The Hidden Dimension of Sports Performance

HOW UNDERSTANDING PRESSURE IS A GAME CHANGER

We spend so much time trying to deal with pressure, we overlook what pressure actually is and where it comes from. Unwittingly we take on other people’s ideas of what pressure might be – situations, consequences, other people’s opinions – and we find ourselves in front of a mounting hurdle to try to overcome.

The hidden dimension of sporting performance is an understanding of the nature of thought.

In its simplest form: Pressure is a Feeling. Feelings are made of Thought. Thoughts are inherently Illusory.

Therefore, whilst the feeling of pressure is very real, it is inherently an illusion. No more ‘true’ than a mirage of an oasis in the desert.

Understanding how our psychological experience is created from the inside-out grounds us back towards reality, allowing us to play with a greater sense of freedom, perspective and motivation.

PRESSURE IS NOT AN ISSUE WHEN OUTSIDE-IN ILLUSIONS STOP MAKING SENSE

An 'Outside-In' illusion is something (e.g. a situation or a person) that appears to be able to determine how we feel. It is an illusion because that is not how the mind works. The mind works from the inside-out, with the flow of thought providing a differing lenses through which we see the world. Which is why two people in the same situation can feel very differently about it - they are looking through different thought-created lenses from the inside-out.

Pressure is a transient emotion that we all experience from time to time, a product of our heads getting congested with thought. Pressure, like every other feeling and emotion, is a natural energy that passes through our minds. We feel excessive pressure when we get caught up in our thinking about the game or its consequences. Often this is caused by the mistaken belief that we need the result to go our way so that we can feel OK.

The solution is to understand more deeply what is happening and where the feeling is (and is not) coming from.

We do not engage with things we know not to be true. When we clearly see the layers of misunderstood thinking that act as a psychological barrier to our best performances, they automatically fall away enabling us to play naturally, instinctively and to enjoy it.

Seeing the illusions of pressure for what they are means that we can go into situations that can look to be high pressure – playing in front of big crowds in cup finals with media attention and contracts on the line – and play the game as it comes rather than being deceived into believing our thinking.

PRESSURE IS NOT AN ISSUE WHEN WE REALISE THE INNATE RESOURCES THAT WE ALREADY HAVE

Planet Earth’s natural resources include light, air, water, plants, animals, soil, stone, minerals and fossil fuels. A human being’s innate resources include confidence, motivation, resilience and the capacity to perform however we are feeling. These innate resources are in-built in everybody, whether we realise it or not, even if thought temporarily obscures them from our sight with the outside-in illusion of pressure.

Unless we believe otherwise and limit ourselves, we are always capable of performing or doing what we want to do, whether or not we are feeling pressure. Like all transient experiences passing through the mind, the feeling of pressure will pass naturally as the mind clears unless we hold it in place with more and more thinking.

When we get on with playing the game without adding more thinking and attempting to cope with or fix the feeling, it comes and then it goes because the mind is designed to self-correct to clarity. Because infinite ways of looking at the game always exist, as we get less caught in seeing one perspective as real then the illusion of pressure lessens its hold and our ability to see the situation with more clarity, and to perform, rises.

We do not need to teach small children to be instinctive (they do what they are going to do without thinking about it) or resilient (even when they get very upset, five minutes later they are fine again) or to be motivated (they are naturally interested, curious and do their best). It is innate. We are all this way until our natural resources are so covered with conditioned and misunderstood thinking that we forget the power we have at our disposal.

We lose touch with confidence, resilience and happiness when we do not understand that they are a part of who we are and begin to search for things outside ourselves – performances, money, relationships or achievements – to try to find them again. However, we already have all the psychological capacities we need to handle everything the game throws at us.

This is an excerpt from my first book, Pressure Myths. You can get your copy of Pressure Myths on Amazon here

My most recent book, Perform Beyond Pressure, was published in December 2020 and is available here