Overcoming Performance Anxiety
Hey there fellow athletes! 👋🏼
I know firsthand how tough it can be to manage performance anxiety but trust me, you're not alone. Many elite athletes (including myself) have struggled with performance anxiety at some point in their athletic and personal lives. 😓
The week leading up to my first 70.3 Ironman race, I was beyond anxious. It’s funny how you can have so many tools and yet performance anxiety can still creep up on you! The day before my ocean swim (my worst fear in life might I add) I was standing on the beach with my husband just watching the waves crash up on the beach. Austin made a comment on how he wished he could be surfing those, which made me realize even more so just how big they actually were and how I would have to SWIM in them 😳
I took a few deep breaths and began to calm my heart rate and breathing, knowing that once I did that my thoughts would follow. I started to focus on how beautiful the water was, how many hours of training I had put in, and how grateful I was to have Austin at this amazing event supporting me. Once we focus our brain on what’s going RIGHT vs what’s going WRONG, we transform our thoughts and our response to stress. So cool right?
The good news is that there are so many great strategies you can use to manage your anxiety and perform at your best. I've put together a free checklist for high performers to manage anxiety, which you can download right now. 💻
In the checklist, you'll find practical tips and techniques that have helped me and many other athletes overcome performance anxiety. You'll learn about visualization, deep breathing, positive self-talk, and other strategies that you can use to calm your nerves and stay focused. 🧘♀️
How does mindfulness help athletes?
Mindfulness is the strong mental edge athletes and high performers need to go that extra mile. So how does mindfulness actually help athletes and high performers? In action, mindfulness is focusing on slowing your breath, your heart rate and your thoughts so that you can create clarity between your emotional and rational brain. When we get anxious, we get emotional and when we engage our rational brain, we can think more clearly and make better decisions. What athlete doesn’t want that? The difference between reaching your goals and coming up short can be a split-second lapse of focus, confidence, and/or performance anxiety getting the best of you. 🙅🏻♀️
There is a science behind meditation
When we are immersed in the present moment and in a state of flow, we perform our best. Mindfulness and meditation provide us with a tangible and scientifically proven way to focus our thoughts and decrease the “head trash” that often comes with high-pressure situations. With mindfulness training, you can train your mind to be as prepared for competition as your body is. 💪🏼
Why Elite Athletes Choose Mindfulness
Mindfulness helps us learn how to
focus more effectively,
decrease anxiety and stress,
regulate emotions,
be more present and
increase your ability to respond and react quickly in the moment.
This is why mindfulness and meditation have become popular with elite athletes such as Lebron James, Russell Wilson, Kerri Walsh and Michael Phelps. 🙌🏼
Identify when you need help with performance anxiety
Realizing your performance anxiety is slowing you down and asking for help is a sign of strength, not weakness. If your anxiety is interfering with your performance or your quality of life, don't hesitate to talk to a mental health professional who specializes in working with athletes. They can provide you with personalized strategies and support to help you manage your anxiety and perform at your best. 🤝
So if you're ready to take control of your performance anxiety and reach your full potential, download my free checklist now. Let's do this! 👏🏽
Until next time…Be Well & Stay Mindful 🌿
Kerri, Athlete+Therapist+Mindset Coach
