Do you ever get anxious before you play a big game and can’t seem to deal with the pressure? 🤔
Well, you’re not alone…
Sports are literally designed that way!
Sports are filled with competition which usually create stress, anxiety and an increased arousal.
But if you want to reach the highest level, you need to change this. Because at the higher levels, pressure on you will be much bigger!
There is more money involved, so competition will be more important and more is expected of you which brings more responsibility and pressure 😅
This is the reason why, at the elite level, the thing that often separates the best from the rest isn’t skill but instead their ability to cope with and manage pressure and anxiety.
… And here’s exactly how you can do that 👇
Step 1: Ask yourself what you fear
Understanding what it is that you actually fear will give you the reason why you become too anxious.
To get to the actual root of the problem, we can use a technique called the “downward arrow”.
Ask yourself these questions:
What do you fear? - for example: making mistakes
What does this mean about you? - for example: your coach won’t play you
What does this mean about you? - for example: you won’t achieve your goals
What does this mean about you? - for example: I’m a failure
As you can see, by asking yourself what these things mean you eventually uncover negative core beliefs about yourself that you need to address 🤷♂️
Step 2: See anxiety as excitement
Being nervous means your nervous system is more active which is your body’s way of helping you out when doing something important.
The important thing is how you view this (a.k.a your psychological appraisal of the situation)!
When this happens, many people go: “Oh, I’m freaking out. This is not natural and really bad”. This will usually lead to a poor performance 📉
The biology for both nervousness and excitement is the same…
So instead, tell yourself that this feeling means you are excited; “This is something natural which means this is important to me and my body is helping me to be great. Let’s see how great I can be” 🤩
Remember, players like Messi, Ronaldo and Haaland all say they get nervous before games and that it helps them perform at their best.
Step 3: Use relaxation techniques
In order to calm down your nerves, we need to use different relaxation techniques to get into what’s called an optimal state of arousal.
You are most likely to perform at your peak at an optimal level of arousal!
The problem is that most players have too high levels of arousal, which is why you need mental tools to lower it 🧠
This is where tools like breathing techniques, visualization, relaxation techniques, and many more all become super important.
These are tools we all teach in the Train To Elite Mentality Blueprint, as well as how you can get rid of your negative core beliefs that are holding you back.
If you are a serious footballer who wants to take their game to the next level, then click here 👈
Stay strong,
Train To Elite
