#37 - Dealing with Pressure
Whether it’s an audition, a big race, a job interview, or an important exam, you will face pressure from time to time. Ideally, we will have one of those epic moments where we face the pressure and dominate. Of course the fear of choking, falling short of the performance we (and others) expect, is like a monster lurking under the bed—always in the back of the mind.
There is a common misconception that some people are “clutch performers”—that they actually improve their ability when faced with high levels of pressure. This belief is reinforced by iconic sports heroes who drain the game winning basket with a second on the clock, or catch the hail mary on the last down. It’s easy to see why this belief exists—we see the replays of these incredible moments over and over until we think that great athletes actually do better under pressure. It makes great entertainment but in reality, the data shows that people do not perform better under pressure; in fact, they typically perform worse than their average. The great “clutch” performers are those who come closest to playing as they would without pressure.
First, I want you to look at this graph. As you can see, there are four parts of the pressure you are feeling.
There is the pressure that results from the situation/task/challenge you are facing. Some of the factors contributing to this pressure you can control. These are things like your preparation, equipment, game-plan. Since these are things you can control, focus on what you can do to get the result you want. Most of the time this boils down to preparation—practice a lot, rest before a big event, double check everything, make sure everyone knows what to do, etc.
However, there are also situational factors that you cannot control. Since you can’t control them, you shouldn’t bother thinking about them. This could be things like weather, sickness, other competitors, etc. Nothing you do will have an effect on these factors so focus instead on the things you can control.
There is pressure that comes from your head. This is usually you imagining what will happen if everything doesn’t go right. Imagining things going wrong is obviously not going to help, so avoid this kind of thinking. Instead, focus on positive thinking and imagining everything going right.
Sometimes there are mental pressures that you cannot control. These are usually really fast observations and thoughts that are hard to stop/control (like stepping onto the track and thinking, “wow, that’s a lot of people”). As fast as they pop up, try to spin them into mental pressure you can control (ex. “wow, that’s a lot of people who I have the opportunity to improve myself by racing today”).
People have a lot of different approaches to dealing with pressure. The best tips I can give you are:
Embrace pressure. If you’re feeling pressure it means you actually care about the results. That’s a good thing! Some people try to make themselves think something isn’t important to avoid pressure but that kind of negative self-talk can’t help.
Keep in mind the four boxes discussed above. When you’re feeling pressure, think about which things you can control and which you can’t and focus on the things you can.
Whenever you’re feeling a lot of mental pressure. Realize how out of control your brain gets when it comes up with worst possible scenarios. In reality, things would never get that bad!
Be confident that the preparation you did was adequate to achieve the results you want.
Practice makes perfect (or at least easier). The more times you face pressure, the better you’ll get at performing in the face of it.
I hope these tips help you think about pressure and help you perform how you’d like to in times of pressure. If you have any favorite strategies for dealing with pressure, I’d love to hear them, so please share.