Pressure

That’s from chapter #2: “Controlling the Pressure.”

In chapter #1 called “Feeling the Pressure,” Geir walks us through the effects of pressure. Then, he teaches us how to CONTROL the pressure.

The key?

In short: We need to create a clear protocol that we execute consistently.

Martin Ødegaard is one of Geir’s case studies. As you know if you’re a fan of soccer, Ødegaard is the captain for Premier League club Arsenal and the Norway national team. He’s also a very good penalty kick taker.

Geir tells us: “A stable and steady pre-performance routine is a way to achieve more control in a high-pressure situation. There are countless ways to compose such a routine. Arsenal’s Martin Ødegaard was not initially a regular penalty taker, but started taking some kicks in 2023, both in penalty shootouts and in games. He shared with me how deliberate his behaviors are, prior to penalties.

‘I know how to place the ball on the penalty spot. I know what to do when I walk back. I take sufficient time. And I know what to do when I run up to the ball, and what I think and focus on then. So that is all I focus on really, and not much else. You don’t know if the ball will go in or not, but until I strike the ball, I have a good grip on what to do.’

This clearly helps him to adopt a proper and productive mindset in these high-pressure situations: ‘There is a sharp and focused feeling. I am concentrated. I only focus on what I am supposed to do.’”

Geir continues by saying: “Control is a critical part of this: ‘I decide about the ball. I want to be the one who controls the situation, and not let the situation take over. The thought behind all these things I do is that I want to control it. That I command the situation.’

He also explains that this is not something that just comes naturally; he works on it: ‘I think you just have to find your zone and be comfortable with that. This is something I have trained so that I feel in the right zone.’”

I repeat… Rather than think about the OUTCOMES of our performance, we want to focus on a PROCESS we can control that will allow us to maintain a tight focus on the task at hand such that we have the best shot (no pun intended but I’ll take it!) at a successful result.

Why is this important? Well, as Sian Beilock puts it in Choke: “When athletes think about themselves screwing up, they are more likely to do so.”

The power of THE PAUSE.

That’s another Big Idea from the same chapter on controlling the pressure.

Note: The key to controlling the pressure is to focus on what you CAN control.

And…

To state the obvious: Pausing before taking action so you can ground yourself and tap into that stillness Tolle talks about is a very wise idea.

We’ll talk about some key elements of the pre-shot protocol in a moment.

For now, here’s a little passage from Tolle’s The Power of Now that captures the state we want to be in as we step up to the “penalty kicks” of our lives: “If it is the quality of your consciousness at this moment that determines the future, then what is it that determines the quality of your consciousness? Your degree of presence. So the only place where true change can occur and where the past can be dissolved is the Now.”

That’s from the very next section in the same chapter.

The #1 way to bring ourselves into THIS MOMENT while slowing down our overactive mind so we can execute our task-oriented protocol? Focus on your BREATH.

Geir also tells us: “Diaphragmatic breathing, where the stomach rather than the chest moves with each breath, activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which induces relaxation. If one engages in more shallow, upper chest breathing, one will get the opposite effect—the sympathetic nervous system will be activated, which will stimulate a ‘fight or flight’ reaction. Thus, a good habit prior to a penalty kick, or for an equivalent high-pressure situation, is to take three or four deep breaths; breaths that are felt deep down in the belly. This can and should also be rehearsed away from the performance context. If your default breathing pattern is diaphragmatic, this will be a better foundation to fall back on when you are called upon to conduct deep breaths prior to performance under pressure.”

This is one of THE BIGGEST things we focus on when Michael and I work with elite sports teams. We call it “Flip the Switch.” There are THREE components:

1. Posture
2. Breath
3. Mental Focus

The first step in flipping the switch? We assume the posture of a warrior: chest up, chin down.

Then we take a deep breath. In through our nose, down into our belly, back out through our nose (or pursed lips)—with an exhale slightly longer than our inhale.

As Geir tells us, this deep breath is THE fastest way to activate our parasympathetic nervous system and reduce the negative effects of an overactive fight-or-flight response.

