The Best Get Better... With Red Bull?!?!

One of the best things to come from my two years with All-American Heavyweights is my relationship with Dr. Michael Gervais.  Like me, he is fascinated by human potential and helping people achieve peak performance in all phases of life.  Gervais' work is in helping already amazing athletes and professionals push the boundaries of what's possible in their lives through the application of performance psychology.  He recently shared the following video, which documents a high performance camp for some of the best surfers in the world.  Recently staged in Australia, the camp was organized and sponsored by Red Bull, the surfers' corporate patron.  It allowed the athletes, already the most physically gifted in their sport, to reach new levels of performance through enhanced psychological training.

The concept is compelling for a couple of reasons.  First, and continuing one of the themes raised in my "Wishing for More Athletes at Work" post, this is a collection of people who normally compete against one another, and yet they work together to achieve greatness.  It's interesting that these greats realize they can become ever better if they work right next to those they'll later battle.  It's often said that to be the best, you have to beat the best... well, why not compete with them everyday, not just on game day?

Second, this is one of the most talented collections of surfers ever assembled outside of competition.  They're already the best at what they do, and yet they are willing to subject themselves to unorthodox and certainly uncomfortable situations in order to be even better.  When we watch athletes compete, the physical skill (and the physical training and practice that go into earning that skill) is apparent.  What's not always apparent is the cognitive advantage on competitor has over another.  These surfers understand that the performance puzzle is not complete until they have mastered both the body AND mind.  It's cool to see the best trying to be even better.

If you're interested in reading more about what Mike Gervais has to say, subscribe to his blog at The Huffington Post.  Watch the video!