Multi-Tasking

You’re driving to the ballpark while listening to a podcast about mental performance, awareness and concentration.  Traffic is light, the driving is easy, and you’re hanging on every word coming out of your car’s speakers.  The podcaster is just beginning a thought about multi-tasking when an oncoming car crosses over the yellow line into your lane.  In a moment of perfect clarity, you swerve your car into the next lane, narrowly avoiding a minivan full of kids, and you see the oncoming driver, wearing a lightly-wrinkled blue linen shirt and tortoise shell RayBan Wayfarer sunglasses, staring deeply into his iPhone 17 Pro with tan leather case, trailing citrus-mango vape in his wake along with an international symphony of car horns.

Our brain is an amazing organ.  In a moment’s notice, it’s attention can snap perfectly into hyper-focus.  At the equivalent of about 90 mph in passing, you noticed the color, fabric and texture of the driver’s shirt; the brand, model and material of his sunglasses; the brand and model of his phone, including the color and material of its case; the flavor of his vape pen; and even the different notes from Japanese, European and American car manufacturers.

So, what did the podcaster say in those fifteen seconds about multi-tasking?

As amazing as your brain is, it can only focus consciously on one thing at a time, and your mind will choose what it judges to be the most important thing in every situation.  The reason you couldn’t remember the podcast was that you needed ALL of your attention bandwidth the moment that car came into your lane.  Choosing the podcast instead of the oncoming automobile could have been your very last decision.

In a game, it’s not enough to just focus on “this” pitch.  Concentrate on what you’re doing this exact moment, and ignore everything else.  There are many distinct moments that happen between pitches.  A hitter 1) gets the sign from the coach; 2) steps into the box; 3) sets his feet; 4) looks out toward the pitcher; 5) checks his posture for pitch tips; 6) moves his bat for some rhythm; 7) settles his eyes and body; 8) syncs up his timing with the pitcher’s delivery; 9) sets his eyes to the release point; 10) makes his move toward the pitch; 11) decides to swing or not; 12) swings and fouls it off; 13) steps out of the box, and starts the whole cycle again.

You can’t focus on all those moments at once.  But you can train your mind to prioritize what matters most, focus sharply on each moment as it arises, and release it when it’s over so you’re free to focus on the next one.  To get into “the flow,” allow your focus to shift according to each individual moment.  The ball looks huge when you’re in the flow!  Everything looks like it’s in slow-motion, you can see the seams on the ball right out of his hand, and you just “know” whether to take a rip or just leave the bat on your shoulder.

But, if you’re thinking about anything else during this pitch (your stats, your coach, your parents), you’re driving on the wrong side of the road staring at your phone!  You’ll barely notice the ball as it passes you by…

So, which driver do you want to be?