This blog post is Part 2 of a 4-part blog series featuring the work of University of Chicago psychologist Sian Beilock.

Have you ever wondered why you choke sometimes even though you have executed the same athletic maneuver perfectly literally hundreds of times? You can find an answer to this question on a recent Brain Science Podcast. Ginger Campbell, MD, interviews University of Chicago psychologist Sian Beilock, PhD, author of the book Choke: What the Secrets of the Brain Reveal About Getting It Right When You Have To.

Beilock notes that a stressful situation for one person is not trying for another person. All you need for a suboptimal performance is a “perceived” stressor. “In essence, we often let our emotions get the best of us; we’re not good at attending to wheat we want to and ignoring others, which can lead us to … start perseverating on what our wrist is doing when we’re just trying to get the shot off in the important game,” says Beilock.

On the athletic field, we often perform with no thought of what we are actually doing. We are simply executing moves our body knows how to do innately thanks to years of practice and performance. Beilock believes that under duress, “people start paying too much attention—they exert too much of their explicit attention to what they’re doing; which actually disrupts their performance.”

Scientifically speaking, the brain’s prefrontal cortex is malfunctioning. This front part of our brain is “the seat of our thinking and reasoning ability.” When we are worried about situations, “this uses important resources—our ability to think, attend on the fly.”

Join us for Part 3 of this blog series to begin learning tips to prevent choking during your athletic performances.

This blog post is Part 1 of a 4-part blog series featuring the work of University of Chicago psychologist Sian Beilock.

A recent podcast on the website Brain Science Podcast contains a wealth of information on the phenomena of choking while under pressure. Ginger Campbell, MD, interviews University of Chicago psychologist Sian Beilock, Ph.D., author of the book Choke: What the Secrets of the Brain Reveal About Getting It Right When You Have To.

Beilock runs the University of Chicago’s Human Performance Lab, which she says allows her “to ask questions about how people get good at what they do.” She has studied the concept of choking, which she defines as “suboptimal performance—poorer performance than you would have in a non-stressful situation.”

Obviously this happens often in the sports arena. Beilock mimics a stressful playing field in the Human Performance Lab’s putting green. Very skilled golfers spend time practicing their putting both under no duress and under stressful situations at the lab. How does she add stress to the scene? “We offer them money for peak performance, we sometimes bring in their teammates to have them watch, or tell them their teammates will be coming in—and we try and induce some of the types of responses that these athletes might have in a real do-or-die situation.”

What happens when a player chokes? According to Beilock and her research, “emotions and anxieties compromise the brain systems that would otherwise be used to perform well.”

We have all fumbled the big play in a vital match or game. Join us for Part 2 of this blog series to learn the fascinating whys behind choking. As usual, the human body never fails to amaze us.

Confidence is an integral part of success. Without this trait, it is difficult to triumph on any type of playing field. Luckily, we can learn how to be confident (or more confident). While preparation builds confidence — try winning any competition without working on the physical, technical, and tactical parts of your sport — mental skills also create confidence.

In Prime Ski Racing: Triumph of the Racer’s Mind, author Jim Taylor, Ph.D., gives us numerous mental techniques to help us construct confidence. First, “walk the walk”. Successful competitors move with confidence: Head held high and chin tilted slightly up, eyes facing forward, shoulders are back and with a spring in their movements.

His next piece of advice — “talk the talk” — means making our self-thoughts and spoken words more positive. Dr. Taylor points out that it “takes 12 positive experiences to equal one negative experience.” So every time you tell yourself you are a loser, you need to tell yourself you are a winner 12 times to cancel out that one saying. Think about the most common negative statements you tell yourself and ponder when you are most likely to say them. Then write positive statements to counter-act these harsh words. Then next time you say or think a negative statement, say “stop” or “positive” to yourself and then say one of your positive thoughts.

Dr. Taylor also suggests creating a “Ski Racer’s Litany.” This is a list of self-statements that infuse your mind and body with confidence. Write a list for your own sport. Dr. Taylor’s list includes these lines: “I love to ski race; If I give my best effort, then I am a winner; I think and talk positively.” Say this list every morning and evening and before you train and compete. And say it with conviction. Even if you don’t feel each item on your list to be one hundred percent true, saying it like you mean it will help you start to believe every word.

Of course, you don’t have to try to build your confidence all by yourself. A sport psychologist can help you become a more confident athlete.