Do you put pressure on yourself to play perfectly?
Does this pressure cause you to underperform?
Pressure can be incredibly valuable to you as an athlete. But it can also hold you back. Leading to tense play.
If the pressure you put on yourself is currently causing you to play poorly, there’s a strategy you can use to help.
Before going into the strategy, though, I want to outline the two key differences between pressure helping you and pressure hurting you during games.
How Pressure Can Help You Play Well
I worked with a hockey player who perfectly illustrated the idea of having pressure help you play well.
One day when we were on a call she began explaining to me a recent game she’d played. “I was doing great,” she said. “I played out of my mind and coach told me afterwards it was the best game he’d seen me play.”
She went on to tell me all the ins and outs of why it was such a good game. But the bottom line was, she played phenomenally!
But why? And where does pressure come into this?
Well, I asked her that very question. She thought for a moment and then gave me the simplest, but most profound answer…”Because I wanted to.”
And she meant exactly that. She wanted to play well because there were scouts at the game and she knew it. Before the game started, she told herself that she needed to do well since they were watching.
To some, having scouts watch can be unhelpful pressure and lead to stress. For her, it was just what she needed to lock in and compete with full focus and effort.
This is a pattern I see time and time again in athletes who use pressure to help them play well. Pressure fuels them. It drives stronger focus, more intent, and higher levels of effort.
Because of the pressure, they want to play well. And more often than not, they do!
How Pressure Hurts You During Games
Another athlete comes to mind who exhibits what happens when pressure hurts you during games. Or at least he did, before he and I began working on handling pressure. Now he looks like a completely different player out there.
But in the beginning, pressure wasn’t his friend. And if you’re looking for ways to stop putting pressure on yourself during games, I’m going to guess it’s not your friend, either.
The reason pressure ends up not being your friend is due to the way it causes you to play.
When pressure hurts you, it leads to tense play. This is because of what’s driving the pressure in the first place.
Pressure stems from a feeling of wanting to do well. The moment or game is important to you. Therefore, you want to perform the best you can.
But the idea of a game being important not only results in a feeling of wanting to play your best. It also leads to a goal of not messing up. Especially since messing up in a big moment will be even more embarassing.
This is where we see pressure quickly turn into stress. The game is important, you want to play well, and that want to play well shifts into not wanting to make mistakes.
When you play not to make mistakes, you play with fear. Fear that causes you to play timidly and holds you back.
Strategy to Stop Putting Pressure on Yourself During Games
I’ll admit, the title of this section may be a little misleading. Because, let’s be honest with ourselves, is it realistic to stop wanting to play well?
No, it’s not very realistic at all. Of course you want to play well! What we have to do, though, is keep that feeling of wanting to play well from turning into stress about not making any mistakes. That’s where you find yourself in trouble.
To keep pressure from holding you back, you do want to stop putting pressure on yourself…pressure to play perfectly. Pressure that focuses on the outcome.
To do this, we’re going to model the way athletes who use pressure to their advantage find it helpful.
By always remembering to focus on how you actually play your best.
How to Use Pressure to Play Well
In the section on how pressure helps athletes play well, I introduced you to an athlete who thrives under pressure. She does so because pressure triggers her to focus on giving more effort and trying harder.
Pressure results in her focusing even more on the process of her game.
That’s a common theme among all athletes I’ve worked with who thrive under pressure. And it’s something you can and must do as well, if you want to stop having pressure hold you back.
So how can you do this? How can you use pressure to turn your attention onto the process of your game and actually help you play better?
By asking yourself one simple question: what can I control about playing well?
Immediately that question will bring your attention back into the present moment. Because for you to be able to control something, it needs to be taking place in the present moment.
For example, the athlete I mentioned earlier knows that for her to play well, she needs to give full effort. That’s what she has found leads to her best games.
So when you find yourself stressed about playing well and you’re putting pressure on yourself to have a good game, don’t try to run from that pressure. Instead, ask yourself what you can control about playing well.
Then, focus on your answer. Give your full attention to whatever it is you pinpointed will help you achieve your goal of having a good game.
By doing so, you have turned pressure into something that helps your game, rather than something that causes you to underperform.
Final Thoughts
Pressure can completely destroy your performance. Or, it could elevate your game.
It all depends upon how you think about pressure. And most importantly, what you think about after feeling the pressure.
To use pressure to your advantage and to stop putting so much pressure on yourself during games, remember to ask yourself, what can I control about playing well?
That will immediately bring your attention back into the present moment and help you focus on what actually matters.
If you are currently struggling with playing with pressure, please fill out the form below to learn more about 1-1 mental performance coaching.
Thank you for reading and I wish you the best of success in all that you do.
