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Your favorite athlete
closes in for a victorious win.
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the crowd holds its breath,
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and, at the crucial moment,
she misses the shot.
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That competitor just experienced
the phenomenon known as choking,
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where despite months,
even years, of practice,
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a person fails right when it matters most.
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Choking is common in sports,
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where performance often occurs
under intense pressure
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and depends on key moments.
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And yet, performance anxiety
also haunts public speakers,
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contestants in spelling bees,
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and even world-famous musicians.
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Most people intuitively
blame it on their nerves,
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but, why does being nervous
undermine expert performance?
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There are two sets of theories,
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which both say that primarily, choking
under pressure boils down to focus.
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First, there are the distraction theories.
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These suggest that performance suffers
when the mind is preoccupied
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with worries, doubts, or fears,
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instead of focusing its attention
on performing the task at hand.
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When relevant and irrelevant thoughts
compete for the same attention,
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something has to give.
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The brain can only process
so much information at once.
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Tasks that challenge working memory,
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the mental “scratch pad” we use
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to temporarily store phone numbers
and grocery lists,
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are especially vulnerable to pressure.
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In a 2004 study,
a group of university students
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were asked to perform math problems,
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some easy, others more complex
and memory-intensive.
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Half the students completed both problem
types with nothing at stake,
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while the others completed them
when calm and under pressure.
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While everyone did well
on the easy problems,
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those who were stressed
performed worse
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on the more difficult,
memory-intensive tasks.
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Explicit monitoring theories make up
the second group of explanations
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for choking under pressure.
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They’re concerned with how pressure
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can cause people to over-analyze
the task at hand.
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Here, the logic goes that
once a skill becomes automatic,
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thinking about its precise mechanics
interferes with your ability to do it.
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Tasks we do unconsciously seem to be
most vulnerable to this kind of choking.
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A study on competitive golfers compared
their performance
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when instructed to simply focus on
putting as accurately as possible,
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versus when they were primed
to be acutely aware
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of the mechanics of their putting stroke.
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Golfers usually perform
this action subconsciously,
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so those who suddenly tuned in
to the precise details of their own moves
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also became worse
at making accurate shots.
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Choking may not inevitable
for everyone though.
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Research suggests that some are
more susceptible than others,
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especially those who are self-conscious,
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anxious,
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and afraid of being judged
negatively by others.
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So, how can we avoid choking
when it really counts?
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First, it helps to practice
under stressful conditions.
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In a study on expert dart players,
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researchers found that those
who hadn’t practiced under stress
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performed worse when anxious,
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compared to those who had
become accustomed to pressure.
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Secondly, many performers extol the
virtues of a pre-performance routine,
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whether it’s taking a few deep breaths,
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repeating a cue word,
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or doing a rhythmic sequence of movements.
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Studies on golfing, bowling,
and water polo
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find that short rituals can lead
to more consistent
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and accurate performance under pressure.
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And thirdly, researchers have shown
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that having an external focus
on the ultimate goal
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works better than an internal focus,
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where someone is tuned into the mechanics
of what they’re doing.
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A study of experienced golfers revealed
that those who hit chip shots
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while focused on the flight of the ball
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performed significantly better than those
who focused on the motion of their arms.
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So, perhaps we can modify
that age-old saying:
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Practice,
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under pressure,
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with focus,
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and with that glorious end-goal in sight,
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makes perfect.