Handling pressure
“His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy
There’s vomit on his sweater already, mom’s spaghetti
He’s nervous, but on the surface he looks calm and ready
To drop bombs, but he keeps on forgettin’
What he wrote down, the whole crowd goes so loud
He opens his mouth, but the words won’t come out
He’s chokin’, how, everybody’s jokin’ now
The clocks run out, times up, over, blaow”
I am pretty sure 8 out of 10 people under 40 know at least part of the above verses and can hum the rest of it. :)
Being in a rap battle or any other event where you have to perform cue is stressful. You might have practiced your routine over and over again but it was always in the safety of your familiar environment. There was no crowd, no timer, no opponent (or at least the opponent didn’t put up a big fight).
Once you add all these variables into the mix and sprinkle a little fatigue and maybe a small injury and you have the right recipe for a big bowl of underperformance.
You are ready?
How many times have you seen a player take a penalty kick and miss the goal entirely? Or basketball player who scores 40+ points during the game but misses an open buzzer short? Or a tenis player missing on 4 match points and losing the entire game?
It’s not uncommon for professional players to miss easy shots. There are multiple reasons for this but one of the most common is that they haven’t prepared themselves for this situation in realistic circumstances.
They have practiced the particular situation but they didn’t practice it in a way that would replicate the game truly.
You are ready.
When I was training for my first Ironman race in 2016, I was swimming at least 3 times a week but it was always a pool swim. I knew that swimming in open water with a few thousand other people is a whole different ball game.
I read from other competitors how everything went smoothly for them when they were hit with a panic attack. They couldn’t swim, couldn’t breathe and all they wanted was to get out.
I was determined this wouldn’t happen to me but I was also smart enough to come up with a backup plan when sh*t hits the fan.
I wanted the open water swim to feel like any other swim I did so I started implementing a pre-performance routine. I got to the pool and started jumping slightly up and down. Got my goggles on. Started swinging my arms 4 times to the front and 4 times back. While I was going to the edge of the pool and got ready to jump in, I started slightly tapping my sternum with my right first. I did this for some 5 to 10 seconds (depending on where I put my stuff) and then I would jump in and start swimming.
I did this every time I went swimming. Every. Single. Time.
This got me in the zone and all I had to do now is get my workout (or race) done.
Just in case this didn’t work out I had a backup plan.
You are ready!
“Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”
Oh boy, did I get punched in the face (or to be more truthful, kicked). Everything was going great for the first 200-300 meters until I got into a little traffic jam. People started kicking me, swimming over me, hitting me on all parts of my body.
It came with no warning. I just couldn’t control my breathing again and the only thing I wanted was to get out.
But in that moment I remembered my backup plan. Start counting every stroke until you are good to swim again. So I started counting. 1. 2. 3. I had something other to focus on than my fear of drowning and once I got to some 300 (yes, it took me a long time to get my grove back) when I was ready to enjoy the swim again.
I got out of the water and was ready to tackle the remaining parts of the race.
When coaching my Tae Kwon Do students, I used to play a game where during sparring one fighter would lead by 1 point and we would set the clock to 15 seconds. The person in the lead would now have the task of surviving the final seconds and win the match while the fighter trailing by a point had to do anything they (legally) can do to get in the lead.
Whoever lost would have to perform a minor punishment (squats, runs, etc.). We would repeat the drill and switch who is leading but as time passed and fatigue started setting in we got them right where they are at the end of a match.
They can now practice different attacks and evasions which they can, hopefully, use in a real match. We have put them in a specific situation and teach them how to handle it over and over again until it becomes automatic. They have now a much higher chance to keep their cool and perform at the best level possible.
Putting it all together
If you want to make sure you perform at your best during an important event make sure to have a pre-performance routine to put you in the zone (specific drills, listening to music, something else) and have a backup in-performance routine that will help you refocus when you start losing it.
All of this has to emulate your actual environment as close as possible to put you in the right state of mind to perform at your best.
There are a few more things to think about but we will cover those in another blog post.
Until then,
Keep your cool
