“Concentration can be cultivated. One can learn to exercise willpower, discipline one’s body and train one’s mind. – Anil Ambani
We marvel at the physical performance of an athlete, be it on the ice or court or field. We celebrate their accomplishments with medals and endorsement deals and buying their books and award them huge multiyear multimillion dollar contracts. All too often we the spectators are ignorant to the powerful and carefully calibrated minds inside the exceptional bodies.
Golf is known as a mental game. Martial artists are regarded for their mental discipline. But all athletes at the highest levels have exceptional focus, blotting out distractions (both external and internal) to perform.
As do musicians.
And surgeons. Excellence in almost any profession demands focus and practice over years and decades to develop, mental muscles as honed as needed by a hockey player making a no look pass while being checked or a diver twisting and torquing while falling from ten meters. The mind commands the body, and the stronger, more controlled the mind the more impressive the results, be they athletic or artistic.