Under Pressure?

Wouldn't everyone want to learn a simple 10 minute technique that is backed up by science that can dramatically improve your performance under pressure?

I know I do.

Many people get very anxious before stressful situations like exams; some get so bad they choke under the pressure. I will be writing more about Sian Beilock's brand new book CHOKE in detail soon.

Meanwhile the Human Performance Lab in Chicago where Dr Sian Beilock works conducted experiments to test a strategy to help people who suffer from exam anxiety that could help us all. The learnings from this experiment could be useful to both Therapists and Coaches but also to individuals whose performance suffers due to extreme anxiety.

As an NLP trained Life Coach and Cognitive Hypnotherapist I am very interested in improving clients’ performance and “modelling excellence” in a wide range of stressful situations.

This recent experiment in Chicago was concerned with people who should perform well but don’t end up giving their best. Anxiety can be a dreadful negative spiral so a way of stopping it early would be great.

I became more curious after hearing a news story about strategies for coping with anxiety. It was on BBC World Service “Science in Action” programme at 4:30am this morning (available for 30 days on podcast).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/scia

The University of Chicago “Human Performance Lab” experiment was about how to perform better under pressure. In general the Lab investigates “the cognitive and neural substrates governing the learning and performance of complex cognitive skills (e.g., math problem solving) and complex sensor motor skills (e.g., golf putting).” In plain English they study peformance in a scientifiic setting!

Simply put, one suggestion is to write down your worries before you enter the stressful situation. The Psychologists discovered that writing down worries for 10 minutes before can significantly increase performance in a stressful situation, like exams. The analogy is that it’s a bit like downloading your worries, prior to a very stressful situation so they don’t pop up and disrupt performance. The results suggested that student’s performance increases significantly.

The story is about 25 mins into the podcast and you can skip to the end. http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/scia Jan 14.

One interesting thing about this strategy is that you can do it on your own without visiting a therapist. Alternatively if stress and panic attacks seriously affect you then please get in touch with me or another qualified therapist.

During January 2011 I am offering all clients their first 45 min session FREE.

Visit http://patricklilley.com/ and use the contact me form to introduce yourself and a few words about what is on your mind. We can talk either face to face at my practices in Old Street or Paddington in cental London or on the phone or online via SKYPE if that is more convenient.

For more info on the Human Performance Lab visit

http://hpl.uchicago.edu/Home/Home.html