Q: “In your masterclasses and books, you’ve talked about the idea of being in a “performance state of mind.” I get it, and I think I’ve been in it — and I drove better. My question is how can I get in it more often, more consistently, deliberately?”

A: The simple answer is, trigger your performance state of mind by recalling a past success. Replay everything about it (emotions, actions) mentally.

When you replay a past success in your mind — every detail of it; how you felt before, during and after it — you will get into a better state of mind. And it doesn’t have to be a past success while track driving. It can be anything in your life — playing another sport, a musical performance, something at school or in business, a certain location, or a relationship experience.

Instead of focusing on being “in a bad mood,” or even being in a neutral state of mind, you now have a strategy for triggering a “good mood” — a performance state of mind.

This is one of the main things I work with when coaching a driver in the mental game of driving — the Inner Speed Secrets. And high-performance drivers know it’s the mental part of driving that makes the biggest difference.

You should also “program” your mind so that you almost instantly focus on what you want — a performance state of mind — through the use of mental imagery (what is usually referred to as visualization). Download the free Mental Imagery Guide for Drivers eBook for more information about this. It’s often what makes the biggest difference between the best and rest.

So, when you recall and replay a past success, put a “trigger” word or phrase to it. You can use the place where it happened, the event, how you felt emotionally, whatever. Make it short — no more than three words at most, and one is even better. Every time you recall/replay that past success in your mind, using mental imagery, say that trigger word/phrase. That way, over time, when you simply say your trigger in your mind, it’ll bring back that past success, that performance state of mind.