Ok, this is part 6 of our series of techniques and strategies for how to play your best game even when under pressure. Let’s quickly review the first 5 tactics shall we?
1. Mentally rehearse being in pressured situations. Plan how you will think at that moment and imagine perfect execution of your skills.
2. Get in the present moment directing your mind to your senses
3. Use comparisons of bigger things in your life to reduce the importance of the event.
4. Have one thing to lock your eyes and mind onto
5. Build trust by using your phrase to get your analyzer out of the way
What if none of those work for you? What if you just read those tactics but you didn’t actually practice them before a game? What do you do if you can’t remember anything AND you are frozen or tense with fear from the pressure and it’s time to perform?
That’s what you do. You AND it. I call this technique: “It’s an AND world.”
When all else fails, just go with the fear and tension and nervousness. Don’t fight it, embrace it!
“What you resist, persists” Carl Jung, famous psychologist
“What?” I hear you saying “Craig, you have been telling me that fear and nerves are the enemy for these last 5 tips and now you’re telling me to embrace them?”
Craig: “Yes, because that’s all you can do at this point”
AND world means that you can feel the nervousness AND still perform.
Get this – feelings like: pressure, nervous, frustration, etc. – Biologically-speaking, are nothing more than chemical releases in the body. Your own natural chemicals. The chemicals latch onto the cells of your body and tell the cells to do something. That “do something” is a feeling, like tight muscles, flushed skin, shaking, etc.
So here’s the kicker…
If and when you next feel those fear chemicals, what you want to do is “And” them like this:
“Wow, look at that, that’s interesting…I’m feeling some chemicals of fear right now…nerves twitching, muscles a little tense, huh….AND I’m going to nail this move while feeling them.” It’s an attitude and some self talk.
You see, it’s the mental resistance to your chemicals (and the bodily reaction you get from them) that is a huge part of what actually interferes with your performance. It’s Fear of the Fear itself.
What you DONT want to do is something like this:
“Oh wow, I’m nervous, this is NOT good, I’m in trouble…I need to calm down, calm down…breathe deep, yeah, need to relax…”
No you don’t. It’s too late for that.
If you are in a high-pressured situation and already feeling those pressure chemicals and you’re just about to go and perform, there is no amount of breathing or thinking that’s going to send those chemicals back to where they came from so that you calm down. That takes time and you don’t have the time.
This is the method of last resort.
The best you can do at that point is to go with them. Here’s the attitude you want to take…”Wheeew, look at that, I’m feeling some awesome chemicals at this amazing moment in my sports career, how cool is that!? Bring it on…let’s do this…I can feel these chemicals AND score this point while feeling them.”
There’s loads of stories of top athletes who were scared to death and shaking in their shoes AND performed brilliantly. You can channel and direct that energy you are getting from the feelings into laser-beam focus. High energy like that is fuel for extreme focus.
When you practice feeling your chemicals AND still doing what you need to do while feeling them…in your regular life, you condition yourself to be able to do it under pressure for your sport, just the same.
The great thing about the mental game, unlike your physical game…is that you can work on it anywhere! Everywhere!
The “And World” technique works for all emotions, by the way….Are there times in sports where your opponent gets to you and you get angry? Trash talking for instance? And you need to keep your cool and not let it affect your play? That’s when you AND it.
Are there times in your regular life where you also feel angry from actions of others? Can you practice “And world” during those times? Of course you can and after awhile, going with your emotions and feelings, instead of fighting them, becomes your default habit. That’s what overall emotional mastery is all about.
I’ll tell you more about mastering your emotions to become a fearless competitor in future trainings.
Let’s do this.
Craig Sigl mental toughness trainer