How not to choke under pressure

Choking, or performing in a decreased way, can happen to anyone, whether you’re giving an important presentation, meeting with potential clients (or inlaws :)) shooting a penalty to win a World Cup final, saying something to that VP next to you, or simply when you’re trying to parallel park and people are watching you.

When psychologists think about chocking, they consider the relationship between performance and arousal in the form of an inverted-U. The theory says that being aroused up to a certain point is good for performance because it gets you motivated and energized, but once you are at the top of the U, increased pressure will send you crashing over the edge.

Tips to ensure you succeed under pressure

In the bestselling book: Choke, Sian Beilock shares some useful tools and techniques to help avoid choking. Why not give them a try to ensure you perform at your best in stressful situations:

1. Promote self-worth. Before the event, spend a few minutes writing about your many strengths, interests, and achievements. Visualize you at your best and occasions when you have performed the activity many times successfully, before. This can promote feelings of self-worth, boost your confidence and performance.
2. Map out your many identities. Before taking that important test, spend a few minutes writing about everything that makes you a multifaceted and unique individual. For example, you are a great sister, best-friend, cross-country runner, pancake maker, etc. This will highlight that this one test doesn’t define you, in turn, will take some of the pressure off.
3. Reframe your reactions. Learn to interpret your bodily reactions positively. For example, if you get sweaty palms, butterfly’s in your stomach, and your heart races remember that these also occur under more pleasant circumstances, such as falling in love or doing something exciting and fulfilling. Positively framing these reactions in a positive way (‘I am pumped to make this presentation’) rather than negative (‘I am freaking out’) will help you turn your body to your advantage.
4. Practice under pressure. Studying, playing, or presenting under the same conditions you will be tested under. For example, in a timed situation, in front of an audience, or in a lit-up, music blaring and crowded stadium – helps you get used to what you will experience on the big day and avoid being over aroused, so you can perform at your best when it counts.
5. Reduce your cognitive load. Given we have a limited working memory, by writing down the immediate steps of a problem rather than everything you need to solve it, will provide you with an external memory source and reduce the pressure of trying to remember everything. At the moment itself, also try to avoid paying too much attention to the details of the activity itself, details should be left on autopilot.