Responding to Pressure and Frustration

We all feel pressure to perform at work/school, accomplish our goals, and to exceed the expectations of others. Pressure is uncomfortable and as human beings we tend to avoid feelings of discomfort at all costs. This leaves us feeling comfortable, but not always prepared to perform in stressful situations.

Then when it’s time to perform the pressure feels 10x greater because we never stressed our preparation. We feel worse because in an effort to be comfortable and confident we forgot to practice managing pressure and frustration.

A simple strategy to avoid this issue is to turn your preparation into a competition or a game. Do this by creating a fun challenge and keeping score each week as a way of tracking improvement.

As an athlete I would make challenges daily like, ‘I’m going to practice sitting lower by increasing the number of reps I can do with a full range of motion every week’. Now I’m not doing reps mindlessly because coach said so. I’m doing reps with the added challenge of increasing quality and quantity each week.

If there was a week when I failed to improve (which was inevitable) I was met with the opportunity to practice performing under pressure as well as bouncing back from the frustration that often comes with falling short of a goal.

Sometimes you’re physically incapable of achieving a goal on a certain day. Sometimes an external stimulus that’s outside of our control gets in the way and derails our plan for the day. Even though this isn’t our fault, it’s still our responsibility to manage ourselves effectively.

During my comeback I had countless days when my body couldn’t achieve my physical goals due to back pain. This wasn’t fun or challenging. It was incredibly frustrating! So, I would change the rules of my game. Instead of trying to improve quality/quantity of reps I would challenge myself to be a positive influence for my teammates. I would make a game out of encouraging others.

The challenge was to keep frustration from getting the better of me. The game was increasing the amount of positive impact I could have on others. Using this strategy, I’m an athlete that lifts up my teammates even when I’m having a bad day. Instead of an athlete that cracks under pressure/frustration and brings negativity to the team around me.

What kind of teammate would you prefer having? What kind of athlete do you want to be? How can you turn your preparation into a competition or a game in order to perform under pressure?

Focus

Every day I watch athletes’ minds wander while I’m giving instruction. Hard working, motivated athletes who just can’t stay focused. My knee jerk reaction is to get angry, to take their mind wandering personally.

Then I remember the amount of distraction that these athletes have in their daily lives… social media, advertising, tv, and internet. Of course, they can’t focus! At what point in their lives have they been taught how?!

Next, I remember that everyone struggles to focus (at least sometimes) and that these athletes have just presented me with the perfect opportunity to teach a mental skill in the middle of a hard workout.

How to STAY focused. How to keep the mind concentrated on one thing. This is simple, but not easy.

Learning to concentrate on one thing for an extended period of time is a mental skill that must be developed like any physical skill. Try listening to your favorite song while keeping your mind focused on just one piece of the music. It could be the beat, the melody, or the words. Count how many times you lose focus of this one thing in a period of just a few minutes.

Now, imagine trying to do that as a 16-year-old learning something new. The reason why an athletes’ mind would wander is starting to make sense…

So instead of getting mad at your athletes (or yourself) for not being able to stay focused, use this as a teaching moment to define what focus is. The ability to concentrate on one thing for an extended period of time. Challenge them to stay focused on just one thing at a time throughout the training session.

Using this Mindset strategy, you’ve prepared the athlete to learn the physical skill and taught them how to develop a mental skill at the same time.

Fix Your Mindset Partners with Miller SWC

Miller SWC is excited to announce a new provider, two-time Olympic Medalist, Katherine Adamek!

Since retiring from Short Track Speed Skating after the 2018 Olympic Trials, Katherine has started her Performance Mindset Consulting business, Fix Your Mindset. Katherine partners with Vision Pursue to provide a 10-week training program as well as ongoing consultation and development of Performance Mindset.

Schedule a Free 15 minute Mindset Consultation!

“I’m excited to work with clients at Miller Sports and Wellness to help them change their perception of pain and manage the emotions that go along with chronic injury. I dealt with chronic pain and injury for many years as an athlete. It wasn’t until I took the steps necessary to change my mindset that I noticed a significant improvement in my ability to deal with setbacks and pain.”

Check out Katherine’s blog to find out “Why Mindset Training is Right For YOU

Why Mindset Training is Right For YOU

Lots of people are confused about Mindset Training. What is it...? And why is right for you?

Mindset is how your automatic brain experiences the world. This is called Default Mindset.

Humans have 30,000-40,000 automatic thoughts per day. These are not thoughts that we choose and they may not even be helpful. Random thoughts pop into our heads all day long with or without permission. These are called Auto-Thoughts.

Auto-Thoughts lead to what is called the Default Mindset. Examples of the Default Mindset include: trouble focusing, a hard time falling asleep, low energy, low emotional resilience, and a tough time committing to healthy habits. The opposite of the Default Mindset is called Performance Mindset.

Performance Mindset the state of mind that allows us to feel focused, energized, motivated, alive, and engaged.

Performance Mindset Training is a 10-week curriculum designed to help you Fix Your Mindset. Users report aa 35% reduction in stress, a 26% reduction in boredom and monotony, and a 99% increase in the amount of time spent feeling good without escape activities. 

Please CONTACT ME for more information about Mindset Training, what the curriculum entails, and how it can help you master your process as you work to achieve your goals.