Performance Under Pressure. Ceri Evans
His perceptive insights, and ability to translate those insights into graphic format, showed me the way forward.
I remember the day when I asked him to produce a diagram that would map out the pathways to both effective and ineffective performance. I had an ‘aha!’ moment, and realised that the diagram should be colour-coded. The first RED–BLUE mind model was born.
The learning curve was steep: some of our early efforts were too complex and confusing, and others were too obvious and simplistic. (I figured it was about right when the criticism was evenly balanced between the two!)
But despite the false starts and cringe moments, two things rapidly became clear. First, people got the RED–BLUE mind model – quickly – and second, it really seemed to help them.
The implications of the model soon spread beyond the sports world. Countless individuals, teams and organisations were involved in ‘stress-testing’ the model not just on the pitch, but also in the classroom, on the stage, in the workplace, and in many other environments. Their insights have been invaluable. Every tool in this book has been used many times by many people who are serious about what they do and how they do it.
When people tell me they’ve used the model – with their children, with their partner, or for themselves – and seen a real shift in their performance, it feels hugely satisfying.
The RED–BLUE mind model draws on several different schools of thought, but in the end it has one intention: to help you gain emotional self-control to enable you to think clearly and act effectively when you need it most – when you’re performing under pressure.
The RED–BLUE mind model has taken me down an immensely rewarding path. It’s the central piece of a jigsaw in which many things I’m passionate about come together.
Here are 10 reasons why I strongly believe in the RED–BLUE mind model:
1 It works. It wouldn’t exist if people didn’t feel it had significantly helped them. (Nor would this book!)
2 I use it myself (all the time). My best and worst moments – as a parent, footballer, clinical director or speaker – all relate back to my use (or non-use) of the model in my own life.
3 It’s for all of us. I have seen the best in the world get mentally better – and worse – in different moments. I have also seen those in the mid-range, and those with everything against them, get mentally better – and worse – in different moments. Everyone is on the same RED–BLUE page.
4 It’s practical. I’ve met experts who know more about the theory behind the brain than I ever will, but just like the rest of us, they’re still held back in their performance when it comes to putting it into practice. No amount of theory can alter that.
5 It changes lives. It has encouraged people, time and again, to venture into more challenging areas, which have proved to be personally significant, and occasionally life-changing.
6 It provides balance. In every performance environment I’ve experienced there is an opportunity to be exceptional in the technical aspects of that field and the mental elements, but few are exceptional at both. Even in those fields seemingly ruled by technology, human elements still have their say – and often the final word.
7 It’s easy to use: People quickly pick up on the main RED–BLUE ideas and make them work, because the model is intuitive.
8 It works for young and old. I’m not an expert in child psychology, but (as you’ll see) ten year olds have picked up the model and run with it; and I’ve seen people of advanced age change their philosophy even after a lifetime of unhelpful mental habits.
9 It’s enjoyable. It takes what for many is an unwelcoming area – performing under pressure – and turns it into a personally relevant road map.
10 It surprises people. It surprises – and even shocks – experienced performers when they suddenly realise that they have been trying to ‘get better’ most of their lives by trying to become more comfortable when they perform, guided by an unspoken assumption that this is the only or best way forward. The idea that significant opportunity exists in the space of becoming more effective when they are uncomfortable can come as a revelation.
The bottom line is that most people do not chase their potential or, if they do, they only get some of the way. We have all experienced that daunting sense of being overwhelmed when the world closes in on us. Even top performers falter and are undone in moments when the pressure gets to them. And one in five of us has serious procrastination issues! The world is full of untapped human potential.
If you restrict yourself to performing only in comfortable situations, your life will miss the fulfilment available to those who don’t restrict themselves. But if you embrace them, those challenging, high-pressure moments can be especially powerful and rewarding.
Pressure – your friend or your foe? By the end of this book, I hope you’ll look at that question in a different light.
Performance under pressure is a fact of life. But because it holds the key to unlocking your potential, pressure is priceless.
PART 1
Part 1, Red and Blue – Understanding Pressure
An abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation is normal behaviour.
Viktor Frankl, psychiatrist (1905–1997)
CHAPTER 1
Chapter 1, The Nature of Pressure
Pressure is confronting. It can smack us in the face. The sharp edge of reality has a way of cutting our fantasies to shreds.
Pressure is universal. No matter what our level of performance, we all fall victim to it in the same ways.
Pressure is real. What happens inside our heads and bodies – anxiety, tension, frustration, exasperation, foggy thinking, tunnel vision – is not imagined. And when it comes to the effects of pressure, there is no immunity.
Pressure is a mystery. The simple rules of the external world of cause and effect don’t hold. The mental world is a non-linear, invisible, cryptic one, where our unconscious often lurks in the background with sinister intent. With success within their grasp – and therefore also the prospect of failure – some people suddenly collapse under pressure, and we don’t really understand why. Because the mental world seems hard to comprehend, many people don’t make an effort to do so. The very thing that is the most variable, and has the greatest impact, is the least pursued.
Pressure is captivating. Tight sporting contests, precarious business decisions and tense armed stand-offs seem very different situations, but they draw us in for the same reasons. We don’t know how they will turn out, and the outcome matters. Predictability is boring and, especially when the stakes are high, unpredictability is thrilling.
Pressure is perilous. The knife-edge, risk–reward seesaw explains why many people do everything they can to avoid or escape from stressful situations.
But a minority of people do the opposite. They walk towards these moments of truth, seeking the things they also fear.
Pressure can be an incredibly sobering, painful or even crushing experience, from which we may struggle to recover, or a stirring, heartening one, which resets our life trajectory upwards.
Welcome to the world of pressure.