Feb 27 2023 15 mins 1
Performance anxiety is one the leading reasons athletes struggle to consistently perform at their capabilities.
Learning how to channel your nerves is key to performing at your best when it matters most. Unfortunately most athletes focus on the threats of high-pressure situations.
Pressure can Provoke a State of Fear
As a result the pressure provokes a fear state that leaves the athlete tense, overthinking, and underperforming. Here are 3 other common reasons athletes don’t perform under pressure:
Zoomed In on the Context
Overly focused on the context and making the results seem more important than they are is a sure fire way to feel the burden of the results weigh heavily on your mind.
Survive Over Thrive
Are you focused on not screwing up or are you focused on going out there and having an impact? This is the difference between a fear mindset vs attack mindset.
Need To, Have To, Should Mindset
Creating an unhealthy relationship with your desired results often leads to a decrease in performance. The sport culture perpetuates this language with coaches often saying “this is a must win game” but this narrative often provokes the fear state.
The good news is you can overcome these limiting mindsets by following the 3 steps below - as a result you will be able to perform at your best when it matters most.
Step 1: Plan to Cope
Coping planning is essential to stress management for all areas of life. And it works particularly well for handling high pressure situations. In short - Planning to Cope is simply what it means. You are planning for how you will respond (cope) when a stressor (pressure) is presented. It is like studying for a test - it works way better when you study before the test - not trying to figure it out in the thick of it.
Step 2: Mental Rehearsal
Most athletes think imagery and mental preparation is only for focusing on what you want to do and being positive. But one of the best benefits of imagery is to mentally rehearse how you plan to cope with stressors.
By mentally rehearsing how you are going to respond to a pressure situation makes you way more likely to respond that way.
So not only do you want to study and clarify how you want to respond then you want to hammer that into your brain.
Repetition is the mother of learning!
Step 3: Measure Your Progress
By getting steps 1 and 2 down pat you are well on your way to start performing at your best when it matters most. This step helps lock it in and ensure you really hone your ability to perform under pressure. Here is example of what this looks like:
1. Identify What to Measure: E.g., I want to zoom out, feel relaxed, ready and excited before performances.
2. Track Your Progress: Reflect on that number after each game and see it go up!
3. Adjust & Learn: When the number dips or when it stops rising, reflect on what is holding you back and refer back to Step 1 - find which coping planning strategy will help the most. This also could be a key time to getting a mental performance coach to be a third party and help you improve faster and more effectively.
I hope you found this helpful. Let us know if you have any questions. If you know anyone that could benefit from this podcast - please share it with them.
