves.
I'm a firm believer that your mindset is indicative of how your sesh will pan out.
Cheers BB.
Bboy,
I had noticed them but thought they just liked chocolate (always got half a bar).
Seriously though, great article, always loved your work and I go way back. Even bought Nemo and El Gato back in the day!
Echoing everyone else, great read bb.
I frequently find my mindset determines what kind of session I'll have. I try to get in the rhythm of my mindset to set my expectations before I paddle out. If I'm feeling mellow or a bit melancholy and just feel like being out there, I set my expectation accordingly and don't worry about how many waves I catch. That way I enjoy it no matter what and take in the whole experience. But I do look like one of those guys floating around who's not gonna catch any waves on those days.
Also the first principle has helped me make a few late drops I reckon I wouldn't otherwise make. Just remind myself as I swing round that I have made these before and I'd better really bloody go for it and plant the foot. Basically willing myself into it based on the knowing I can do it. Don't make em all of course but I've surprised myself a few times with how well that works.
Twas a good read BB. For the first time in a long time, I'd be stoked if my kids read it.
Wondering where the influence came from? Seligman?
It's very reminiscent of his Learned Optimism approach.
Lots of influences freeride I think I read something by Seligman but quite a while ago now.
As with the others above, great article and I can totally relate to nearly all of those.
Thing is I'm not into chatting too much if the surf is good. Around Manly especially you need to be concentrating and on your game to get the best waves out there off everyone. If someone is there to chat to, as there usually is when you surf the same beach nearly every day, it's more a half/half job, concentrating on the surf with one eye and convo with the other.
Arousal level is very interesting.
I recognise when I hit a certain adrenalin/excitement level and at that level my surfing is at its best. I can also notice when I fall out of it after 45mins or so and start to come down a little. It's interesting and hard to explain but you know when you've hit/reached it and are switched on, compared to when you're nowhere near where you want to be.
I guess it's just a matter of not trying to force it to that level if it's not happening as it only seems to make you surf worse.
No friends on powder days!
Only if they keep up and feed positive energy into the next line.
True that, as long as they have the same ability, it's ons!
Funny BB the older I get the more I like a chat, quite relaxing and known around these parts as the gentleman's club - unless it is pumping.
BB great article, I love this kind of stuff as you have said it does not just relate with surfing but life in itself.
"So a few hints, with the qualification that we are all different. What works magically for one does nothing for another."
Are these principles, principles that you yourself BB have come up with and why in this order...?
"Negative thinking is much more powerful than positive thinking" Uuummmm, not sure about that statement at all BB.
In my mind "Positive thinking is much more powerful than Negative thinking" and that is a proven fact. IMO positive thinking is such a powerful tool that when writing an article like this, positive words go along way.
"This occurs when the self image is out of line with reality. If you are constantly telling yourself that you are surfing really well when in fact, you aren't, you leave yourself open to crushing blows to your ego"
I believe if you are so worried about your self image, then of course you are out of line with reality and yourself to put it simply. Oh yeah an EGO....? Come on....! If you have an ego then your an absolute wanker, way out of touch from reality IMO.
Secound principle Visualisation.
Awesome tool that is a magical tool that helps your own performance with sports such as surfing etc.
IMO it is one of the best.
"That's good, but even better is to grab mental snapshots of your best surfing",
Unless you have footage of yourself surfing thats great, but from your own eyes you cant see yourself doing, you can only feel yourself doing....! There is a difference here.
Principles 3,4 and 5 come from waking up every morning and realising why we are alive and have existance on this awesome planet we live on, apart from any other in this solar system or universe that we are aware of at this moment of time. I believe its called appreciation:)
6th principle 'Bad Luck" wow this is a real negative affirmation, or Principle...!
How can "Bad" be something to do with "Luck"
This really has me intrigued to say the least.
IMO its yourself dealing with the journey in which life gives you, a challenge so to speak, something that makes you realise something and makes you stronger.
Ready for the next challenge but with more intuitive reasoning.
My thoughts BB and only mine... :)
Thanks for the comment welly. In terms of positive and negative thinking as I said the difference is that positive thinking is not a guarantee, no matter what you believe reality can intervene. With negative thinking though, if you don't believe it is a certainty that you won't achieve.
