I have decided to post more about your training and less about mine. Or perhaps that will turn out to be more posts overall. We’ll see. My initial goal for today was the coach/athlete relationship, but right off the bat I wanted to deal with the imposter syndrome, and that brought me around to the chimp brain construct. I will start there, and eventually arrive at my goal in a later post.
In order to have a productive discussion about any topic we need a common vocabulary. Unfortunately, when it comes to psychology, the vocabulary can seem undaunting. Fortunately for us, Simon Marshall and Lesley Paterson have given us some useful terms that we can grasp easily. You can find out more in their book, The Brave Athlete, calm the f*ck down and rise to the occasion, published by VeloPress.
Marshall and Paterson describe human brain function as divided into three distinct roles: the chimp, the professor, and the computer. They all share common goals: to keep you alive, and to be successful. The chimp brain is where emotions come from. Your chimp is fast and powerful. It is your chimp that reacts with fear at the sound of a loud noise, long before the professor and computer collaborate to figure out it was just a neighbor slamming a door. We have all had the experience of feeling overwhelming joy or sadness while our professor apologizes or expresses disbelief, yet we cannot simply stop feeling what we are feeling. That is your chimp displaying its power. Yes, these roles do not always work in harmony.
The chimp is primarily emotional, but it loves to talk. That voice chattering away inside our head going on about what a terrible person you are, how fat or skinny you are, or what a terrible athlete you are. The professor finally takes notice and tells the chimp to be quiet. The chimp complies. For a time. Then it comes back, as loud and negative as ever.
One of the chimp’s favorite themes is the imposter syndrome. Everyone experiences it, including and in particular, athletes. In the days and weeks leading up to a race you can expect to hear your chimp going on about how ridiculous you are to think you have any business starting this race.
By race day, the talk has blown up into a big, stormy cloud of emotion. Everyone else belongs there. Everyone is looking at you, laughing. Your pathetic bike. Your stupid shoes. You just want to run away, or curl up into a ball. I have known athletes who got to the start of the Ironman World Championship and refused to start, only because they were overwhelmed by imposter syndrome.
Learning to manage your chimp talk is a critical step towards achieving success in performance, be it athletic, music performance, public speaking, or what have you. Marshall and Paterson give plenty of actionable advice on how to manage your chimp. The most important is also the first step, learning to recognize it, and tell yourself, “Oh, there goes my chimp again.”
[image credit The Chimp Paradox. JD MindCoach.]