Pressure Points 4 Better

Welcome to Pressure Points – my fortnightly look back at the last episode of my Better Under Pressure podcast. Here I share my reflections and a few ideas to take away that can enable us all to be… better under pressure.

I spoke to Matt Chavlovich, a former prolific goalkeeper and captain in professional soccer in the US, now speaker, advisor, and transformation coach.

Below are my reflections from our chat and a few ideas to take away to enable us all to be… better under pressure.

4 Pressure Point

4 Better

1. ‘Those leaders bled into me a belief in me - before I even had it.’

Matt talks about the power of leaders in his life who galvanised his energy to be better. He describes them as ‘calling people forward’. Those leaders would portray to him a sense of ‘I believe in you... now come and get it.’ They offered a healthy challenge that he found hard to resist.

That aspect of leadership can be compromised when the pressure is on. A sense of the need for control can take over as our Dog Brain is highly alert to do just that - take control. Matt reminds us of the power of what I call, ‘holding others able’ and holding them able despite the pressure.

Ask yourself:

Who needs to be ‘called forward’ by me?

Who would be energised to be better by more of my belief in them?

2. ‘Your focus always needs to be higher than the pressure’

When I first met Matt, I heard him say to someone who was preparing for a high-pressure event, ‘Your focus always needs to be bigger than the pressure’. I remember thinking, ‘How do you do that?’ and immediately invited him onto the podcast.

Matt shares three words that he regularly taps into in order to find that focus. His 3 words are: Confidence, Clarity and Conviction. When he taps into those 3 words, he’s able to feel in control of his pace, energy and belief.

This enables him to have laser focus. What I love about this is that our default when feeling pressure is to say to ourselves, ‘do more of something’ e.g., ‘focus more’. But doing that, in itself, can ignite even more pressure.

As Matt says, he connects to 3 words that support him in moments of pressure: Confidence; Clarity; Conviction.

Over time, these words have clearly become an essential part of his ritual before any performance or pressure moment. They come to him automatically so he can lead himself with pace, energy and belief.

In order to have words like these ready, in our pocket, when we need them, we must know them in advance so we can power up our focus and allow it - as Matt says - to be higher than any pressure.

Ask yourself:

Which three words would ignite my focus in moments of pressure?

In each episode, I ask my guest to pick two things they do to perform well under pressure that they would pay forward to anyone listening.

Here are Matt's "Pay Forwards":

3. Pay Forward 1:

‘Rest Day is a training day’

‘I don’t know why people can’t rest as well as they work.’

This is so true. Why is it that we worry more about charging our phones than we do about recharging ourselves? Matt says he is ‘surgical’ about how he spends his energy. It’s important to remember that we can only perform well if we prioritise rest. Performance requires recovery.

Ask yourself:

If I considered rest as training, what would I do

How would that change me?

4. Pay Forward 2:

‘Step into - why not you?’

There are times when we hesitate or feel we aren’t ready or circumstances make it this..or that. We can waste a lot of energy and time fighting for our limitations. There are two useful concepts to experiment with here.

1. The idea of literally taking a step forward. Choosing to ‘go towards’ the pressure or the challenge, rather than ‘away from’ it. And involve the body in that choice. There is a lot of power in walking forwards away from stuckness!

2. Pause the unhelpful inner dialogue and ask yourself, with a smile, ‘Why not me?’

Ask yourself:

What is worth stepping into?

What if it was me?

Hope you enjoyed this, and please share it with others.

Until next time,

Sara

Coaching Impact