The snapshot thing is an exercise in creating the image from the feeling. If you can do that you can potentially reverse engineer the surfing you see to how it would feel and so access a higher performance level. As for bad luck, sadly it happens in all aspects of our life. Some events are beyond our control and from time to time they will go against us. Consider, as happened in Sydney this year, the schoolgirl waiting at a bus stop who was run over and killed by an unlicensed driver. That's the extreme, but there is always an element of luck in wave catching. At a fixed line up with a predictable swell it might be reduced but it is still there. My point is that in surfing this sort of bad luck is almost always trivial and you should just put it behind you ASAP. I have seen people really beat themselves up over a session in which they didn't get the waves they wanted when it was not their fault, the random movement of the crowd and the distribution of the waves just ran against them. The other side of this that I didn't mention is to grab your good luck, if you have one of those days when every set wave pops up right where you are sitting, go for it. Hughie will make you pay another day!
Coolio BB.
I do like this article and the principles you have mentioned, which I hope other readers on this forum will use if they have not already.
I feel that the big picture of my life, is the journey that it has taken me on, which my own journey is something I appreciate and have grasped since a young fella.
I believe having positive thoughts, affirmations and positive energy around me have helped me through, the bad luck times as you say and yes we all go there. The way I see it is, like a graph there is a line say at zero, when you yourself excels past this line in what ever we do, surfing, sports, life etc and reach say a point at 100,200+ etc. There is a certain chance that you will equal that point but in the negative below that zero line. The way I look at this is, the only way to get back up above that zero line is to appreciate where you are at that time below the zero mark.
I'm not sure about anyone else but this occurrence has happened to me numerous times on my journey in life :)
Is this like Newtons third law of motion...? For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction....?
All the principles that you have mentioned, have actually helped my surfing up here, especially dealing with crowds which was a big shock to me.
" The other side of this that I didn't mention is to grab your good luck, if you have one of those days when every set wave pops up right where you are sitting, go for it."
Yeah and this happens often when I go for a surf, its pretty weird and I try not to question this energy but embrace it with a big smile :)
Well done BB, it's a good reminder, any day is a good day for a paddle out. Never expect the perfect wave to grace you but if it does, BOOM, lock it in the bank. Perhaps the next wave won't happen as soon as you thought it would. Aloha to all those at the Dukes Centennial celebrations.
I had a moment of "transcendence of thought" several years ago that radically changed my life for the better (satori/wu wei) but often I find I surf better once I psych up with my thoughts - Anger is an energy!
Its been very beneficial to me to know the place for my thoughts (IE they don't exist and aren't built on any true perception of the outside world) but it can also be useful to use thought systems to create certain mental states. I guess at this point I am not talking about suppressing them though, more inducing and experiencing.
BB - I recognise this is a sub-discussion to your piece which I found very interesting and have taken some pointers from.
Nice reading, I just enjoy the surf for what it is. There's are only 36 surfers in the world that can make the world tour, the rest of us should just chill out and have fun..
I don't know about that pricey sometimes when I see the whole crew sitting there completely chilled out, everyone waiting on their spot for their wave I like to rev it up, start paddling around following the peaks. It's more fun and better exercise if we all put in a bit more energy! Some of us would rather die than be mellow!
And perhaps finding a philosophical mental peace in a situation is just another way of tolerating what should not be tolerated. Rip and Tear!
I know I have days where it all clicks and days when it doesn't. I recognise when I get over excited I mostly Kook it, and when I relax it can happen. If you let the negative creep in, it's all over, so try to stay positive. There's days when my mate and I have paddled out in what looks shit conditions with low expectations and and have had a great session with a few good rides
Great read Blindboy I can relate
Great article BB - and really timely. At the moment the summer crowds are really thick and the wave quality is really weak, so it is nice to be reminded to reset the mental parameters.
In the past I have usually gone and found a sub quality peak to avoid the hassle of crowds - but it isn't the hassle that is at fault, rather my own thinking about it and unrealistic expectations (textbook 1st and 5th principle).
