What if I fall over?! Managing Performance Anxiety to perform at your best.

One of the challenges I often support my clients with is performance anxiety. This can take many forms, but often involves a lot of unwanted thoughts cropping up at undesirable times. This ‘cognitive anxiety’ (our thoughts) is distinct from physiological (or ‘somatic’) anxiety (which may involve things like a racing heart or a feeling of butterflies in your tummy). Some clients experience both types, while others tend towards one or the other. In this short blog post, I am focussing primarily on cognitive anxiety, and specifically, “what if” thoughts.

“What if” thoughts are relatively common to come across in my work, and generally involve forward ‘time travel’. Some examples may be “what if I mess up?”, “what if I don’t win?” or, one that often arises, “what if I fall over?”. Whilst some of the thoughts that arise ahead of a performance (sporting or otherwise) may be quite rational, reasonable or based on past experiences, others can be extremely unlikely or entirely hypothetical. It can be important to identify and recognise this as it may affect the way we manage them.

A few tips as a starting point if you have noticed you tend to have “what if” thoughts that are holding you back:

1. What thoughts are you having and when are they arising? Noticing what is going on, when it is happening (and importantly any instances when it is not happening) is a very important first step. Keeping a thought diary can help with this.

2. What is happening as a result of the thoughts? E.g. are they spiralling into more thoughts? Are they taking your focus away from what you would prefer to be concentrating on (e.g. your warm up)? How are they making you feel?

3. Are the thoughts based on something that is likely or has happened previously, or are they unlikely/hypothetical?

Once you have a greater understanding of the thoughts, you are in a good position to begin to work on adjusting these and shifting your focus to actions that are likely to be more helpful. It is advisable to seek support from a professional to help you with this, as it can be tricky to work through alone, however some things you may want to consider are:

1. Thought stopping and countering – As you have identified the thoughts that may arise, you can begin to start to notice and ‘stop’ them. Pre-prepare (out of the situation, when you feel calm) an alternative phrase to say to yourself when each thought pops up. Choose something that you truly believe and that makes you feel good.

2. Identifying things within your control – Having identified the times when the thoughts are likely to occur, this enables you to think through what you would prefer to be focussing on in those moments. What things are within your control? Could you be warming up, listening to motivational music, reading through your training diary? What options do you have to help you re-focus and shift your attention?

3. Spending a little time thinking about what it would actually mean if the thought did happen – What if you did fall over? Ok it may not be what you would prefer, it may be frustrating, embarrassing, many things – but would it really be the complete disaster that your brain may be trying to tell you it would be? (Remember when Mo’ Farah fell in his race?).

4. Practicing calming your mind – I am very aware that not everyone is into ‘mindfulness’, but just spending a few minutes each day sitting quietly and focusing solely on your breathing can build up to be a very useful calming tool. At first you will notice your mind wander which is quite normal. Just notice and bring it back to your breath.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of suggestions and is intended to provide some general ideas and for interest purposes only. As I have previously noted, if you are struggling with performance anxiety in any form, this is something that can generally be worked through, so do please reach out for help, either from me or an alternative qualified professional.

Laura Rowe is an HCPC Registered and BPS Chartered Sport Psychologist supporting athletes of all levels, from professional, elite to competitive amateur and recreational. Online sessions enable her to work with athletes both around the UK and Worldwide. You can contact her here: www.laurarowe.co.uk/contact