The other day I heard a phrase I liked so much, I wrote it down. I didn't think I'd be using it so soon, but who knew 'a Rubik's cube of vague and contradictory messages' would be so apt for John Eliot's Overachievement: The New Model For Exceptional Performance (Penguin Portfolio, Rs 545).
I dived into this book eagerly, hoping to absorb 'the new model for exceptional performance' its author promised, even as he trashed all self-help books ever written as 'balderdash' and 'absolute horse hockey'. When I finally surfaced, I was as far from overachievement as I ever have been -- and no clearer on how to get there.
John Eliot is a professor of business and psychology at Rice University. He's the son of a ski coach, an award-winning athlete and has earlier taught sports management and performance enhancement as well.
His book is, therefore, an interesting mix of neurobiology, sports psychology and real-life case studies -- mainly sportspeople -- to make his point. What is that point? Umm... I'm not quite sure. Still, let me try to sum it up.
The human body is physiologically wired to perform better under stress. Relaxation techniques, getting into the Zone and setting goals, therefore, will not -- cannot -- produce exceptional results. Normal isn't just boring, it's counterproductive.
The trick to extraordinary performance, according to Eliot, lies in embracing stress and tension. The more chaos, in fact, the better. Your brain will find a way to concentrate. And all your attention will be centred on that one task, which is what you need, in any case. Hard work and team play is for sissies.
The trouble with America today, Eliot declares, is that people have made a virtue of diligence. A group of people engaged in grunt labour are never going to amount to much; he dismisses them as 'overmotivated underachievers'. What people need to do, instead, is to up their confidence levels, think like a superstar, throw attitude if necessary and focus. At least, that's what I think Eliot advocates.
Overachievement is an enjoyable book, full of colourful accounts of exceptional people of all kinds -- sportstars, doctors, businessmen... More interestingly, the advice and anecdotes are backed with scientific analysis of what's happening in the human brain at the time of achievement. There's exciting stuff about synapses, myotactic reflexes, spaghetti junctions of nerve endings and closed loop information processing.
But it's also confusing.
For every Franz Klammer (1976 Winter Olympics ski champion) who says he was thinking of 'nothing' while making his extraordinary run, there's a Deion Sanders (only person to have had a successful career in professional baseball and professional football simultaneously) who is 'thinking about scoring every time I touch the ball.' Eliot holds them both up as shining examples of successful overachievers. And if he recommends a Trusting Mindset (accepting, instinctive, patient and reactive) over a Training Mindset (judgemental, analytical, wanting it now and calculating), he also declares: 'When circumstance is at the wheel and your brain is tagging behind [....], you're in for a yo-yo ride. You'll be up and down and inconsistent.' Kind of like the book.
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