Several years ago a mate of mine (let's call him John) went to a sports psychologist (SP) ... issue at hand fleshed out was John not getting 'length of ride' because he would fall off. SP worked through John's thought process on a wave and determined it was focused on the wrong aspect:
John would be thinking "don't fall off, don't fall off", so his mind was focused on the "fall off" aspect ... SP said to change it to "ride to the beach, to the beach, to the beach" so as to change the core of the thought process.
John's results improved immensely.
Difference in positive or negative thinking can often just be the core focus. For example:
Do you say to yourself ... "don't forget to (insert task) ... "? ... and what usually happens? Do you forget to do that task?
Or, do you say " Remember to (do the task) ... " and what happens?
Try it over the next few days, weeks. See what happens.
Thanks wingnut. I should probably have expressed the negative thinking idea a little differently. Suppress is probably the wrong word, reframe would probably be more accurate in terms of how you go about it. A lot of sports psychologists use those little mantras to keep things positive and maintain focus. It just depends on how serious you are and how you are performing at the time. I think most of us are pretty good at getting into the groove without needing to go to that extent but if you are really having a hard time then it can help.
A very good piece BB.
First principle: being raised with a strong negative, fearful influence (whom I love) led to a default of seeing the best in everything, as a response. Negative thinking can be very powerful. To deflect its presence, being philosophical in response, not conceeding it, and presenting the positive view of the situation has become 2nd nature.
Second principle: agree strongly! My drawing of stick figures on boards on waves is getting really good. This doodling through a sequence of turns, combined with appropriate boards, is having a real difference in my surfing and how I project it. My guy goes through his turn, has these big arrows pointed at him explaining what he's doing, and doesn't complain. In fact he's ripping. I then go out on my skateboard, and surfboard, and emulate him.
Third principle: the arousal thing is so true. I can remember amping to Metallica, being angry and motivated, then struggling to crawl to my feet! The flip side is having a truly agreeble chat, and letting sets go by. Very poor quality surf can be mitigated by taking boards relevant to it. For example, two days ago 1 to 1.5ft beachy dribble was a total fun park on a 12kg 9'6", some very long rides and crazy planing speed. Horses for courses...
Agree with 6th principle as well. With the realisation that the combination of waves coming in, surface conditions and other people's human action is ultimately beyond my control, much of the frustration disappeared from surfing. Sometimes the combination of excellent ride one-after-another, astounds. Sometimes, it's slim pickings. To move from "I'm gonna go out there and shred, doing exaclty 'X' on the wave," to "let us go out and see what the wave presents," when combined with prior visualisation and muscle memory (long skateboards are good) was a really good shift.
One final thing, from my working life, is the understanding that sometimes, 'pride goeth before a fall,' or rather hubris can be dangerous. One may only be as good as their last action, but when an arrogance is built beyond reasonable expectation of achievement and presentation of track record, perhaps risk is not respected as it should be, and chaos ensues. This is very different from positive thinking. In the financial world, look at how MF Global failed, or JPM's 'whale' trade as examples.
Rabbit's mantra back in the day was " You are only as good as your last wave!"
Got to surf a great bank in the middle of Cooly in '99 with Rabbit. He could paddle! Surface conditions were beautiful, about 4ft. Dusk was coming. Had a flight to get to, but was staying out as long as I could. A good set came in, Rab was on the first, I was positioned for and took the 2nd, fantastic waves. What a bookend to a trip.
Yeh, I found the suppressing negative thoughts comments in the article interesting and worthy of discussion also. It has been thoroughly researched by experts in the field, and well known and highlighted for some time that the strategy simply doesn't work. In fact it makes the issues worse, and can actually lead to serious problems in life.
From here:
http://www.spring.org.uk/2009/05/why-thought-suppression-is-counter-prod...
'The classic response to this mental wrangling — whether relatively trivial or deadly serious — is to try and forget about it, push it to the back of our minds or some other variation on the theme. Unfortunately counter to our intuition about what should work, psychological research has discovered in the last twenty years that this approach is not just wrong, but has the potential to make the situation worse.'
And here:
http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/counterfactual-thinking-thoug...
'The bad news is that thought suppression doesn't work'
And here:
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/anxiety-files/201007/why-thought-sto...
