I have come to the conclusion that performance is state based. When you are performing under the pressure....you realzie that your body gets tense and you sometimes attribute this to you being nervous and not being able to cope with the task.
THIS IS THE WRONG INTERPRETATION. Feeling that way is a GOOD THING.
As Mystery and TylerDurden have mentioned....you are never going to get rid of your approach/performance under pressure anxiety.
It is something build into your genetics by years of evolutionary mechanisms. It is done unconciously by your nervous system....you have no concious control of it.
BUT THERE IS A REASON WHY IT IS THERE.
When you get that intense feeling your stomach...your body is making your optimally and physiologically aroused and making you able to cope with a situation.
BUT, then comes your stupid LOGICAL brain ( which is the only difference seperating us from animals). And your brain interprets this as lack of your skills to cope with the demand presented to you.
You see, when a squrell walks on the telephone wires....it is ALWAYS easily able to get through.
WHY?
When a magician walks on the rope from one building to another...he is able to successfuly do something that you cant even imagine having the balls to do!!
WHY?
When Michael Jordan is playing in the 7TH game in the NBA FINALS with 3 seconds left....he makes the shot, but if you were in that situation, you would probabely **** up unless you are lucky.
WHY?
---------
The truth of the matter is that performing such extremes under pressure is state based.
When you are performing something, it is merely your nerons ( millions and milloins of them) releasing neurotransmitters like Acetocholine and dopamine onto the brain.
That is how your thoughts are formed... by merely making those neuron connections vaster and stronger...hence releasing more chemicals. That is how a student gets 100 on an exam....how an engineer designs an airplane.
That is why when you first drive a car...you are conciously aware of your every act ( am I pressing on the gas too much....do I look around enough to watch out for cars etc etc).
Because when you are a beginner in eveything, you dont have enough neroal connections, hence you must exert concious effort in figuring things out and releasing those chemicals.
When you perform something over and over again, it is what is called CYCLE OF INTERNALIZATION. you have formed such neural junctoins that when the thought appears in your brain....your neruons automatically link with other ones and gives you the expected performance. This is the foundation to einstein's genius....alexander's greats bravery and etc.
BUT...AND THIS IS A BIG BUT....
when you are performing under pressure...you must not use your celebral cortex...you must put away your logical and training brain aside....and rely on your trusing unconcious brain.
You must solely rely on your automatic autopilot responses that have formed as a result of you performing the action/behaviour etc.
This is exactly why micharl Jordan is so successful taking those shots, why the magician and squarel have no trouble crossing the thin wire.
THEY ARE NOT THINKING ABOUT ANYTHING....they are PERFORMING.
Same is true in social dynamics....in social interactions, if you are conciously thinking about your actions and what to say next etc....you will be incongruent and the the observers will pick up on this subconciously.
That is why you should always exercise your brain with visualization and self talk and other mechanisms to strengthen those neuron connections...and when it comes time to action....SHUT THEM ALL OFF....AND PERFORM.
-K.G.H
THIS IS THE WRONG INTERPRETATION. Feeling that way is a GOOD THING.
As Mystery and TylerDurden have mentioned....you are never going to get rid of your approach/performance under pressure anxiety.
It is something build into your genetics by years of evolutionary mechanisms. It is done unconciously by your nervous system....you have no concious control of it.
BUT THERE IS A REASON WHY IT IS THERE.
When you get that intense feeling your stomach...your body is making your optimally and physiologically aroused and making you able to cope with a situation.
BUT, then comes your stupid LOGICAL brain ( which is the only difference seperating us from animals). And your brain interprets this as lack of your skills to cope with the demand presented to you.
You see, when a squrell walks on the telephone wires....it is ALWAYS easily able to get through.
WHY?
When a magician walks on the rope from one building to another...he is able to successfuly do something that you cant even imagine having the balls to do!!
WHY?
When Michael Jordan is playing in the 7TH game in the NBA FINALS with 3 seconds left....he makes the shot, but if you were in that situation, you would probabely **** up unless you are lucky.
WHY?
---------
The truth of the matter is that performing such extremes under pressure is state based.
When you are performing something, it is merely your nerons ( millions and milloins of them) releasing neurotransmitters like Acetocholine and dopamine onto the brain.
That is how your thoughts are formed... by merely making those neuron connections vaster and stronger...hence releasing more chemicals. That is how a student gets 100 on an exam....how an engineer designs an airplane.
That is why when you first drive a car...you are conciously aware of your every act ( am I pressing on the gas too much....do I look around enough to watch out for cars etc etc).
Because when you are a beginner in eveything, you dont have enough neroal connections, hence you must exert concious effort in figuring things out and releasing those chemicals.
When you perform something over and over again, it is what is called CYCLE OF INTERNALIZATION. you have formed such neural junctoins that when the thought appears in your brain....your neruons automatically link with other ones and gives you the expected performance. This is the foundation to einstein's genius....alexander's greats bravery and etc.
BUT...AND THIS IS A BIG BUT....
when you are performing under pressure...you must not use your celebral cortex...you must put away your logical and training brain aside....and rely on your trusing unconcious brain.
You must solely rely on your automatic autopilot responses that have formed as a result of you performing the action/behaviour etc.
This is exactly why micharl Jordan is so successful taking those shots, why the magician and squarel have no trouble crossing the thin wire.
THEY ARE NOT THINKING ABOUT ANYTHING....they are PERFORMING.
Same is true in social dynamics....in social interactions, if you are conciously thinking about your actions and what to say next etc....you will be incongruent and the the observers will pick up on this subconciously.
That is why you should always exercise your brain with visualization and self talk and other mechanisms to strengthen those neuron connections...and when it comes time to action....SHUT THEM ALL OFF....AND PERFORM.
-K.G.H
