The Dangers of Positive Thinking
by Steve McGill
This past summer, one of my former athletes was running in a very high-level meet in which she was one of the favorites in the 100 meter hurdles. But instead of winning or finishing near the top, she hit a hurdle early and fell way behind the pack and ended up finishing last. When I texted her the next day to offer encouragement, she texted me back saying that she was so surprised that she had performed so poorly because she had felt so ready, and that all of her thoughts before the race had been so positive. Upon reading that message I thought to myself, that was the problem — you were thinking positive thoughts.
My philosophy regarding the proper mental approach heading into a race, or even into a workout — differs from that of many. The common assumption is that negative thoughts lead to negative outcomes while positive thoughts lead to positive outcomes. And there is all kinds of sports literature and self-help literature in this day and age pushing the power of positivity and how it can help you do the impossible. To me, negative thinking and positive thinking are the same type of thinking. The negative thinker says “Oh no, I’m gonna mess up.” The positive thinker says, “I got this, I’m gonna do well.” In both cases, there is doubt; it’s just more obvious with the negative thinker. Most positive thinking is just negative thinking disguised as positive thinking. Because if you really believed in yourself, you wouldn’t need to encourage yourself at all; you wouldn’t need to think positively at all. If you really believed in yourself, your mind would be still. It wouldn’t be thinking negative thoughts, and it wouldn’t be thinking positive thoughts. It would be free of thought, which would liberate the body to perform autonomously.
Several years ago I had a chance to pick the brain of 2013 World Champion David Oliver, and he said that it’s all about execution. Prior to a race, he’s not thinking about beating this guy or that guy or running a fast time; he’s thinking about executing the things he’s been working on in practice. That’s closer to what I’m talking about — a mind free of expectations, desires, hopes is a mind that’s ready to stay out of the way so that the body can do what it has been trained to do. When interviewing 3-time Olympian Tonie Campbell many years ago, he said something similar, but from the opposite perspective. Campbell talked about how, in one of the Olympic Trials finals, he was counting heads, trying to figure out who he needed to beat to make the team. When he counted only two opponents who had beaten him previously, he felt confident that he would make the team because there was no way he could lose to anyone else. But midway through the race he found himself in fifth because his confidence had made him complacent. So he had to rally and walk down a couple dudes to make the team, which he did.
Athletes in team sports often echo the sentiments of Oliver about execution. As a Philadelphia sports fan, I have often heard the Eagles quarterback, Jalen Hurts — a stoic guy who never gets too high and never gets too low — talk about the importance of executing the game plan. When asked questions about specific players on opposing teams or some trash talk coming from the opposing team’s locker room, he always comes back to the same point: if we execute the game plan, on offense and on defense, we’ll put ourselves in a position to win the game. Hurts’ emotional equilibrium is a big reason, besides his work ethic, that he’s been able to improve so dramatically and that even the players on the team who are older than him look up to him as a leader.
Recently, I came across a video where a reporter was asking Kobe Bryant about Steph Curry — this was before Curry blew up and changed the way the game is played at every level. When asked about the young Curry, Kobe responded that the young dude is legit. When asked why he felt that way, Kobe responded, “he’s calm.” He went on to say the same thing that I said about Hurts — he never gets too high, he never gets too low. He stays in the middle.
This middle space is what is referred to as “no mind” in Zen Buddhism. “No mind” allows for “Wu Wei” to take place. Wu Wei is a Taoist term that I’ve discussed in previous articles and in one of my YouTube videos that means “action through non-action” or “effortless action.”
So, on a practical level, what does all of this mean? Let me put it to you this way: In a race, all the mind can do is get in the way. Sure, in practice, conscious thought is so important, as the mind must teach the body how to execute the movements. In that sense, the mind plays the role of the coach, and the body plays the role of the athlete. But in a race — especially in a big race — the mind must get out of the way and trust the body to execute the movements just like, in a literal sense, a coach must at some point in an athlete’s development get out of the way and trust the athlete to do as he or she has been coached to do.
The term “no mind,” in essence, means “free of thought.” No negative thoughts, no positive thoughts. When the mind is free of thought, the body can act instinctively. In the moments leading up to a big race, when you’re out there setting your blocks and getting in a few warmup reps over the first hurdle, your mind, ideally, isn’t thinking about anything. Yet, at the same time, it should be aware of everything. You notice the athletes on either side of you, but you don’t focus on them. You notice the temperature, the way your legs feel, the slight headwind, but you don’t focus on them. You focus on your breathing, you check to make sure that your breathing is slow and easy, and by focusing on your breathing, you gradually empty your mind of thought, of noise, of chatter. You allow the mind to slow down, until it is perfectly still. Then, when the starter says “runners take your mark,” you are ready. No hopes, no expectations, no desires, no fears, no doubts.
