Ger Post: Author of ‘Nerves of Steel’ explains how to succeed under pressure according to science

Ger Post stood in front of a crowd of scientists immersed in his very own public speaking nightmare. His presentation was the final hurdle to clear for a master’s degree in neuroscience, and sharing his findings with esteemed experts in the field after seven months of exhaustive research should have been a highlight, but instead he choked. Heart racing, he found himself mumbling, sweating, gasping for air and blanking on learnt-by-heart facts when questions came in from the audience. “I completely bombed the presentation,” Post tells The Sunday Times. “I later learnt that my supervisor told other researchers that my presentation was an example of how not to present your findings.” What is choking? Freezing and under-performing when it matters most is commonly known as choking. It’s a slang term for when people mentally crumble in difficult or competitive situations. It’s well known in the world of sport — and it’s not hard to understand why — but it happens day to day to the rest of us, too. From worrying about exams to juggling the needs of a family, as the pressure rises people who perform well under normal circumstances can struggle to cope with the demands of the crucial moment. Post, a critical thinking expert at the University of Melbourne, had spent hours preparing for that presentation by finessing slides, tweaking graphs and finding the perfect fonts, and it wasn’t as if he didn’t know what he needed to say. In his latest book, Nerves of Steel, Post hunts for concrete answers. He draws on the experiences of elite athletes, such as Jamaican sprint legend Usain Bolt, and delves deep into the science to determine why it is that some people’s ability to handle pressure in high-stakes moments is exemplary, while others fall apart. And, after combining insights from statistics, philosophy and neuropsychology, what he ultimately discovers is that famous clutch performances do not lie in Cristiano Ronaldo’s “iron will”, the German soccer team’s “winning mentality” or Matildas’ goalie Mackenzie Arnold’s “self-belief.” As Post points out, feeling “confident” and “powerful,” or “brave” and “courageous” is frequently cited, by experts and media commentators alike, as the reasons some people nail it in high-stakes moments. Conversely, those who choke are often described as “lacking courage” or “snowflakes.” However, the problem with focusing on an athlete’s apparent lack of character means “important information is missed about the circumstances that contributed to the choke,” Post explains. Instead, he thinks the athletes who wow us and take us to the edge of our seats in the decisive moment have simply learned how to manage adversity. “If you want to perform under pressure, you need to practice with pressure,” Post says, “but it is surprising how quickly this gets forgotten. “Instead, people start talking about feelings and thinking positively, and about getting into the zone or in the flow, to counter biological and psychological responses to big moments.” However, he believes pressurised training could play a much bigger role. Tennis — a game of margins — provides countless examples of how this can work. Robert Lansdorp, who coached Maria Sharapova and Pete Sampras, deployed all manner of demanding drills including the “20 at the baseline” exercise. He would make his players hit 20 consecutive shots within the lines — and if there were any misses they had to start over — to train them for accuracy, consistency and mental fortitude. “That also combined tiredness, because they would get really tired between shot 15 and 16, and it also dealt with distraction and frustration because it is a very frustrating exercise,” says Post, who has taught workshops in critical thinking to elite sports coaches in the Netherlands and Australia,. “Having people try to distract you while you are trying to take a shot or doing anything, like making a presentation, is very important.” Tiger Woods’ father, Earl, was also known for his ruthless training tactics. He would jingle coins in his pocket while he stood over putts, suddenly start laughing, hurl balls through his son’s line of sight and even shout as he went into his backswing. Woods, who dominated the world of golf, has gone on to use some similar techniques with his own son, Charlie. Whether it’s during a job interview, a date, an exam, or public speaking, Post says anyone can choke and the strategies that have proven effective in sport are likely to be just as helpful in other situations. “If you go outside of sport, you have dress rehearsals in theatre and comedy where they practice their skills in many different situations, especially in the situations that make it difficult because it is one thing to make a joke or perform in front of a few people and quite another to do that on a stage in front of 500 people,” he says. “They have to get used to that before the big show. “If you have to make a presentation at the end of the day, you would make sure the time you practice your presentation is also at the end of the day when you are likely to be tired, to resemble what you will be doing on the day. “This is what people in the military do — they practice when they are tired. They drop you in locations when you are fatigued and you have to survive for 24 hours before making that one shot. “If studying for an exam, you would create exam conditions that are as real as possible by including things like time pressure.” Why we choke under pressure There are various theories about why choking happens. Shifting to a conscious mode of thinking and overthinking things instead of working on autopilot after all those hours of training is one. A breakdown in the connection between brain regions responsible for movement and reward processing is another. Naturally, performance anxiety plays a major role. But Post rejects the belief that “positive thinking” enhances outcomes. He also scoffs at the widely-held view that performing well under pressure relies on innate mental toughness or confidence. Nor is he a fan of techniques like getting into the flow, meditation, power poses and “whatever else the multimillion-dollar anti-stress industry wants to sell us.” “These one-size-fits-all solutions for stress are seldom useful,” Post notes in his book. “In fact, they often distract from what really makes someone perform better under pressure — facing the difficulties of important moments in training. “There is less headspace available in a high-pressure moment to do something extra like getting into a flow. “Flow state might happen but that would come after the performance. “It also misses an important point: someone can still perform when their heart rate goes up, particularly if they have practised in similar circumstances.” In fact, the big aha to take from all the studies he looked at was that succeeding under pressure is a learnable skill that can be achieved with practice. “I should have practised my presentation out loud, in front of other people, but I didn’t and I blew it so now I always make sure I do that,” he laughed. Did you know? A clutch moment is a high-pressure situation that could determine the outcome of a game, and some athletes seem to shift into their highest gear in these moments. Think Matildas goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold, golfer Tiger Woods, footballers Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, and basketballers LeBron James and Michael Jordan. A choke is decreased performance in response to higher stakes than normal. You will have seen this in penalty failures. Technically players know how to do it. Whether they can score when thousands are watching and their team’s victory depends on it, is another matter. Six ways to succeed under pressure Fatigue Train under increased physical or mental fatigue. For example, some athletes take a free-throw directly following a high-intensity physical exercise, and snipers have to survive 24 hours in hostile areas before taking aim. Dress rehearsal Narrow the gap between practice and reality by doing a dress rehearsal. Some soccer teams practice penalty shootouts by inviting a crowd and having players make the lone, long walk from the middle of the pitch to the penalty spot (as they do in real shootouts), and comedians practice their jokes in front of smaller crowds during try-outs. Stronger competition Practice with people or teams who are more accomplished. For example, when young talents train with athletes above their age grade. Forfeits and rewards Put a bet on a shot in training: missing means, for instance, doing 20 push-ups, running two laps around the park, doing the dishes. Some professional golf players put money on making shots in training. Distractions Have someone distract you in practice. Tiger Woods would distract his son from making a shot by throwing golf balls towards him. Unfairness Try to trigger a sense of injustice or grievance in training. The former coach of the Dutch women’s soccer team, Sarina Wiegman, deliberately made bad calls when refereeing practice games to frustrate her players.

Ger Post: Author of ‘Nerves of Steel’ explains how to succeed under pressure according to science

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