Mounting Evidence of Peak Performance

Today, I learned something about peak performance and how the left brain and right brain work and I’m so excited to share it with all of you. 

I found this incredible book by Elkhonon Goldberg, a Clinical Professor of Neurology at New York University School of Medicine. In the book titled The Paradox of Wisdom: How Your Mind Can Grow Stronger as Your Brain Grows Older (2005), Dr. Goldberg looks at how the left brain and right brain learn. This is the type of information that’s really interesting if you read it on msnbc.com, but without context you might just say, so What! - Today I’m going to add a little context.

Left Brain - Familiarity

Dr. Goldberg goes into extensive detail describing how the left hemisphere is predominant once you have a task completely figured out. Take for example a tennis player who has developed a killer forehand after hours and hours of practice. The brain processing, in order to hit the killer forehand, is weighted to the left brain. This is because the process of hitting the forehand has been practiced over and over - it’s ingrained in the left brain.

How did this knowledge get into the left brain? Well, it turns out there is an order to things and the order is best described by a single question. (Isn’t there always an important question!) Your brain asks: Have I confronted this challenge before?

Right Brain - New Ideas

Whenever you see or experience something, you’re brain applies a filter. It questions and then decides how to handle the idea. A new idea is handled differently than a familiar concept or thought. It turns out that a new challenge or novel idea is principally handled in the right brain and a familiar routine (hitting a well practiced forehand for example) is principally managed in the left brain.

For example, Dr. Goldberg points out that the face of a new acquaintance is processed in the right brain and the face of an old friend is processed primarily in the left brain. The data is undeniable. Right is new - Left is past experience. When a professional musician plays, the left brain is predominantly active. When I play, I’m “all thumbs” and I’m predominately right brain. I’m trying to learn and it’s new to me. The process of learning is right brained.

The sooner you move the processing into your left brain, the more quickly you build competence. The trick then is to figure out how to build competence quickly, moving the processing from your right brain into your left brain.
 
But there is a rather big issue with the left brain. The left brain doesn’t only efficiently execute tasks that have been learned. It’s also an editor and a critic. The left brain is built to analyze and dissect. Imagine what happens when things go wrong?

Left Brain - Golf

Let’s use golf as an example. You’re playing a great round when suddenly you make a dumb mistake. You release your left hip early.  Now on every shot, you’re over analyzing your stance, you’re thinking about your position and alignment. You’ve gone from playing your game to dying over every shot, hoping that you only have to play nine holes instead of eighteen. The problem is the left brain - its own worst enemy.

Stay tuned for my next post - Left Brain “Mild” Anxiety during Peak Performance. If you think mental and physical balance plays a role, you’re definitely onto me.

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Enter your email address to receive updates to our blog: