F1
The Oracle Red Bull Racing team principal and CEO tells Mind Set Win how following a routine helps him "get in the groove" before a Formula One race.
Now in his 19th season at the forefront of the sport, five Constructors' Championships and six world Drivers' Championships later, Christian Horner has mastered mental tactics to make sure he slips into that focus state easier and quicker.
Following a structured approach to stressful situations is something that Horner incorporated in his pre-performance routine long before he became a team principal.
During his early days in the racetracks, he had a "lucky toilet" he always used before a Grand Prix – it helped him click into his high-performance mindset. What might seem like a mundane detail actually allowed him to take control of his thinking patterns.
Throughout the years, he's noticed drivers have their own rituals, too. "You'll often see that there’s a confidence with the drivers as they are going through their process," Horner says.
"Sometimes they get in their car on one side, some drivers put their helmet before they get in the car, some put the helmet on in the car, some put the gloves on left hand first – different things suit different people."
However, these routines must include mental tools such as visualisation or positive self-talk. Otherwise, it can be useless, or worse – the physical behaviours alone can cause some panic and allow your brain to picture the worst.
"Visualisation is an important technique. If I visualise the cars making a good start, seeing them through the first corner, it’s an important element," Horner explains. "Quite often, during the course of the weekend, I look at the podium and I visualise our drivers being up there."
This pre-performance routine is often misunderstood, though, as explained by host Kate Courtney.
“On the surface, they create a feeling of comfort, confidence, and familiarity. But the real impact lies in the fact that these actions become so automated that they can actually free up your brain to think about what it needs to think about.”
Listen to the podcast above and read on for a recap of how to action the exercise at home...
Episode 27 exercise
Here’s a recap of the exercise in the episode. Let’s practice it right now.
1. Start your day as usual, without hyper-fixating on the stressful goal you have ahead of you. The pre-performance routine should only kick in shortly before the task starts.
2. Next is when you give yourself a cue. This is something you must figure out for yourself – you’ll need to find what works best for you. It could be listening to a specific song or telling yourself a motivational phrase. The key is that it needs to be an actual behaviour, something you act on.
3. Make sure you have practised using this cue before so that your mind automatically switches into gear.
4. It's important to pick out three distinct things to remember – physical, mental and verbal.
5. Athletes often, for instance, breathe a certain way and move their arms or their necks around. The idea here is that you plan for what you're going to think just before starting.
6. Adding visualisation into your mental routine is an effective way to never lose sight of your goals.
7. A verbal routine, such as positive self-talk, is a crucial part of this process. Say to yourself "you’ve got this" or "show them what you've got". The important thing is that it works for you.
8. If all goes to plan, you'll be exuding positive energy and you’ll be in the best headspace to perform at your best self.
Courtney explains that focusing on key moments is not just a gift Horner was born with, but a skill he's been practising throughout his career: "a state you can access by creating the right set of circumstances."
And one thing she highlights about his routine is how simple the steps in his process are. It's hard to imagine the responsibility and the stress an F1 team principal goes through during Grands Prix weekends, but following a process of ordinary steps helps him find his focus when facing huge pressure.
"We're there to compete, we're there to succeed," says Horner. "The best way to achieve that is by being measured, by being controlled, by following our processes."
Find out more – including simple exercises to do at home – in Mind Set Win.