And, as Geir tells us, if you want to be able to flip the switch in the moment it matters most, YOU BETTER TRAIN that ability. The good news with our breath is that we can LITERALLY train it all day every day. See Optimal Breathing 101 and our Notes on Patrick McKeown’s The Oxygen Advantage and Anxiety Free for more on why and how to train our breath.

The third component of our Heroic Flip the Switch protocol? We optimize our mental focus—which is exactly what Geir tells us to focus on next.

He uses Novak Djokovic to make his point: “Novak Djokovic is an open advocate of mindfulness training and explains his approach as follows: ‘I might appear locked in, but trust me, there is a storm inside. The biggest battle is within. You have doubts and fears. I feel it every single match. I don’t like this mindset that I see a lot in sports—you know, just think positive thoughts, be optimistic, there is no room for failure, there is no room for doubts. This is impossible. You are a human being. The difference between the biggest champions and the ones who struggle to get to the highest level is the ability to not stay in those emotions for too long. For me it is relatively short. As soon as I experience it, I acknowledge it, I may burst or scream on court, whatever happens. But then I am able to bounce back and reset.’”

As Geir puts it: “Unpleasant and unsettling emotions are natural when performing under pressure. But if you accept those emotions and the inevitability of their presence, you will spend less time trying to regulate them and more time focused on what is necessary to produce your performance.”

That’s from a chapter called “Exploiting the Pressure” in which we learn deeper skills to channel the pressure into peak performance.

One of the top recommendations? Practice something called “mental contrasting.”

Mental contrasting is why the WOOP process that Gabriele Oettingen describes in her great book Rethinking Positive Thinking works.

You start with a vision of your ideal outcome THEN you imagine all the things that might get in the way of making that vision a reality THEN you figure out how you will overcome those challenges. Then you TRAIN that.

Here’s how Heidi Grant Halvorson, another leading scientist, puts it in her great book Succeed: “Then what is the best way to set goals so that you will reach them, without getting stuck daydreaming? The optimal strategy to use when setting a goal seems to be to think positively about how it will be when you achieve your goal, while thinking realistically about what it will take to get there. Oettingen refers to this as mental contrasting—first you imagine attaining your goal, and then you reflect on the obstacles that stand in the way. If you want to get a high-paying job after college, start by imagining yourself accepting an offer at a top firm, and then think about what stands between you and that offer—namely, all the other really outstanding candidates that will be applying for jobs. Kind of makes you want to send out a lot of applications, doesn’t it? That’s called feeling the necessity to act—it’s a psychological state that is crucial for achieving a goal. Daydreaming about how great it will be to land that job or fall in love with that special someone you’ve had your eye on can be a lot of fun, but it won’t get you anywhere. Mental contrasting turns wishes and day-dreams into reality, by bringing into focus what you will need to do to make it happen.”

That’s from a chapter called “Uniting Against the Pressure” in which Geir walks us through the power of creating a sense of belonging and the best practices he developed to help teams respond to the inevitable failures players will experience during penalty kick shootouts.

I KNEW I would share this passage as a Big Idea. I also knew I would encourage you to check out this +1 called Legendary Leadership in which I share the story about how my friend John Herdman, coach of the MLS team Toronto FC, responded to a failure by one of HIS players.

Short story: His goalie was tricked in the LAST SECONDS of a game. An opposing player snuck around behind him, stole the ball, and scored a goal. It was CRAZY. The goalkeeper was SO BUMMED you could FEEL his pain. And… Right as the camera was showing his anguish, you see his coach John Herdman RACING across the field to console him—letting him know he had his back. Then you see all his teammates doing the same thing. It was a REALLY special moment.

Now… What I COULDN’T have predicted when I was reading the book was the fact that just a few days later, Emerson and I would be watching the Toronto FC game and guess what happened?! A penalty shootout. And… Of course, John’s team executed all the best practices Geir talks about. And… They won. This 3-minute highlight reel is fun to watch but it doesn’t show the most important part: the players welcoming their teammates back after a MISSED shot. That’s where championships are won—when everyone feels a sense of BELONGING.

Here’s to remembering that pressure is a privilege as we practice our philosophy and use those pressure-packed moments as opportunities to show the world what we’ve got!