Andy Wilman was making a documentary about the skills of the
fastest people on the planet. He interviewed racing driver
Michael Schumacher and Ferrari Technical Director Ross Brawn
and in an article in the Daily Telegraph analyzed Schumacher’s
ability to detach in a way that gives him an edge on all other
drivers racing today.
“Calmness is another Schumacher asset. Pure wind in the
hair speed doesn’t blow his frock up. ‘When I‘m racing my heart
rate is very low,’ he says. ‘Probably lower than yours is sitting
here right now.’ Such detachment from speed goes hand in
glove with another factor vital to every member of the speed
elite: the ability to carry out several functions all at once. He can
function as an F1 driver and on top of that he can think about
the race that is going on around him. You know he’ll come on
the radio and tell us to keep an eye on the weather because
there are dark clouds forming on one side of the circuit. ‘I have
worked with other drivers and they just about cope with the
driving [said Ross Brawn]. There’s no spare capacity. When
Rubens Barrichello first came to us I suppose I was expecting to
have the same sort of discussions on the radio that I have with
Michael, but for the first few races he struggled. Every time I
spoke to him he lost half a second a lap. Since then he has
raised his game.’”If you want still further choices in a situation when there is
conflict or blocks to making progress, then step into the
presupposition “Behind every behavior is a positive intention
toward you.” This is one of the beliefs of excellence explained
in Chapter 14.
As with all the beliefs, this does not have to be true. You
only have to think and act as if it were true. Some creativity
helps here in your thinking about what the positive benefit
might be. What is the potential benefit in the situation for
you? How can you turn the situation into an opportunity even
though it may not have initially presented itself to you in this
way? For example, if you are faced with someone who is asking
you awkward questions, they may be doing that to test the
validity of your ideas so they can decide whether or not they
want to back them. That is a reason for them to ask questions
for themselves. However, a benefit for you may be that they316 NLP AT WORK