At my regular early Sunday morning session with tennis coach Preston I was, for  some reason, on fire! On my toes, relatively speaking, and middling it. Well most of the time. Concentration was easy, my mind surprisingly alert and focused but relaxed at the same time. In short I performed at the top of my game.

This was not planned or deliberate. It was a happy accident. This is not the case for top professionals in sport. 

 Usain Bolt’s  posturing at the start is not a casual act. Long before the race he will have stopped worrying about technique or the conditions or his competitors. In warm up he will have gone through his own well considered preparation, enabling him to arrive at that moment of truth,  the start,  in the right frame of mind. Totally relaxed, totally alert and  even able to ‘act’  to undermine his rivals without loss of focus.

Few business people, who are also of course professionals, seem to take the Usain approach into the pitch. Constant  revisions to content, late arrival of props or the frantic last minute  rehearsal all work against the right frame of mind for giving a best performance!