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Ideal Performance State

Check this out.

So what do you think:

Regardless of our profession or activity, adaptation is what separates peak performers from the rest. The way we think about pressure influences the way we feel and the way we react. Conversely, acting is adapting. If we act confidently and relaxed, our body tells our brain “no problem here” and we start feeling calm and controlled. The better we become at acting out the emotions we need to feel, the better we can adapt to pressure.

Sounds a lot like Ashtanga practice, yes? Interestingly, it also sounds like a high performer in a business organization.

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I’m no fan of books about Washington, but I am strangely fascinated by what I’m hearing about Scott McClellan’s book.

Here’s an amusing item from a blog on my RSS feed:

Uh-oh. Scott McClellan has written a book. It’s called What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception.

The headline at CNN reads, “White House ‘puzzled’ by ex-spokesman’s book bashing Bush.”

Perhaps those of us in the reality-based community can help them out: Bush is the worst president in US history.

Okay, that’s pretty funny.

Here’s an excerpt from the book. Fascinating. Either McClellan is a very good writer, or he had an excellent editor (or both). I’ve never actually thought much about whether press spokespeople need to be able to write well — I’ve always assumed being thick-skinned and evasive was the main criteria for success…

And though no one has a crystal ball, it’s not asking too much that a well-considered understanding of the circumstances and history of Iraq and the Middle East should have been brought into the decision-making process. The responsibility to provide this understanding belonged to the president’s advisers, and they failed to fulfill it. Secretary of State Colin Powell was apparently the only adviser who even tried to raise doubts about the wisdom of war. The rest of the foreign policy team seemed to be preoccupied with regime change or, in the case of Condi Rice, seemingly more interested in accommodating the president’s instincts and ideas than in questioning them or educating him.

I am so interested to read about Colin Powell. He always seemed like a man of integrity who got put in an awful position. How I’d love to hear his side of the story — but of course that won’t happen. On the one hand, that seems regrettable; on the other, well, what good would come of it? McClellan will now be smeared by the White House, his integrity and honesty called into question, the political spin machine put to work to diminish what he’s written, etc. The same thing would happen to Powell, and to what end? Everyone comes out looking bad.

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Quick practice note

Hard to get up for practice this morning. Allergies, maybe, or an oncoming cold? Very unmotivated and headachey. Still, on the second side of pasasana I was rewarded with the loudest, spine-shakingest craaaaack ever. If I’d been a cartoon character, I’d have slowly split in two and fallen apart. Left sacrum release in a big way. Unfortunately, The Cop was asleep. The crack would have been a bodily noise for the records — right up there with the very best of his loudest, longest burps. And as a special extra prize, when I got into padmasana, my left knee, which usually pops up more than the right, was on the floor.

Cool.