performance what is the foundation for
optimal learning and how can we have
deeper more meaningful relationships
with our friends and our loved ones
these are three distinctly different
questions in three different areas so it
may surprise you to discover that the
answer to all three is the same to
resolve this inner struggle we often
look to the outside we think we need to
fix ourselves and change our behavior
but I found that there’s a different
approach last year last March I
interviewed Roger Federer now at that
time Roger had just won the Australian
Open winning his 19th Grand Slam
championship this is a remarkable feat
when I sat down with him I asked him
simply how did you do it and what he
told me was that when he played his
absolute best tennis he focused
exclusively on the tennis ball the
ability to control our attention
determines how we’ll perform any task
now what is focus before I give you an
explanation what I’d like to do is give
you a first-hand experience of it that’s
why I have the props so in tennis an
exercise that helps tennis players track
the ball better has been called in fact
the greatest exercise ever created for
tennis whenever the ball bounces on the
ground you say bounce whenever the ball
bounces on my racquet you say hit can
you do that do you need me to repeat the
instruction okay it seems pretty simple
let’s see how you do are you ready okay
okay now raise your you guys did pretty
well raise your hand have you made a
mistake normally what happens is there’s
a pattern there in tennis if you start
paying attention to the ball instead of
worrying about how to hit it what
happens is you get more information
about the spin speed and direction of
the ball which allows you to move more
effectively have better position and
footwork more solid contact all of which
allows you to have a better chance of
directing the ball where you’d like it
to go when we play we have a process of
playing in which we’re thinking too much
or worried then when we’re focused we
can play at our best it reduces the self
interference now this isn’t just true
for tennis or sport it’s also true in
business and in organizations several
years ago I worked with the CEO of a
national restaurant chain when I started
working with them they had 44 different
metrics that they had identified as
critical this is too many for the brain
to handle over the course of the next
two years they got it down to four
several of the regional leaders decided
to focus on just one variable which they
found the most important now the metric
used for that was manager visits to the
table so just like in tennis the ball is
the most
important thing when the restaurant
business the customer is the most
important thing lastly in the financial
crisis of 2008 there was only one large
Bank that did not take any money from
the US government US bank a friend of
mine Josef adding who became vice
chairman I asked him how did you do it
how is this possible when everyone else
made the mistake of investing in
subprime mortgages he said you know
actually it was really simple
I brought the senior leadership team in
I told them that these were the five
critical variables that were crucial for
our success and that we would focus on
them then I say ask Joe what did you do
next he said you know what I I just
played a lot of golf and it sounds funny
but actually this is how powerful this
simple tool is but as I mentioned focus
is not just important for performance
it’s also critical for learning I
remember some years ago a man came to me
wanting to improve his back end when I
tossed him a couple of balls I asked him
to simply be aware of where the racket
was relative to his shoulder on the
backswing but on the fourth ball
suddenly something happened and he
exclaimed oh I do take the racket back
too high it’s above my shoulder so there
is a distinct difference between knowing
something cognitively and knowing
something in our own direct experience
in 2001 I was invited to work with the
New York Yankee player development group
I was introduced and I shared with them
that I really wanted this to be a
conversation and an inquiry and that
they could ask questions any time they
wanted immediately a hand shot up and
one of the coaches asked
mr. Brawley with all due respect what
can you as a former tennis pro teach us
about baseball and I said you know I
can’t teach you much about baseball I
haven’t played baseball since I was 10
years old but let me ask you a question
what is the single most important skill
needed to be an extraordinary hitter
much like in tennis
they said reading the pitch was the most
important skill I said great the same is
true in tennis I’ve developed a number
of mindful awareness base exercises that
can really help with reading the pitch
and the coach who asked the question his
jaw literally dropped because the answer
was never I don’t know much about
baseball technique but I have learned
some innovative coaching techniques that
might prove very helpful now in the
course of the next six months we
identified other critical variables that
were important for hitting and pitching
and by the end of the season they went
from being ranked 23 as a group to
number one my number one recommendation
would be to meditate that in the course
of meditating you get to practice your
focus and you get to practice noticing
what comes up in you in the present
moment and I’ll leave you with that
thank you very much [Applause]