How to End Sports Performance Anxiety and Play at Your Peak
Sports performance anxiety is a condition that affects millions of athletes across all kinds of playing fields.
It disrupts the peak performance of players all the way from seasoned professionals to the youngest of children.
If you have ever felt the anxious heartbeats, the nervous stomach, or flinching muscles of performance anxiety, than cheer up, you are not alone.
The good news is that you can turn your sport's anxiety into pure power, and unleash your true potential.
Remember how great it feels to come to your game filled with excitement, to play at your peak and win a tough contest? That's what you play for - the joy of winning! In fact, the tougher the challenge, the sweeter the victory.
Let's look at the worst thing to do when nervous verses the best: The worst way to handle a feeling of athletic jitters is what I call the...
"Oh-Crap-Not-Now!" mistake This is also known as "Fearing the Fear.
" If you have any memory of feeling anxious and losing because of it, than the next time you feel a wash of nerves, your reaction is to almost freak out.
(usually subconsciously) I've seen athletes so angry at the emotion itself, that instead of having fun, they are fighting their own bodies thinking, "Oh crap, not here, not now, not this again.
" Then they go on to wonder what it means as in, "Am I going to suck? What's wrong with me?" This hurts their performance which results in more fears like, "What are people thinking of me now?" That is not the empowerment you are looking for, as it totally distracts you from focusing on the perfect present moment, and competing in a state of flow.
What to do instead: Instead of giving power to your fears, the big idea is to recognize that the fear means nothing! It is simply a conditioned response to some data.
It means you have a habit that was instilled before you knew you had a choice in the matter.
Breathe! Take a deep breath - and I mean deep.
Breathe in to the count of four, hold it to the count of four, exhale to the count of four, and hold that exhale.
That alone will slow your heartbeat.
These next steps can all be spoken in one breath: 1.
-Acknowledge the distressing emotion 2.
-Offer love and acceptance anyway 3.
-Create an empowering choice So, you relax with a breath, and stand like a winner and say to yourself, "Even though I hate this anxiety, I love and accept myself anyway, and I choose to have fun and play like a pro.
" As you do this through a couple of breaths, you will find the anxiety disappears, and you are left with an image of yourself playing at your peak.
To make this stress-busting exercise even more effective, you may want to check out the hottest peak performance tool right now for overcoming sports anxiety
It disrupts the peak performance of players all the way from seasoned professionals to the youngest of children.
If you have ever felt the anxious heartbeats, the nervous stomach, or flinching muscles of performance anxiety, than cheer up, you are not alone.
The good news is that you can turn your sport's anxiety into pure power, and unleash your true potential.
Remember how great it feels to come to your game filled with excitement, to play at your peak and win a tough contest? That's what you play for - the joy of winning! In fact, the tougher the challenge, the sweeter the victory.
Let's look at the worst thing to do when nervous verses the best: The worst way to handle a feeling of athletic jitters is what I call the...
"Oh-Crap-Not-Now!" mistake This is also known as "Fearing the Fear.
" If you have any memory of feeling anxious and losing because of it, than the next time you feel a wash of nerves, your reaction is to almost freak out.
(usually subconsciously) I've seen athletes so angry at the emotion itself, that instead of having fun, they are fighting their own bodies thinking, "Oh crap, not here, not now, not this again.
" Then they go on to wonder what it means as in, "Am I going to suck? What's wrong with me?" This hurts their performance which results in more fears like, "What are people thinking of me now?" That is not the empowerment you are looking for, as it totally distracts you from focusing on the perfect present moment, and competing in a state of flow.
What to do instead: Instead of giving power to your fears, the big idea is to recognize that the fear means nothing! It is simply a conditioned response to some data.
It means you have a habit that was instilled before you knew you had a choice in the matter.
Breathe! Take a deep breath - and I mean deep.
Breathe in to the count of four, hold it to the count of four, exhale to the count of four, and hold that exhale.
That alone will slow your heartbeat.
These next steps can all be spoken in one breath: 1.
-Acknowledge the distressing emotion 2.
-Offer love and acceptance anyway 3.
-Create an empowering choice So, you relax with a breath, and stand like a winner and say to yourself, "Even though I hate this anxiety, I love and accept myself anyway, and I choose to have fun and play like a pro.
" As you do this through a couple of breaths, you will find the anxiety disappears, and you are left with an image of yourself playing at your peak.
To make this stress-busting exercise even more effective, you may want to check out the hottest peak performance tool right now for overcoming sports anxiety
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