Transforming Performance Pressure

Description

All of us will face times when we need to do something that makes us feel great pressure. Here are some thoughts on how to transform that pressure into higher performance.

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Video Transcription

greetings everybody a friend of mine Sean Joyner is going to be on American Ninja Warrior how cool is that yeah as well he's done a lot of amazing things in his life and a lot of those things can involve a lot of pressure if we imagine ourselves about to be on American Ninja Warrior you know just a few days away from this time when you've been training hot really hard and and you're ready to do something and then it all comes to be you know in these few moments for many of us it might be something else

it might be you're going on a date and you're gonna meet somebody that you really want you're hoping to connect with might be a business presentation might be your you know you're starting your own business and you are going in front of some people to try to get some investors you started a a school or something and you're about to teach your first class there's so many things in life that can create this kind of pressure inside of us this feeling of everything has been leading up to this and now the moment is is soon to come or the moments here and how do we deal with that pressure for me this was a really tough thing I I used to have a lot of just anxiety around performance mix ago just a lot of I used to have just a lot of anxiety around around things like this how how do I deal with that feeling for me it's very physical this I'm about to go and have to speak in front of some people there's that proverbial butterflies in the stomach maybe you feel a little nauseous blood pressure and your heart rate are going up there's actually a physiological reaction that really doesn't feel very comfortable that tends to trigger mental emotional thoughts that in turn trigger the physiological response you can get the cycle going where whoa you just feel like you're a bundle of nerves as we're approaching something that we're feeling pressure about this this performance whatever it is there's sort of two schools of thought one is that some amount of anxiety of nervousness it gets you know adrenaline and other things flowing it can actually be an aid to performance and I would say that's very true for for some people for me I find that I perform better if I'm just super super calm inside and feeling ultra calm and from that calm place I can generate for instance excitement about something so if I'm gonna go run an obstacle course I can generate excitement that's going to give me strength and enhance the that agility and put out some adrenaline but I prefer to do it from that place of calm so as we're moving forward into talking about dealing with pressure note that there's really these two schools of thought and I don't think either one is right or wrong they just work for different people it's essential for you to figure out which one or where you are on that spectrum you know it may not be that you're here there but somewhere along there there's a correct balance for you what really is gonna give you the highest level of performance ability now there are a fair amount of people that talk about you know how to psych yourself up for a performance and utilize that adrenaline so I'm not gonna go into that so much as I'm going to advocate the thing that's worked for me that's what I know best and something that you can try out too if you want try it and so here's the key I want to be in his much a state of calm as I can as I approach the performance that's coming up and how do I do that because there's this physiological reaction going on and I can fight that and try to willpower my way through it but the hearts still going and probably a lot of you can relate to this I mean you don't seem to have control over that reaction but we can gain control over that reaction by by looking inside carefully and seeing what is it that I really want you see I cannot feel this kind of anxiousness about something unless there's something there that I really want there's a visitor goal there's a result and I want it to look a very certain way or you know close to a very certain way and that is where that that desire for the goal to happen in a certain way it's out here and Here I am and in trying to get to that goal that's where that pressure comes from I used to have a lot of social anxiety about talking in front of people to sit and talk you know in front of a camera even would have been just too much for me but I remember the first time when I was going to do kind of a public speaking thing and what I did is I gave up and maybe a better way to praise this is letting go because giving up we can mistake that for not caring for like you know here's there's the pinecone here's my goal if I give up I just let it go or rather you know drop it I get rid of it I just I convinced myself it can't be done another way is I hold on to this like this like I need to get that goal this is where I start to generate a lot of anxiety here I'm holding that goal but I'm not using effort and to do this I have to honestly let it go it's being held in my hand it's very secure there but unless I actually let it go and I'm okay with it leaving then I'm actually closed fist and holding on to it with effort that can be open handed have that pinecone in my hand and and not be attached to the result for me this goes back to that old Zen saying I did a video on it a long time ago who knows what is good or bad I'll try to remember to link to this and suggested videos at the end who knows what is good or bad I may think I really want this to look a certain way but if it happens that way it might lead my life down a path it is not what I've foreseen it's not what I imagined and it may end up that I end up much more miserable because I actually got that goal that I wanted and the flipside I might fail at that goal that I want and I might discover that in that failure something amazing has blossomed again that I never would have foreseen and I think all of us we know that life works like this there's enough people that have had they've gotten their diagnosis of cancer and it seems like the worst thing in the world but it brought them to life they come through the other end of treatment and they find that they're in remission and have this new appreciation for life that is unlike anything they experienced before almost like they were dead before and now the cancers brought them to life we wouldn't wish that cancer on ourselves or anyone but he might have gifts there for us and so if I can have my goal like I want to win American Ninja Warrior right that's that's what I really want and I can hold it out here like yes I want that and at the same time realize that I also have no idea what winning or losing will bring into my life and so even though I want this and I'm gonna shoot for it with all of my effort not going to cling to it if we can do this if we can find that kind of paradox inside of ourselves wanting something and shooting for it with everything but at the same time realizing that that goal may not bring us what we want and failing at that goal may bring us unseen gifts then here's where the cool part happens because when I step up and bout to take on that course I can put all of my energy into running into climbing into balancing into leaping into exactly what I'm doing ancient warriors called this machine if I'm pronouncing it correctly Japan Taoism talks about wu-wei modern people called call it's a state of flow when we are fully

in the action that we're taking on and there's no thought of win or lose that thought of win or lose starts that energy inside of me and then I have to take energy that could be used in planning that jump and just like being present with it then using some of that energy over here in distraction my performance goes down so ideally we want all of our energies to go into the performance in the way we do that is we hold on with our palma you want this but we don't grasp on to it no energy in grasping because we actually don't need it we can hold on to things with our hand open in a practical sense it's kind of a philosophical sense to enact this I I sit down I think about my performance that I have ahead of me and I think okay I imagine myself winning it but when I imagine myself winning it I think about two things I think about a scenario of like I want it I'm just like wow I have everything that I wanted to get out of that it's awesome and then the flip side I think about winning it and I think about that make up some fantasies about all the negative things that happen when I win it and and how are we gonna make that up you know you lose a friend because of this or that or whatever and so and so you imagine these things and then in winning you've crystallized in your imagination through visualizing both the good result in the bad result you do the same thing with failing at the task before you you imagine it being terrible negative and you imagine it turning out more wonderful than you ever could imagine if you're in a competition like Shawn's going to be in a competition a great way to do that is to realize

how much you want to win and then to think if you don't win somebody else gets that gift of winning of feeling like wow they did it they train hard and they came through and so we not winning I may be losing something but I'm also giving a gift to someone else so what I'm doing here is I'm just mixing up in my mind the results of my goal and then I reaffirm and I'm like you know what I'm gonna go for this with everything but now in my mind it's firmed up that I don't I don't need it now performance moment is it right in front of me

probably I'm still gonna feel some that's okay

but I've done my work I've done that visualization I'm gonna be better off I'm gonna have more of my energies that can be they've been honed they can be directed directly to that action to that task it had so tune in to Shawn American Ninja Warrior I'm gonna if I don't know how cars work what I'm gonna try on the video here to put a link to his Facebook page so you can see who see them and see what he's up to and for for all of you the next time something's coming up you're feeling that pressure give this a try try having it like this seeing if you can release it let it go at the same time that you're going for it with all your heart all your body all your soul and see what happens tell me about it in the comments and I can't wait to hear from you alright you're amazing my friends talk with you soon [Applause]