Bring it
Don Draper: a man prepared for any eventuality, regardless of the stakes
During the Olympics we were treated to great performances from Team GB across a host of different disciplines. But despite the variety of the athletes, there is a common denominator for success. Being able to perform in the moment, at exactly the right time, better than your competitors. The pressure is enormous but so is the prize. … so what’s the secret? And what can we learn from them which will help us succeed in our highly pressured careers and life? Dr Chris Shambrook is a top sports psychologist who has worked with Team GB Rowing through five Olympic Games, and a performance coach with Planet K2 where he helps the business world think, prepare and perform like elite athletes. Here Dr Shambrook explains the ingredients you need to deal with pressure and turn it to your advantage.
Ingredient 1: Tell yourself what you need to tell yourself
Ari Gold
Hollywood agent Ari Gold rarely suffers doubt. LA is his town, and everyone else just lives in it.
Working alongside the athletes and coaches and listening to dozens of post-medal interviews, it’s clear that they use different realities to help them perform at their best. Some athletes tell themselves that this is just another race and nothing different from what they’ve done dozens of times before. Some athletes promise themselves that this is the last time they’d do this, so just end on a high note. Others magnify all of the reasons why no one would beat them at their event to maximise their sense of defiance and self-belief. None of these messages are better than any of the others. The most important thing is that each athlete believes what they are thinking is absolutely the right thing for them and they commit to sticking with that mindset. For all of us, and for any key performance moment, with the right amount of readying, we can be just as sure as an Olympian that we’re thinking what is absolutely right for us. This will help us to be equally unwavering in our ability to stay focused on our winning mindset.
Ingredient 2: Use pressure to strengthen your resolve
Harvey Specter
Corporate lawyer Harvey Specter lives for the thrill of the battle, even playing high-stakes poker in his spare time.
The one very predictable thing about the Olympic Games is that there’s loads of pressure. Internal pressure, external pressure, pressure from a nation, pressure from sponsors, the list goes on and on. For those athletes who did not step up and deliver, it is very likely that this pressure became overwhelming and ultimately interfered with their ability to focus on what matters most. Because the pressure is so predictable, the most successful athletes accept this pressure, choose which bits of the pressure would be most helpful to them and then most importantly decide what they wanted the pressure to remind them about. So, rather than getting distracted by the pressure, successful athletes actually become more performance focused as a result of the pressure. So, when we know the pressure’s going to be cranking up, make a winning strategy choice and decide what you want the pressure to focus you on to. Every time you feel the pressure, you can use it to refocus on what matters most to you. If you’ve got the other ingredients in place, then this pressure exploitation becomes ever more effective. So, where’s the pressure going to focus your response today?
Ingredient 3: Remember what it was like before it got serious
The Wolf of Wall Street
Despite a mounting FBI investigation, Jordan Belfort never lost sight of his love of money. Maybe use him as a cautionary tale.
For many of the athletes, their journey to Olympic success started many years prior to 2016. Well away from the crowds, incredible support and eager expectation, there were moments of calm, clarity and huge enjoyment for every athlete. These pure moments of performance are a great reminder for athletes about why they started their journey and can be a great source of perspective at key moments. For the athletes, before it got serious, there are typically very simple reasons why they got involved in their sport. Whether a natural aptitude or an immediate connection with the sensation of performing, most athletes began their journey for reasons other than winning Olympic Gold. Many successful athletes are able to stay connected with their original feelings of starting their sport for the first time. This may not be a burning thought as they ready themselves for their final, but in the build up to those moments, they certainly stay connected with their longer involvement in their sport. Motivations shift for all of us in all of our roles and it’s worthwhile just checking in once in a while if the younger, more naïve versions of ourselves would be pleased with how we were currently approaching our daily challenges. Would your younger self be pleased with you?
Ingredient 4: Be ready
Don Draper
He might booze throughout the day, but Don Draper was always prepared for the client. (Except Lucky Strike, where he winged it.)
The best performers remember that the most intense moments, the moments that bring the most pressure, are actually the moments they’ve been waiting for and dreaming of for so long. To be at an Olympics, representing their nation, competing with the world’s best under the most demanding conditions is what they always wanted. So instead of feeling overwhelmed, they interpret their feelings of nerves as a sign they are really ready and that this is what their preparation and training has all been about. These athletes know they are ready because of all of their training and preparation building their technical skills, their tactical nous, their mental strength and tuning themselves physically. They’ve prepared for the atmosphere as much as they can and they’ve built a great support team around them. All of this is training, so when under pressure they don’t hope to rise to the occasion. Instead they have a very firm foundation which gives them the confidence they need. So what’s your readiness recipe for your pressure moments?
Ingredient 5: Ask positive questions
Harvey Dent
Being District Attorney for the most dangerous city in the world didn't stop Harvey Dent from thinking positively. 'Can I clean up Gotham? You bet I can!' He couldn't, of course, but that's not the point.
The final ingredient present in many of the successful athletes at the Olympics was the ability to keep asking questions of themselves that created a desire to find out the answer. In high pressure situations it’s pretty easy to ask questions of yourself that promote worry and are actually difficult to answer: ‘will I be fast enough?’, ‘will the opposition try something they’ve never done before?’, ‘will it be as good as it was in practice?’ With a simple shift, questions can become a great source of motivation and successful athletes ask the right questions of themselves: ‘I wonder how well I can perform in an Olympic final?’, ‘Can I deliver my best every start in the final?’, ‘I wonder how much I can distract the opposition by staying 100% focused on my game plan?’, ‘How well can I control my thinking and emotions when it matters most?’ With the shift in phrasing, the positive questions help to create a sense of curiosity and raise the desire to want to find out the answers. These kinds of questions also work because there you have to engage with the approach situation to find the answer for yourself. Equally, the questions require you to stay focused on what you’re good at in order to find out the answer. So, what kind of questions do you ask yourself prior to a big performance? Are they questions that inspire you or ones that suppress you? Check out your questions and see if you need to change them to help you have a great performance when it matters most to you.
Dr. Chris Shambrook will be helping attendees decode their performance potential at Performance Fest on 9 September.
