For top performers pressure rather than being an enemy to performance, is in fact a stimulant. Unless exposed to increasing levels of pressure it is unlikely we will raise our game. This is the difference between the mediocre and the elite. Whether it’s in sport or in sales, in the classroom or learning to ride a bike, we will only improve if we are prepared to raise the stakes. As a coach or manager there are 2 key questions here:

EMBRACE THE DISCOMFORT

the red2bluecoaches perspective

How can I raise pressure in a practice format that will help develop the high performing mental skills needed?

How do top performers look to deal with the discomfort that ‘pressure’ creates?

We don’t get better without pushing ourselves or having someone else – a coach, teacher, competitor -push us.

Discomfort and pressure go hand in hand with improving performance.

Though we might know this logically and be really excited by the prospect of getting better, sometimes we stumble when it comes to managing the discomfort.

For instance when an athlete, public speaker or anyone else who is required to deliver under pressure starts feeling ‘nervous’ or ‘hot and tense’ then feelings and thoughts that are not helpful start to overwhelm them.

the performers perspective

But in reality ‘nerves’ are normal. More often than not it’s the body preparing itself for this ‘event’. If we learn to accept what is happening and ref rame the unhelpful labels then these feelings become something else. We embrace them because we recognise its just our normal process and might actually help us to perform at our best. All too often we push these thoughts / feelings away and of course they keep coming back because they want to be heard. Its better then to accept them, recognise them for what they are and focus our attention on what to do.

HELPING PEOPLE TO PERFORM UNDER PRESSURE © Gazing Performance Systems Licence Holders 2020

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We call this moving from Red to Blue - Recognise, accept and choose…..you have control over where you choose to put your attention. With practise (because it is a skillset) this can be done very quickly and enable us to be comfortable with pressure and manage our responses to it.

So the idea of being comfortable with being uncomfortable, or embracing the discomfort, is a key point in elite performance.

Pressure is vital if we want to keep improving.