Elite athletes are rarely defined on their skill set alone, but rather by the combination of physical and mental capabilities that allow them to thrive when the stakes are highest. Winning teams compete at the top of their game when they are both physically and mentally prepared.
They achieve high levels of composure and confidence through situational practice.
Their ability to focus on executing the task at hand distinguishes champions from the rest. This is what separates champions from their competitors !
People perceived as the most likely to succeed might also be the most likely to crumble under pressure.
A new study finds that individuals with high working-memory capacity, which normally allows them to excel, crack under pressure and do worse on simple exams than when allowed to work with no constraints. The
pressure causes verbal worries, like 'Oh no, I can't screw up'. These thoughts reside in the working memory and that takes up space that would otherwise be pondering the task at hand.When you begin to worry, you are in trouble. People with lower working-memory capacities are not using that capacity to begin with, so they're not affected by pressure.
Working memory, also known as short-term memory, holds information that is relevant to performance and ensures task focus. It's what allows us to remember and retrieve information from an early step of a long task, such as long-division math.
In math problems students have to perform subtraction and division, and if you're trying to hold information in your memory and you start worrying about performance, then you can't use your entire mental capacity to do the math.One thing as a TEST TAKER you need to learn is that choking in a situation does not mean that you should avoid taking on a high-pressure situation in the future. Instead,
you need to put yourself in lots of high-pressure situations to practice overcoming the negative consequences of stress.The annuls of sports are filled with examples of heavily favored teams cracking under pressure, not because of their skills, but because of their inability to stay focused on a common goal.
The combination of physical skills and mental ability required in golf make it a difficult game to win. A golfer who lacks the ability to ignore competitors' scores, tune out the crowd and focus on execution is destined to fail. Jean Van de Velde famously blew a three-stroke lead on the final hole of the 1999 British Open because of a series of poor shots and bad decisions. Van de Velde later admitted he had trouble falling asleep the night before. He will always be remembered, not for his exceptional play, but for his heartbreaking loss in a 4-hole playoff to Paul Lawrie.
Early in his career, Tiger Woods established an assassin-like reputation as a great closer. His ability to thrive under pressure and get better as a tournament progressed added to his legend. Tiger's record is 14-1 when entering the final round of a major with at least a share of the lead. His recent struggles on the golf course likely are caused as much by his well documented off-field distractions as his injuries. At this year's Masters in Augusta, Tiger demonstrated frustration by screaming and tossing his club after hitting poor shots—obviously losing composure, confidence and focus.
Mike Tyson was undefeated and considered the "Baddest Man on the Planet" in 1990 when he fought Buster Douglas in Japan for the Heavyweight championship. Just three weeks before the title fight, Douglas’s mother died. Instead of losing focus, he utilized his mother’s death as a source of motivation. Though few gave him a chance of winning, Douglas stepped into the ring in top condition and mentally prepared for battle. Tyson, meanwhile, had been distracted by nightlife and did not train seriously enough to beat a determined opponent. In short, he lost focus.
The key to closing the deal is not letting distractions take hold of your performance. You should prepare yourself so well that you have total confidence in your ability to execute. Winning teams are able to block out crowd noise, ignore the pressure of the situation, and focus on executing the task at hand. They perform under pressure because their focus intensifies, just as drivers concentrate more intensely while driving on a stormy night. Human performance is best when the mind and body are in sync.
For any individual to flourish in challenging situations, they must change a stressful situation into a positive one. There are a number of key influences that determine outcomes, including the amount of practice, confidence, the ability to control tense emotions and stay focused in body and mind.All the best & wish better Stress/Pressure management to all future test takers
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[i](Source: By Jed Hughes, the leader of the executive search firm's Global Sports Practice & By Danielle Elliot of PSMAG.
Further reading:
1. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-n ... 43/?no-ist
2. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/th ... etes-choke)