The Performance Edge: Four Mental Skills for Pressure
The Performance Edge, from Hypnotherapy.London
Pressure does not wait until you are ready. A review of sports psychology research, reported by The Globe and Mail, picks out four mental skills that help people perform when the stakes are high, and all four travel well from the sports field to the boardroom.
What the review found
The first skill is a pre-performance routine: a set series of steps before you act, which tells your mind that the situation is familiar. The routines that work best stay flexible. The second is to keep attention off movements you already know well, either by focusing on an outside target or using a mild distraction, so that you do not overthink what normally runs on autopilot. The third is psychological skills training, such as picturing the task beforehand and using encouraging self-talk. The fourth is mindfulness: noticing anxiety without judging it, and reading a racing heart as readiness rather than threat.
The article reports the limits too. Routines can backfire when they become rigid or depend on lucky charms. Distraction tends to help experienced performers but can hurt beginners, who still need to think through their movements. The article does not say how many studies the review covered.
Four moments in an ordinary working week
Before a pitch. Build a three-step routine you can shorten when the room changes: a breath, a line you say to yourself, a look at the first slide.
During a presentation. Aim your attention at the audience and your point rather than at your hands or your voice.
On the night before. Picture the first two minutes going well, in detail, from your own eyes.
When your heart races. Say to yourself, "That is my body getting ready," and carry on.
What it means for you
- Choose one of the four skills and practise it in a low-stakes setting this week.
- Keep your routine short enough that a late train or a cancelled room cannot break it.
- Practise the skill before you need it. It is far harder to learn in the moment itself.
Where hypnotherapy and NLP fit
Hypnotherapy is a structured way of rehearsing the second and third skills. In a session, you settle your body, rehearse the moment that matters and attach a calm response to it. A 2016 review of 21 sport studies by Pelka and colleagues found hypnosis and biofeedback were the relaxation techniques most consistently linked with better performance, although many of the trials were of low quality. In a randomised trial of fear of public speaking, Schoenberger and colleagues found that adding hypnosis to cognitive behavioural therapy improved results compared with the therapy alone.
Tim Dunton works with professionals, performers and leaders in London and online. His programmes combine hypnotherapy, NLP and coaching, and they are built around the specific event you want to handle well. The for individuals page describes how that works for presentations, interviews, pitches and sport.
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The research
Tags: pressure · performance · confidence · research · London
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