Shifting into Neutral

I was listening to The Bill Simmons Podcast recently, and his guest was Russell Wilson. Russell is currently having an MVP-caliber season and his performances have been incredible. He has that insatiable will to win whatever the odds which is something you see in the truly great athletes in history. Russell obviously has an amazing amount of talent and works hard every single day on his skills and physical attributes, but it is the mental aspect of athlete’s performances that have always fascinated me and led me to wonder if there are learnings I can take from how they perform into my personal and professional lives. 

In the podcast they discuss a recent game against the Vikings where the Seahawks were losing by five points and on their own five-yard line with less than two minutes left in the game. It’s not totally unusual for a team to score from this position and with the way the Seahawks had been playing you would give them a very good chance to win. However, it was the manner in which Russell led them up the field, including two outstanding fourth-down conversions to DK Metcalf – the last for the winning touchdown with just 20 seconds left which was remarkable. At no point did Russell seem to panic, even when he overthrew a couple of passes, or his receivers dropped throws you would expect them to easily catch. When Bill asked him how he reacts so calmly when faced with such pressure, he said that he simply shifts into neutral.

Shifting into neutral for him is a mindset that allows him to focus on performing to the best of his abilities. It takes the emotion out of the situation that could cloud his judgement and negatively impact his actions. He knows he can make the right play – he has practiced it a thousand times, but if his mentality is too high or too low it can affect his execution. Shifting into neutral is exactly the right gear to enable him to find the best version of himself and perform at his peak.

To get into this mindset, Russell says that he doesn’t just shift into neutral in these instances when he is playing a game, he tries to practice this every day and figures out how to shift into neutral whatever he is doing, whether training, managing his multiple businesses, interacting with his family or friends, or any situation where letting an emotional high or low may negatively impact his behavior.

I think this is a fantastic learning that we can take into all areas of our lives. With everything that has been happening in 2020, many of us have not been in our normal mindsets. We may react differently to a situation or a challenge because our experiences this year have been draining and we have faced many more lows than normal. In contrast to that, the few highs that we have experienced may feel amplified more than usual, so we have found ourselves on a kind of mental rollercoaster. Therefore, when we find ourselves in difficult circumstances whether at work or with our families or friends, we should think about shifting into neutral. Clearing our minds so we can react to the best of our ability. Become pragmatic about overcoming a challenge and thinking about the simple steps it takes to resolve it. It’s still ok to have emotion but try not to be emotional in a situation to the point where it changes how you act. This is obviously easier said than done, but something that I am working on across everything that I do.

Watching this past Sunday’s game against the Cardinals was a prime example of practicing how to shift into neutral not only for Russell but for many other Seahawks players as the game had so many highs and lows – especially as it went into overtime. It was a tough loss, and I can’t imagine how Russell and DK Metcalf felt after they made some incredible plays throughout the game. Especially DK’s run-down and tackle that saved a touchdown which is one of the most unbelievable plays I have ever seen, and then scoring what we all thought was the winning touchdown but was ruled out due to a holding call.

The upcoming coming game against our division rivals the 49ers will be a chance for the team to redeem themselves and get back to winning ways. During the week I’m going to work on my neutral thinking and on Sunday I’ll be watching closely to see when Russell shifts into neutral to hopefully lead us to victory.

Go Hawks!