Performing your best under stress.

Do you know how to thrive under the pressure that crushes those who aren’t mentally tough? Like the great Olympians, to perform your best you can learn to create an optimal state of mind, usually relaxed and confident before engaging in your most challenging or most important personal and professional situations.
A key to being your best under stress
One of the keys to being your best personally and professionally is having a pre-event routine to optimally prepare your mind and body to engage in the situations that are most important to you. Did you know that basketball superstar Kobe Bryant always does exactly the same routine before every free throw? And that before a ski race, Olympian Lindsey Vonn creates a clear image in her mind of a perfect run?
Take a moment now to think of an upcoming situation or event where you want to be your best. As you continue to read, think about how you could create a pre-event routine to help you perform your best during your event.
Structure of a pre-event routine
Have you watched Olympic gymnasts, swimmers, divers or track athletes, engaged in their pre-event routines? During the hours and minutes leading up to their event, they all have very individualized and well practiced pre-event routines that include:

• Physical warm-up. The physical warm-up usually includes stretching, physical activity and practicing all or some part of the actual event. A sprinter might go for a slow jog, stretch, then do some brief bursts of speed work and practice their start.
• Mental rehearsal. Mental rehearsal uses one’s mind to imagine engaging in the activity and performing at one’s absolute best. Please see the previous article on mental rehearsal.
• Self-talk. Self-talk can be quite powerful! Constructive self-talk is vital for performing one’s best. It is best done by speaking to yourself as if you are someone else coaching and encouraging you. Example, “You have trained really well, you’re ready, just focus on your three keys to success to be your best.”
• Relaxing. All athletes must find the right balance of being focused on the event (thinking about it and mentally rehearsing) and resting their minds and bodies. Most athletes understand the value of using slow deep breathing to relax to perform their best.
• Choosing their emotions. Confidence is always important, as is having fun and genuinely enjoying the competition. When athletes are at their best, they love competing. Athletes learn how to create the emotions they need. What emotions best serve you for the event you want to be your best in?
• Mentally preparing. During the last minutes before an event, destructive thoughts often attack the athlete’s mind. Thoughts such as: “I didn’t train well enough”, “I’m not ready”, “I don’t feel well”, etc. And then there are all the fears the can consume the mind: fear of failure, disappointment, embarrassment, fear of success and a variety of other fears. There are many techniques to deal with and master these thoughts; one of the easiest is to have a focusing thought that is 100 percent in the athlete’s control.Freestyle mogul skier, Jerry Bloom, a three-time world champion and two-time Olympian, shared with me that his last focusing thought in the seconds before starting a race was on the first six inches of the course. His thought: “This is the single-most important turn. It’s all I need to think about. Just make a good turn here, and my skills will carry me the rest of the way. I imagined the perfect first turn.” One single focusing thought. Powerful.

Why do Olympic and professional athletes work to perfect pre-event and pre-shot routines? Because they perform better when they do. So will you.
If an athlete doesn’t have a technique to handle these destructive thoughts and fears, they may choke. The choking response is caused by so much performance anxiety that the body can’t perform optimally.
If a pre-event routine helps Olympic athletes be more successful, will it help you? It did Julia. Julia was a regional sales director at high-tech company. After 10 years, she was a middle-of-the-pack producer. She wanted more, so she developed a pre-selling routine using three techniques before and during every sales call. She 1) observed her thinking and changed any negative thoughts to positive ones; 2) focused only on what she controlled and 3) slowed her breathing and centered herself.
Julia became her company’s top producer and then VP of sales. She credited her pre-selling routine for her dramatic rise.
There are high performers in all fields who have learned to create an optimal mindset before engaging in their challenging and important business and personal situations. When making a big sale, leading a meeting, making a speech, interviewing for a job, conducting or receiving a performance review and even being with family after a hard day can all be improved with pre-event routines to create the optimal state for mind and body.
Develop a pre-routine
Take a moment to reflect on your event.

1. What would be a good warm-up to create the right amount of positive energy in your body?
2. How could you focus using mental rehearsal and self-talk?
3. If you get stressed or anxious before your event, how can you relax?
4. What emotions help you be your best? Can you create them?
5. What’s the one focusing thought that gives you a strong sense of being in control?

Don’t fall victim to an undisciplined mind. Use pre-routines to help you take control of your thoughts and emotions. The value to you in gaining control of your thoughts and emotions in the most important situations in your life? Priceless.