Nerves or anxiety before a big race are normal. Even the best athletes in the world get anxious at times! The problem isn’t anxiety itself but rather how we experience it, respond to it, and the impairment that can follow. Athletes who struggle with managing anxiety may have a hard time functioning or performing during training and competitions. If this feels familiar – you are not alone! Check out Performance Anxiety: How it Helps and Hurts and Anxiety and Athletic Performance: Coaching the Swimmer Behind the Blocks for refreshers on what performance anxiety is and consider the following Do’s and Don’ts:
1) (Don’t) Dwell on your mistakes – It can be easy to ruminate on what went wrong, but that’s not usually a helpful strategy to better prepare for the next moment. Ruminating on what went wrong shifts our focus from the present to the past (or future) and oftentimes focuses on what’s outside our control. For example, a swimmer stuck dwelling on a disappointing previous race might approach their next race worrying about if they’ll struggle to get off the blocks quick enough or worrying about whether they’ll make their time cut. We cannot go back in time to change the outcome—we can only focus on what’s happening in the present moment or focus on how to prepare for what’s upcoming. Noticing what’s happening in the present moment without judgment is called mindfulness 1. Strengthening your ability to be mindful can help you notice when you’re stuck dwelling and adjust to something different—which may reduce the impact of performance anxiety 5, 10. The response after a mistake is oftentimes more important than the mistake itself. Instead of dwelling on what went wrong, try to instead notice what is happening (non-judgmentally), validating the emotion that comes with it and focusing on your response. For instance: you might notice yourself replaying your mistake over in your brain and instead of spiraling that thought, try shifting your thought process to “It makes sense to feel upset that I didn’t get off the blocks quick enough (validation). During my next race I’m going to focus on staying loose, focused, and trying my best (response to mistake).”
2) (Don’t) Use unhelpful self-talk – Self-talk is exactly what it sounds like; our own internal dialogue. In sport, this might be what athletes say to themselves before, during, or after performing a skill 2. Self-talk can be broken down into three parts: whether the message feels positive or negative, how we’re speaking to ourselves, and the focus of the message 8, 9. Self-talk messages can focus on instructions/technique/process (ex: push hard off the blocks), emotional expression (ex: that sucked), and/or motivational (ex: I can do this). The key question to ask yourself when you start to notice your self-talk is whether it feels helpful or harmful to your performance. Pro-tip: self-talk doesn’t have to be “positive” for it to feel helpful 4; find what works for you! Focus on bringing to your attention what kind of self-talk shows up most often for you, assessing whether it feels helpful to your performance, and modifying whatever doesn’t feel helpful. Self-talk can be an incredible contributing factor to how we experience life, sports, and performance, so it is essential that we find ways to speak to ourselves in ways that feel helpful instead of harmful.
1) (Do) Focus on your breathing – Deep, intentional breathing (Diaphragmatic (belly) breathing) can be another way to regulate our bodies and manage stress or anxiety. Deep breathing is thought to activate the parasympathetic nervous system (aka “rest and digest”), which signals safety to our body. This can lead to decreased cortisol, slower heart rate and muscle relaxation7 – all of which can help improve performance and reduce the impact of performance anxiety. Pairing focused breathing with helpful self-talk can strengthen any pre-performance, mid-performance, and post-performance routines.
2) (Do) Focus on controllables – Some athletes get stuck focusing too much on the goals or outcomes, which can expend valuable mental energy and make performance anxiety worse 3. Instead, focus on preparing what you can control – your warmup, your pre-race routines, your mindset, your effort, your technique, your breathing, etc., and deal with the rest later. For example, an athlete may want to swim a personal best at their next meet; however, only focusing on that goal may not actually be helpful. Instead, the athlete may want to ask themselves, “how do I reach that goal” and focus on the concrete, controllable, steps to get there. Whether or not they reach their goal is a different story, but focusing on the controllables will likely take the pressure off performance enough to give the athlete a chance to perform how they want.
3) (Do) Visualize success and mistake recovery – Visualization or mental imagery is a technique that uses imagination to work towards a goal 2. The goal is to mentally create and rehearse specific, detailed, and vivid mental pictures (using all the senses) of sport related actions/skills 2. Some athletes use visualization to imagine themselves performing well – mentally rehearsing themselves coming off the blocks quickly and finding a rhythm in the water. For others, they imagine themselves making a mistake or experiencing a feared outcome and what their response will be, like having your goggles fly off during the entry and how they plan to finish the race. Many athletes use a combination of both! Either way, using visualization can build confidence and help athletes prepare for performance or strengthen their skills. Focusing on preparation and skill building can be a helpful strategy to focus on what’s in control versus what’s not 6.
The best performers in the world learn how to work with their anxiety, not against it. If you’d like to learn more about any of the tips mentioned above or would like one on one coaching on how best to manage your anxiety, try working with a sport psychologist
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