I’m on a road trip this weekend (more on that later) so I’ve been listening to an audio version of the book, The Boys of the Boat. It’s about the working class University of Washington crew team that stunned the elite crew establishment by winning gold at the 1936 Olympics. The author captures the exquisite difficulty of crew which requires a nine man team to unleash enormous power and stamina but also achieve harmony and precision to win. Balancing eight hulking, 6ft tall men on a rowing shell that is 24″ inches wide seems complicated enough. But this sport also requires sustained physical effort to dig, push, release and reset oars and bodies again and again across a four mile course. I have a whole new appreciate for the sport and I’m going to be thinking differently about my gym’s rowing machine next time I take it for a spin.
Among winning mantras for the UW team was “Mind in the Boat. ” Winning requires that each man (or woman) have his mind in the boat–to the exclusion of everything else, I guess. For this particular team, the mantra was a rallying cry to leave the distractions of the outside world behind (things like the Great Depression, Hitler and 75,000 screaming German fans, for starters) and focus no further than the neck of the man in front of him.
As an operating system, it makes sense. When I can focus just on what’s in front me right now, I experience tremendous freedom. I first noticed this training for a half marathon a few years back. Some days I couldn’t wait to hit the road just because I had to really focus on running and breathing. I didn’t have time for mental gymnastics around whatever else was going on in my life. And when I finished, it felt like I’d just wiped my mental whiteboard clean.
It’s another way to say, be present or mindful without using those dreaded words. So mind in the boat, folks. One thing at a time. Just for today.
Boonedoggler 