5.5 Focus

The final reason why dyslexics make unstoppable sports stars is we have exceptional focus, the Dyslexic Thinking skill of Exploring. While it's true that some dyslexics find it easy to get distracted and need support to stay on task, many can become fully absorbed in their passion and find their flow.

Finding your passion is the secret to any dyslexic success, it's what happens when we find what we're naturally good at and love to do. Because we love to do it so much, we practise it until we become extraordinarily good at it, and it becomes our superpower. Skill plus practice plus passion equals superpower. Here's NFL superstar, Rashan Gary, to give us his take.

I feel like once you find that one thing that you truly love, the abilities that you do have and your superpowers that you do have, you're able to open up because you know that's something that you're giving your all and you're very passionate about.

When it comes to elite athletes, this ability to follow their passion, focus, and stay calm when the stakes are high, and the pressure is on is crucial for their success. Sir Mo Farah is the most successful British track athlete in modern Olympic Games history, winning the Olympic gold medal in both 5,000m and 10,000m in 2012 and 2016. He's also a brilliant dyslexic sports champ. When it comes to the importance of focus, he explains, “If I don't train, I don't win. If I don't focus, I don't win”.

It's often about drowning out the noise and focusing 100% on the task ahead of you. Legendary female basketball player, A’ja Wilson says, “I don't really pay attention to the outside noise or who's in front of me. I'm battling with myself at the end of the day”. Part of this comes from preparation, putting in the hours, honing your skills and feeling ready for what's ahead of you. Here's former England football player and pundit, Joleon Lescott, to explain more.

For me, confidence and belief come from knowing you've done the work. If I know I've done everything in my power to be the best I could be, then it's going to give me a certain level of belief.

It's a view shared by Alex Scott too. She says, “I knew that to be the best right-back in the world, I had to improve my fitness so I could run up and down constantly for 90 minutes”.

But outside of preparation, to really achieve a peak performance, it's about controlling your mind and finding your flow. Vancouver neurotherapist, Mari Swingle, says a dyslexic mind can display exceptional focus when they ‘get in the zone’ which leads to extraordinary calmness that allows them to outperform others.

Mental resolve in elite sport is often cited as the difference between victory and defeat. And it's something we can all learn from if we want to find our greatness. Keeping focus at the pinnacle of an event and having that determination to convert potential into successful outcomes separates the good from the greatest. And it is what dyslexic sports stars excel at once they find and follow their passion.

Professor Steve Peters is an English psychiatrist who has worked with elite athletes at the pinnacle of their career across every sport from England rugby to British athletics. He's credited with transforming the fortunes of British cycling along with Dave Brailsford and mentored Olympians like Sir Chris Hoy, Victoria Pendleton and Bradley Wiggins. He says, “My experience across various sports is that possibly as many as 90% of elite sports people will say that mental attitude and ability to deal with emotions and thoughts are critical to a successful performance”.

In his view the brain is split into three parts. The computer, your operating system, the human and the chimp. To succeed, you need to control your inner chimp who is often responsible for causing your anxiety, fear, and negative self-esteem. Learning how to control the negative self-talk that comes from our chimp is key in order to help us perform at our best. The answer to this lies in drowning out the noise and finding our focus.

Tim Grover has been a coach and mentor to some of America's biggest sports icons, from dyslexic basketball legend Kobe Bryant to all-time great Michael Jordan. He's written the definitive guides to peep performance, Winning: The Unforgiving Race to Greatness and Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable. He says, “Focus is about controlling your behavior, so it becomes easier to do the right things, and harder to be distracted by the wrong things. Control your thoughts, and you control your emotions. Control your emotions and you control your actions. Control your actions and you control the outcome”.

One dyslexic athlete who does this to great effect is Olympic sprinter, Noah Lyles. During a race he maintains focus through visualisation. He starts by visualising each phase of the race from his stride to his breathing, ensuring he remains in control. This focus helps him block out distractions and maintain composure even under intense pressure. A study from the Psychology of Sport and Exercise finds that athletes who practise mental focus techniques tend to perform better in high pressure situations.

And this gold medal winning strategy is something we can all apply in our own lives. It's easy to be distracted in our always-on digital age. But just as Noah Lyles narrows his focus during a race, we can learn to shut out the noise and hone-in on what's crucial. It's like having tunnel vision when you need it most. Cutting out everything but the task at hand. This level of focus can turn a good performance into an extraordinary one and help all of us find our greatness.

Here are three key takeaways from this section.

1. Dyslexic minds develop exceptional focus when we follow our passion. Skills plus practice plus passion equals superpower.

2. We practise hard and are able to focus 100% on the task at hand to find our state of flow.

3. This means drowning out the noise, silencing the negative self-talk to find a state of calm that helps us to outperform others.