How to stay calm under pressure – Noa Kageyama and Pen-Pen Chen

Your favorite athlete closes in for a victorious win. The crowd holds its breath and, at the crucial moment, she misses the shot. That competitor just experienced the phenomenon known as “choking,” where, despite months or even years of practice, a person fails right when it matters most.

Choking is common in sports, where performance often occurs under intense pressure and depends on key moments. Yet performance anxiety also haunts public speakers, contestants in spelling bees, and even world-famous musicians. Most people intuitively blame it on their nerves, but why does being nervous undermine expert performance?

There are two sets of theories, both suggesting that choking under pressure primarily boils down to focus. First, there are the distraction theories. These suggest that performance suffers when the mind is preoccupied with worries, doubts, or fears, instead of focusing its attention on the task at hand. When relevant and irrelevant thoughts compete for the same attention, something has to give. The brain can only process so much information at once. Tasks that challenge working memory—the mental “scratch pad” we use to temporarily store phone numbers and grocery lists—are especially vulnerable to pressure.

In a 2004 study, a group of university students were asked to perform math problems: some easy, others more complex and memory-intensive. Half the students completed both types of problems with nothing at stake, while the others completed them when calm and also under pressure. While everyone did well on the easy problems, those who were stressed performed worse on the more difficult, memory-intensive tasks.

Explicit monitoring theories make up the second group of explanations for choking under pressure. They focus on how pressure can cause people to overanalyze the task at hand. Once a skill becomes automatic, thinking about its precise mechanics interferes with the ability to perform it. Tasks we do unconsciously seem to be most vulnerable to this kind of choking.

A study on competitive golfers compared their performance when instructed to simply focus on putting as accurately as possible versus when they were primed to be acutely aware of the mechanics of their putting stroke. Golfers usually perform this action subconsciously, so those who suddenly tuned in to the precise details of their moves became worse at making accurate shots.

Choking may not be inevitable for everyone. Research suggests that some individuals are more susceptible than others, especially those who are self-conscious, anxious, and afraid of being judged negatively by others.

How can we avoid choking when it really counts? First, it helps to practice under stressful conditions. In a study on expert dart players, researchers found that those who hadn’t practiced under stress performed worse when anxious compared to those who had become accustomed to pressure. Secondly, many performers extol the virtues of a pre-performance routine, whether it’s taking a few deep breaths, repeating a cue word, or doing a rhythmic sequence of movements. Studies on golfing, bowling, and water polo find that short rituals can lead to more consistent and accurate performance under pressure.

Thirdly, researchers have shown that having an external focus on the ultimate goal works better than an internal focus on the mechanics of what you’re doing. A study of experienced golfers revealed that those who hit chip shots while focused on the flight of the ball performed significantly better than those who focused on the motion of their arms.

So, perhaps we can modify that age-old saying: practice, under pressure, with focus, and with that glorious end goal in sight, makes perfect.

Vaša omiljena sportistkinja približava se pobedničkoj završnici. Publika zadržava dah i, u presudnom trenutku, ona promašuje udarac. Taj takmičar je upravo iskusio fenomen poznat kao „čoking“, kada, uprkos mesecima ili čak godinama vežbanja, osoba zakaže baš onda kada je najvažnije.

Čoking je čest u sportu, gde se nastup često odvija pod velikim pritiskom i zavisi od ključnih trenutaka. Ipak, anksioznost pred nastup muči i javne govornike, takmičare u spelovanju reči, pa čak i svetski poznate muzičare. Većina ljudi intuitivno krivi nervozu, ali zašto nervoza potkopava vrhunski učinak?

Postoje dve grupe teorija, obe ukazuju da se čoking pod pritiskom u osnovi svodi na fokus. Prva su teorije ometanja. One predlažu da performans trpi kada je um zaokupljen brigama, sumnjama ili strahovima umesto da se usredsredi na zadatak. Kada se relevantne i irelevantne misli takmiče za istu pažnju, nešto mora da popusti. Mozak može da obradi samo ograničenu količinu informacija istovremeno. Zadaci koji opterećuju radnu memoriju—mentalnu „radnu tablu“ koju koristimo za privremeno pamćenje brojeva telefona i spiskova za kupovinu—posebno su osetljivi na pritisak.

U studiji iz 2004. godine, grupa studenata bila je zamoljena da reši matematičke zadatke: neke lake, a druge složenije i zahtevnije za pamćenje. Polovina studenata je oba tipa zadataka radila bez ikakvih uloga, dok je druga polovina rešavala iste zadatke prvo smireno, a zatim pod pritiskom. Dok su svi dobro prolazili lake zadatke, oni koji su bili pod stresom lošije su rešavali složene, memorijski zahtevne zadatke.

Teorije eksplicitnog nadzora čine drugu grupu objašnjenja za čoking pod pritiskom. One ističu da pritisak može navesti ljude da previše analiziraju zadatak. Kada neka veština postane automatska, razmišljanje o njenim preciznim mehanikama ometa sposobnost da se ona izvede. Čini se da su zadaci koje obavljamo nesvesno najranjiviji na ovu vrstu čokinga.

Studija o takmičarskim golferima upoređivala je njihov učinak kada im je rečeno da se jednostavno usredsrede na što preciznije patovanje, sa učinkom kada su bili podstaknuti da budu veoma svesni mehanike svog zamaha. Golferi obično ovu radnju izvode nesvesno, pa su oni koji su iznenada obratili pažnju na precizne detalje svog pokreta postali lošiji u postizanju tačnih udaraca.

Čoking možda nije neizbežan za sve. Istraživanja pokazuju da su neki ljudi podložniji od drugih, naročito oni koji su samosvesni, anksiozni i boje se negativne procene okoline.

Kako možemo izbeći čoking onda kada je najvažnije? Pre svega, pomaže da vežbamo pod stresnim uslovima. U jednoj studiji o vrhunskim igračima pikada, istraživači su otkrili da su oni koji nisu vežbali pod stresom igrali lošije kada su bili anksiozni, u odnosu na one koji su bili naviknuti na pritisak. Drugo, mnogi izvođači hvale pred-nastupne rutine, bilo da je reč o nekoliko dubokih udisaja, ponavljanju neke ključne reči ili ritmičkoj sekvenci pokreta. Studije o golfu, kuglanju i vaterpolu pokazuju da kratki rituali mogu dovesti do ujednačenijeg i preciznijeg učinka pod pritiskom.

Treće, istraživači su utvrdili da usredsređivanje pažnje na spoljašnji cilj daje bolje rezultate nego fokusiranje na unutrašnju mehaniku onoga što radite. Studija iskusnih golfera pokazala je da su oni koji su izvodili udarce fokusirajući se na let loptice imali znatno bolje rezultate od onih koji su bili usredsređeni na pokrete svojih ruku.

Dakle, možda možemo prilagoditi onu staru izreku: vežba, pod pritiskom, sa fokusom i sa tim veličanstvenim krajnjim ciljem na umu, čini savršenstvo.