What does it take to be a winner?
Neurologist Kerry Spackman has spent decades researching the cognitive element to success.
He’s worked with the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Jackie Stewart, as well as the All Blacks and New Zealand’s Olympic teams.
And now Spackman has distilled his research into a book, ‘The Winner’s Formula’, detailing exactly what happens in the brain when someone is developing a skill and what happens if pressure isn’t dealt with correctly.
He uses his experience with F1 drivers to illustrate how the brain works in fast-paced, competitive, and stressful situations, and how that applies to the skills someone is learning in their own life.
While not everyone has the natural aptitude or skill of someone like Jackie Stewart or Novak Djokovic, Spackman believes you can still learn how they do it.
“My thesis, and it’s been proven time and time again, is that if you’re shown the technique, you will learn vastly better than if you’re not shown a technique,” he told Mike Hosking.
“I think each person has aptitudes, but I think they’re so trainable,” Spackman said.
“This is my key thing; that you can train people outside their normal comfort zone to learn skills that they would normally fail at.”
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