Performing under pressure
It takes practice, preparation and trusting the process.
For most athletes, competing at the Olympics is the biggest stage of all. The culmination of four years of preparation, with one shot at delivering a result worthy of them, whether that’s in contention for a medal or not. All this with the eyes of your nation, and the world on you, and friends and family watching and willing you on, some of whom will have made almost as many sacrifices as you to get you there.
It creates Pressure with a capital P. How athletes and teams deal with that is often the difference between a great result and one that they are disappointed with.
So how do we learn to perform under pressure? Because we all have to, in our own way, at times. Whether or not we are an Olympic athlete.
To illustrate a way to think about this, here’s an example from the Olympic rowing regatta.
Take a look at the photo below of the GB Women’s quad taking a stroke. You don’t have to be a rower to see the level of perfection in timing and synchronicity: the angles of the bodies and the blades, the size and shape of the backsplashes, the hand heights and depth of the spoons (the bit on the end of the oar). As a former rower this really is a thing of beauty!
Photo credit: Steve McArthur at Row 360
To achieve that level of synchronicity, one might think that photo was taken early in the race, when they’re fresh, with lots left in the tank?
Wrong.
That photo was taken on the penultimate stroke of a 2km race, after just over six minutes of all out, lung-busting effort. It was also the stroke during which they moved into the lead for the very first time, going on to win gold by just 0.15 of a second.
So how, when under that much pressure, can you ensure your performance holds up? There are a few lessons we might take from these brilliant women.
First, practice.
For these rowers, they have put in thousands and thousands of hours of intentional practice, trying to perfect not only their own stroke, but learning how to row together. They have raced together many times, and put themselves under huge physical strain when training, to understand how they respond under pressure and to learn to hold it together when it really counts.
It’s so obvious, yet how many of us are willing to really put in the time to practice - with intention - in our working lives? To be bad at things when we start in order to become good? To persevere and do the often boring, repetitive work to improve? To put in the hours when no one is watching and we don’t feel like it?
Second, process.
In each race, and in each stroke, they focus on what they know, what they can control, and what is in front of them. The next stroke, the next phase of the race plan, the next race and so on. Within the crew there will be just one person responsible for being aware of their opponents and where necessary, amending their plan to respond.
When we feel under pressure, when something isn’t going to plan, it can be tempting to reinvent, to stray from what we know, to feel as if we have to try something new and different. Bringing it back to thinking about the next logical action, to following through on a plan, can be helpful to keep us calm. That’s not to say we should never adapt or respond, but those responses need to be considered, not scattergun. Which brings us to…
Third, preparation.
This crew will have talked through dozens of scenarios, talked about how they might react, explored what could throw them off, and established plans for how to get back on track. That allows them to have a clear yet flexible race plan.
We all know preparation is key, and if we’re honest, do we always take the time to prepare for multiple scenarios? To think about how we manage our own reactions, especially when we can anticipate an emotional or a stress response? It’s not about being able to predict the future, but by considering what might happen we can prepare ourselves to expect and welcome the pressure, meaning it is less likely to derail us in the moment.
If you’d like to watch the closing moments of the race, you can see them here (UK only I think, but I recommend hunting them down if you’re elsewhere):
Sweating the small stuff
This week: Prepare and trust the process
If you’ve got an important conversation, or meeting, or presentation coming up, take some additional time to prepare over what you might normally do. Think through potential scenarios and how you might handle them. Consider what emotional responses you might have, and what techniques might re-ground you in the moment (some suggestions here).
And finally… a request!
Lots of you were kind enough to buy a copy of Do Sweat the Small Stuff over the last few weeks. I hope you’ve been reading it - and enjoying it. I’d love to hear what you think!
And, please could I ask you to go onto Amazon and write a review of the book. It helps hugely to get the book shown to more people as a suggestion by their algorithm.
This is the link if you’re in the UK. In the US, from this link, click the button “Write a customer review”.
Thank you! See you for the next one.
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