Staying calm under pressure like an athlete

I was inspired by athletes while watching the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (during summer of 2021).

Elite athlete performance is fascinating as athletes have to compete under huge amount of pressure and a lot of their performance goes beyond the physical training. The ability to manage their mind and emotions helps them to use the physical adrenaline response to their advantage and enhance their performance.?

With many people finding it difficult to manage the stress of a job interview or deal with anxieties when returning to the office, surely there are lessons we can learn from the professionals that can help us deal with stress, pressure and fear.

How do athletes remain calm in highly stressful situations?

What techniques do they use to help them cope?

I did some research and here’s what I found…

1. Think about ‘pressure’ as an illusion (think)

The pressure that we feel comes from our perception of a situation, the value or importance that we in our minds place on that situation.

We construct the concept of ‘pressure’ through our own processing.

In the same way we can remind ourselves that the pressure we are experiencing is non-existent and is just a concept constructed in our heads.

Train your mind to think about the pressure as an illusion, a figment of your imagination.

2. View adrenaline as a positive energy source (feel)

The fight or flight response is an automatic physiological reaction to an event that we perceive as stressful or frightening.

Based on how you interpret the generated adrenaline (those butterflies in your stomach, sweaty palms, etc.) you will get 2 very different emotional and physical responses.

It’s important to recognise what you are feeling and not always view adrenaline negatively, as we often confuse excitement with anxiety or nervousness.?

Instead of hiding away from a situation, remind yourself that the adrenaline you’re experiencing is positive energy and then use it to enhance your performance.

3. Focus on the process (act)

Instead of letting your mind run loose with imaginary scenarios or increasing your anxiety, focus your mind and body on the process. Trust yourself that you have prepared enough to do the task at hand and then refocus on taking action to achieve your desired outcome.

Be present in the moment, forget about expectations and simply do your best. Not what you think is expected of you, but the best you can deliver in that moment. That is good enough.

* * *

If you like theories, you would have noticed that the 3 points are linked to the Cognitive Triangle:

• Thoughts –> how we think effects how we act and feel
• Emotions –> how we feel affects how we think and act
• Behaviour –> how we act affects how we think and feel

There is one other technique that we can take from the elite athletes…

4. Practice, practice and practice

Keep training to continuously improve your speciality and the ability to apply the above listed techniques.

It’s about training routines and taking incremental steps to achieving your personal best.

It’s about your wiliness to push and manage your physical, mental and emotional boundaries.

It’s about not giving up when things get tough.

And it will take time… so don’t be too worried if you’re not making huge progress straight away.

Let's be honest, we tend to turn to the Olympians every 4 years… so why not do the same for our personal review? ?

This is article 2 of 12 linking to the commitment I made to write more, see my last blog "Be my accountability buddy as I aim to change my attitude towards writing".