The Mental trick to performing under pressure

A number of years ago I was working with Arvind Parmar and he did extremely well.

In 1999 he qualified for Wimbledon. In the first round he had to play the number 16 seed, Albert Costa who went on to win the French Open.

Arvind was playing extremely well and was very confident. He had beaten three good players in qualifying. However, this was a step up and a very tough match to open a Wimbledon career.

He had seemed remarkably relaxed all day, everything going smoothly with his preparation.

The match was called and while we were walking to the court through all the crowds, security guards surrounding us, I noticed that the blood had drained from his face and nerves had struck in a big way. I knew he was in trouble.

It suddenly had hit him, playing Wimbledon for the first time against a seed on a show court, new territory on so many fronts. 

I stopped him and said firmly and confidently: 

"Look at me - Arvind, five sets take a long time. At some point you will play well, so no matter how badly you start, don't worry about it because you'll find your rhythm and play well. If the start is terrible, remember it'll be fine." 

I never imagined it would be as bad as it was, but he was 6-0, 3-0 down in about 30 minutes. 

Suddenly he hit a return backhand winner down the line, and he visibly relaxed, ended up breaking serve, holding serve, broke again, and ended up winning the match in four sets. 

What I'd say is as a leader, as a coach, when you have somebody who is in a really tough situation and very nervous, it is important to give them something to focus on and a way to ride out any storm. 

Nothing more than one short instruction will work because their minds are in a confused, in a panicked state where it is hard to penetrate, so do something to snap them into a place where they can hear you and then give them just one thing to think about. 

He came off that court, and he said: "The only thing I was thinking when I was playing so badly is at some point I was going to play well." He hung on to that and once he felt some rhythm he was away. 

Summary - Be quick and decisive with One Instruction 

Give people one thing to think about when they're extremely nervous and under pressure. Something is better than nothing! If it's the right thing, they are given a lifeline and can get amazing results. 

Written by David Sammel