In reply to johncoxmysteriously:
Thanks for your summary of Anna Karenina. It'll do for me.
> So what? They are all activities where sometimes thinking is helpful, and sometimes it isn't.
In untimed Chess and Bridge competitions you can think all you like.
Bridge is a bit about deception and communication (isn't it?) so it's diffrent, but do you really get that many natural players who can wing it wihtout thinking and repeatedly beat a grandmaster.
In climbing you can't always stop and think, least of all on climbs at your limit. Routes where you can stop are easy, IMHO, as they're called rests! And even when you can stop and rest there're other more important things you can possibly concentrate on, like the task in hand, placing gear, ditching bits of your rack, working out where you're going, cleaning your boots, working out possible ways to do the next move, wokring out where there may be a hold that you cna't see and where you can see there are definitely no holds. The fact that these routes with rests will be easier means that at a given UK grade they'll be bolder, so it's all the more important to do what I'm on about, making sure your gear's as good as possible, and making sure you go the right way and minimise the chances of falling off.
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> >It doesn't matter what performance state you're in (as if there's such a thing as a single correct one, feck off)
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> Of course there isn't. I thought my choice of expression 'correct performance states', might have given away that I agreed with that.
>
Sorry I missed the plural.
>But it doesn't follow from that that being in the right mental state >doesn't make it easier to do it right. Manifestly it does.
Well yes, but you're back to the singular now so I may refer you to my previous retort (unless I'm reading this wrong). My point is that you can't prescribe the right mental state in advance, e.g. from an article, let alone one suits all one, as it depends on the rock in front of you.