'Some therapists still recommend a technique called "thought stopping". This is quite unfortunate since thought-stopping leads to thought rebounding. The research by Wegner at Harvard on "white bears and other unwanted thoughts" shows that trying not to think of a thought leads to the thought persisting later. In a recent review of strategies that people use, Yale psychologists Ameli Aldao and Susan Nolen-Hoeksema found that suppression strategies for thoughts and emotions are associated with greater anxiety and depression, whereas other strategies (such as problem-solving, acceptance and cognitive restructuring) are associated with less anxiety.'
"Thought-stopping,"is a now discarded behavioral technique that involves getting rid of negative or unwanted thoughts by suppressing them.
Some reading.
http://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=z9vHEy0osBAC&oi=fnd&pg=PA1...
Its actually a pretty pivotal, important point, and glaring mistake. Its also a reasonably basic idea and fact, that whatever you focus on, persists.
There are other successful strategies. Lester Levinson's story is interesting even though it has undergone the effects of modern marketing.
Obviously simply shifting focus causes the new area of focus to persist.
I agree with velocityjohno re:
'perhaps risk is not respected as it should be, and chaos ensues.'
This is a chronic, much discussed situation in the stock market. No protection strategy.
My experience in property development highlighted knowing and acknowledging the full downside potential of each project, to determine whether or not it would generate profit, or actually work. Banks are really open to this thinking, as if a profit can be demonstrated despite the worse case scenario, they are more than happy to finance it. Having honestly, truthfully, bare bones and all looked at a situation, then obviously the focus then totally shifts to creating the best possible outcome.
Thanks uplift, I was analysing what I actually do a little more closely and I think it fits in with the approach in your post. The main thing I do is to deflect the negative context and view it in a neutral or positive light. For example if I am looking, as I do all too often, at crowded waves and I start to think that I am not going to get many, I tell myself "So what? I will still get some exercise and feel the benefit of it" or something similar. I think this is a saner approach than trying to tell yourself that you will get plenty of waves, or whatever the issue might be. That said, I think you can successfully block negative thoughts in the short term and, in terms of surfing, that might be fine as the longer term problems are not likely to be significant unless you already have real "issues" around surfing.
Another approach is just clearing your mind completely. Use some sort of meditation technique to turn off. I find this the way to go if I am really stressed. If I am heading for a surf straight after a hectic day at work I often put the car seat back, close my eyes and concentrate on my breathing for 5 or 10 minutes. This also really helps shift the focus from work to surfing.
Excellent post Uplift.
Re: pushing thoughts into the back of the mind:
"Every mind has a choice between truth and repose" - Ralph Waldo Emerson. That one sits above my desk.
That really was an excellent post by uplift, if only he could check his ego at the door and halve the rambling occasionally he really has some excellent knowledge to enlighten us mere mortals with.
The energy interactions is intetesting, while u can't really advocate negative energy, like one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter, it appears one man's posituve energy can be another man's negative energy.
Personally I find nothing more annoying than someone of apparently low intellect enarmoured with their new book/outlook,ththinking they can power through any of life's obstacles with 'the power of positive thinking'.
Actually there is something more annoying, a hippy chick constantly spruiking the power of 'positive energy' whist complaining about her interactions with partners and friends, blaming the other persons 'issues' or 'energy'. A bit of self reflection might go a long way, but clearly her 'guru' doesn't raise that. Or she's too self obsessed to listen to that part.
All very interesting stuff, especially the supressing sruff, in my mind, that stuff has to be released somewhere, sometime. And too much supression is a bad thing, think of catholic priests suppressing way too much stuff.
sypkan, under no circumstances would I suggest thinking about catholic priests!
No catholic priests, good advice blindboy, but I can't not think about it, everything about them is weird. Perhaps from a life of kidding themselves, suppressing those wicked thoughts.
But that's a different matter to surfing, as is deluding yourself for a short time or a short lifetime. In all cases we need reality checks but you talked about that.
I find in surfing I have the best surfs when I don't think about any of that stuff, when your mind becomes clear, you think of nothing and you find that elusive thing psycholigists call flow, not easy in crowded surf.
Very Nice Blindboy, very nice indeed. Seligman would be proud of you. Cheers
Good read Uplift..
Anyone else find that your first wave can have an effect on the rest of the session? (pitted and spat vs pitched and shat!)