Often, my fingers remember how to play a song my brain has forgotten.

If I forget a section of a tune, the best way to remember is to start playing it again from the start, distract my conscious brain from thinking about it, and just let my fingers go about getting it done.

Actively trying to remember is unhelpful, but once my fingers have reloaded it back into my conscious brain, we’re all good. It’s like I get handed a reminder note from the person sitting next to me, except that person is my own hands.

Mastery is often a confounding pursuit.

In this uncommon episode of The Fink Tank (I barely say a word*!) Col talks us through what he's learned about brains and mastery through his obsession with ultimate frisbee.

How do you get really good at something, and then perform on the biggest stage?

Why are famous sporting chokes so fascinating?? What can we do to avoid the equivalent in our own professional lives?

I can CLEARLY remember the humiliation of an early public speaking appearance, where I lost not only the access to my knowledge, but also the ability to speak. I had definitely not practised enough.

Have you had a memorable “choke”?

* The main reason being I find it impossible to play guitar and talk at the same time. Can any of my fellow guitar players out there do this??