Comments on: How to Build Better Reflexes: Forget Speed and Focus on Information

By: Rene

Rene — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 19:38:02 +0000

Piece of writing writing is also a fun, if you be acquainted with after that you can write
if not it is complicated to write.

By: liz garnett

liz garnett — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 16:03:59 +0000

I posted on a similar theme last year: http://www.helpingyouharmonise.com/waiting

I like your point that it is not only the patience that makes a difference, but how that patience permits a finer granularity of perception and clearer judgements about the pertinence of observations to one’s decision-making.

By: AndyL

AndyL — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 13:17:00 +0000

My apologies, right after I sent my comment I see that someone else posted on Boyd as well.

By: AndyL

AndyL — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 13:15:09 +0000

If you ever read anything about John Boyd and his OODA loop (Observe Orient Decide Act)he teaches the same thing. My understanding of what he was trying to teach is that the successful teams or organizations are the ones that can complete this loop the fastest. One of the ways of doing this is to try to bypass the decide step with what he called “implicit guidance” which I believe is what you would refer to as mastery.

By: Chuck K

Chuck K — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 14:37:23 +0000

Dan, thanks for the fine work you do. This entry regarding information, and your observe / process / act loop are strongly reminiscent of a military legend, Forty Second Boyd, and his fighter pilot’s OODA loop: Observe, Orient, Decide, Act. Read more here, if I’m allowed to share a link:
http://www.ejectejecteject.com/archives/000172.html
Keep it coming, thanks again!

By: Jim

Jim — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 01:40:17 +0000

Just finished watching “Jiro Dreams of Sushi” and thought of your blog and books…have you seen it? Amazing…talk about 10,000 hours!

By: Brad Robinson

Brad Robinson — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 15:04:12 +0000

A good example of this timing concept is brought out in Andre Agassi’s OPEN (written by JR Moehringer). His father understood timing concept so fired tennis balls with a machine at Andre’s feet teaching him to hit ball on the rise and early. Thus, Andre was able to take shots early on rise, taking away opponents timing and push them around court, dominating mens tennis in 1980s and 1990s(along with Pete Sampras). His Dad, a champion boxer (1) observed most tennis players waiting for ball to drop (2) figured out the pattern of hitting ball earlier takes away timing and (3) taught Andre how to hit ball early with a ball machine as a child. BRILLIANT!

By: Ryan Hockman

Ryan Hockman — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 14:22:27 +0000

This article is the essence of what quarterbacking is. The only part left out is that all this information gathering leads to anticipating. The anticipator is the aggressor. If a quarterback is reacting – not anticipating – then the defenders are anticipating and the QB is indecisive. Indecision not only puts the defense ahead of the QB, it also has a negative impact on mechanics.

Also, if you look at great baseball hitters, they anticipate well, allow the ball to go deep into their hitting zone so they can diagnose the pitch
and have great bat speed.

Interestingly, we teach QBs the same way we teach hitters… instead of checking each swing, we check the throw.

By: djcoyle

djcoyle — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 17:31:53 +0000

Hey David, Great comment — and thanks for sharing that story about your son’s skills. It’s all an argument for having a good coach, to direct the gaze toward the stuff that really matters.

By: David

David — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 12:46:56 +0000

I think this is correct but I think the key point is that the top performers know what information to pay attention to. My favorite section in the Power of Habit was the one about Tony Dungy. He focused on simple cues to teach the players so they would react automatically. They practiced the reads over and over again until they became habitual. It took an entire year for the habits to take hold. I think the problem in most sports is not only that the coaches don’t recognize the need to do this but they don’t structure practice in a way that will give the players enough reps. I’m working with my son on reading the defender in basketball. I’m pulling in a key idea from music learning which is to slow down. I’m playing defense on him and making him read my body position to make his move. I started really slowly and would make a deliberate lean or shuffle my feet in a manner to make the cue really obvious. Over time I’ve sped up and made the cues more subtle. He has to fight the urge to decide ahead of time what he’s going to do and just burn me with his speed because he’s much faster than I am. It’s a work in progress but I’ve seen him make some automatic reactions in his scrimmages that appear to come from this training.