People who have become experts in music, sport and other performance fields have spent anything from 3,000 hours to 10,000 hours and many more besides practising their profession. Professional athletes spend thousands more hours practising; yet compete with one another a mere fraction of this time. Regrettably, professional athletes only earn their status and income when they compete. Researchers have long since known that most successful professional athletes are also the best prepared psychologically for competition. These athletes cope with the strain of competition and excel under pressure. Several reasons explain this circumstance and we shall explore three reasons. First, many athletes do not know how to build psychological plans for training and competition. Second, many athletes believe they ought to deal better with the psychological challenges they face in competition without support from others, even though they see physiotherapists to aid their recovery from injury. Finally, athletes rarely address instances of crooked or unhelpful thinking when they prepare for competition. For example, mind-reading happens when athletes believe they know what others are thinking: “They only asked me to join the relay team because they couldn’t find anyone else”. Some athletes try fortune-telling before races: “It’s no use me trying, I’ll never be able to win if I don’t make a good start”. These instances of unhelpful thinking also carry an emotional effect, triggering disruptive feelings such as anxiety, anger, guilt, hurt, envy, and shame. To explain, athletes’ anxious feelings about competition descend from their unhealthy beliefs about competition. They witness a sensed threat or real threat of competition. A sensed threat might be demanding that they win, expecting to perform skilfully or avoiding all harsh remarks from a coach. A sensed threat differs from a real threat because it does not exist physically. We create this threat through our thinking and imagining. Not only does anxiety emerge with unhealthy beliefs but also these beliefs affect how we think and behave. If you are anxious about a forthcoming race, for instance, your thoughts might fill with ‘what if’ scenarios: “What if I don’t perform well?” or “What if I fall hurdling?” prompting you to avoid the race or seek constant guarantees and encouragement from your coach.
Successful professional athletes use three practical psychological strategies to prepare purposely for competition.
First, they work collaboratively with a sport psychologist to uncover specific psychological needs and address them systematically. They work together over several months to produce the psychological changes the athlete seeks.
Second, their coaches arrange practice conditions that simulate the conditions they will face in competition, allowing the athletes to learn best when they practise as they intend to perform. They follow a simple performance cycle to plan practice sessions, perform with focus, and review their practice plans afterwards.
Finally, successful professional athletes develop ways to think and feel better about competition. If we feel anxious about competition, we begin by identifying whether we are anxious (unhelpful) or concerned (helpful). When we feel anxious, we underestimate our ability to cope with the threat rather than realistically appraising our ability to cope with the threat. Thinking anxious thoughts builds the threat in your mind. This threat can spiral out of control so people avoid it or withdraw mentally from it using superstitions or tranquillise their feelings with other substances (e.g., food or alcohol). It’s better to think sensibly about the threat you sense and keep a realistic picture in your mind. Your thoughts will be more helpful and you can face your threat and process it productively, rather than using superstitions or substances to overcome it.
We learn to win under pressure by working psychologically and physically to improve our performances. We manage our thoughts and feelings better with practice so they work for, rather than against, us in competition. Working with a qualified sport psychologist helps you to achieve these goals faster. If we were baking a cake, we would follow a recipe and include all necessary ingredients. Similarly, performing to our potential means following the recipe for success and including all the ingredients. These ingredients are psychological, physical, technical, tactical and lifestyle. Now is the time to rewrite your recipe for success to win under pressure.
