Mindset Hacking for gamers with the Wolf Of Wallstreet And Michael Phelps

“Routine, in an intelligent man, is a sign of ambition”

-W H Auden

For years before Michael Phelps won 8 consecutive gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, he followed the same routine before every race.

He arrived two hours early, he stretched and loosened up according to a precise pattern: 800 mixer, 500 freestyle, 600 kicking with a kickboard, 400 pulling a buoy…

After the warm-up, he would dry off, put his earphones in and sit, never lie down, on the massage table. From that moment, he and his coach Bob Bowman wouldn’t speak a word to each other until after the race was over.

At 45 minutes before the race, he would put on his race suit.

At 30 minutes, he would get into the warm-up pool and do 600 more meters.

With 10 minutes to go, he would walk to the ready room. He would find a seat alone, never next to anyone.

He liked to keep the seats beside him free, for his things. Goggles on one side and his towel on the other.

When his race was called, he would walk to the blocks. There, he would do what he always did. A series of stretches. First, a straight leg stretches and then with a bent knee. Left leg first, every time. Then the right earbud would come out.
When his name was called he would take out the left earbud. He would step onto the block, always from the left side. He would dry the block, every time. He would stand and flap his arms in such a way that his hands would hit his back.

Phelps’s coach designed this physical routine with him, but that’s not all. He gave Phelps a routine around what to think about as he went to sleep and as he awoke.
He called it, “Watching the videotape.” There was no actual tape, of course, the “tape” was a visualization of the perfect race. In exquisite detail and slow-motion he would imagine and experience every moment of that race. From standing on the starting block to emerging from the water victorious with water dripping from his face.
Phelps didn’t do this routine occasionally, he did it every day before he went to bed and every day when he awoke, for years.

When asked about this legendary routine, Phelps’s coach said “If you were to ask Michael what’s going on in his head before a competition, he would say he’s not really thinking about anything, he’s just following the program. But that’s not right. It’s more like his habits have taken over. When the race arrives it’s more like he’s halfway through his plan and he’s been victorious at every step. All the stretches went as he planned. The warm-up laps were just like he visualized. His headphones are playing exactly what he expected. The actual race is just another step in a pattern that started earlier that day and has been nothing but victorious. Winning is a natural extension.”

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