The 18th Fifa world cup, the biggest sporting event in the world, is now in full flight, the South African economy is enjoying an estimated boost of $2.85 Billion (US) thanks to healthy sponsorship and fresh stamps in the passports of some 330,000 football fans who will be curtailed by some 41000 police officers deployed specifically to deal with them.
Impressive stats to a spectator, but to a player they mean pressure, stress and worry. The media scrutinizes the every move of the players, so much could of, should have, would have.
Much is written about the players who find the pressure too much, having the physical ability to deliver but not the psychological ability to do so in the big game. The media is then so damming that it is a downward confidence spiral for the player, at the end of the day they are only human and doing their job.
Whilst researching for this blog I was looking at pressure and stress on sports professionals and who of the top performers embody the Dale Carnegie principles. Kelly Slater, the 9 times surfing world champion, who has had 22 years in the worlds top 44 and boasts a higher winning average than any other sportsman. He wins on average 76% of the time he enters in the water at the highest level of competition, the ASP world tour, where at age 38 he is currently ranked #1. To put this in perspective, the more well known winning machine, Tiger Woods, has a PGA record of 29.3% win rate which is the hig
hest ever on the PGA.
Kelly Slater states the majority of his preparation is mental. Before a heat he prepares himself to win and what that will feel like for him, interestingly, he also prepares himself to loose, thinking what that will feel like, how he will react and how his opponent will react. He goes on to explain in his latest documentary ‘Letting Go’ that he only focuses on one heat at a time and if he focuses on the overall competition win, he gets stressed and increases his chances of bowing out in the early rounds.
What does this have to do with Dale Carnegie’s fundamental principles for overcoming worry?
1. Live in “day tight compartments” in this example each heat of competition is a compartment for Kelly, as is each game for the world cup favorites, who cant afford to be focusing energy on the final before they get there.
2. Ask yourself, A) “what is the worst that can possibly happen?” Kelly does this as his pre heat preparation every time, lets hope English goal keeper Robert Green used this principle before the USA match!
B) Prepare to accept the worst, again Kelly routinely does this.
C) Try to improve from the worst, it must work for the 9 time world champion, as 76% of the time he does!
Overcoming the worry and stress allows athletes like Kelly to perform at their very best – consistently. Whilst we cant all be elite athletes, we can apply these simple, yet extremely effective principles to any area of our life which is causing worry and stress.
Angus Firth
Performance Consultant
Dale Carnegie Training London
Impressive stats to a spectator, but to a player they mean pressure, stress and worry. The media scrutinizes the every move of the players, so much could of, should have, would have.
Much is written about the players who find the pressure too much, having the physical ability to deliver but not the psychological ability to do so in the big game. The media is then so damming that it is a downward confidence spiral for the player, at the end of the day they are only human and doing their job.
Whilst researching for this blog I was looking at pressure and stress on sports professionals and who of the top performers embody the Dale Carnegie principles. Kelly Slater, the 9 times surfing world champion, who has had 22 years in the worlds top 44 and boasts a higher winning average than any other sportsman. He wins on average 76% of the time he enters in the water at the highest level of competition, the ASP world tour, where at age 38 he is currently ranked #1. To put this in perspective, the more well known winning machine, Tiger Woods, has a PGA record of 29.3% win rate which is the hig
hest ever on the PGA. Kelly Slater states the majority of his preparation is mental. Before a heat he prepares himself to win and what that will feel like for him, interestingly, he also prepares himself to loose, thinking what that will feel like, how he will react and how his opponent will react. He goes on to explain in his latest documentary ‘Letting Go’ that he only focuses on one heat at a time and if he focuses on the overall competition win, he gets stressed and increases his chances of bowing out in the early rounds.
What does this have to do with Dale Carnegie’s fundamental principles for overcoming worry?
1. Live in “day tight compartments” in this example each heat of competition is a compartment for Kelly, as is each game for the world cup favorites, who cant afford to be focusing energy on the final before they get there.
2. Ask yourself, A) “what is the worst that can possibly happen?” Kelly does this as his pre heat preparation every time, lets hope English goal keeper Robert Green used this principle before the USA match!
B) Prepare to accept the worst, again Kelly routinely does this.
C) Try to improve from the worst, it must work for the 9 time world champion, as 76% of the time he does!
Overcoming the worry and stress allows athletes like Kelly to perform at their very best – consistently. Whilst we cant all be elite athletes, we can apply these simple, yet extremely effective principles to any area of our life which is causing worry and stress.
Angus Firth
Performance Consultant
Dale Carnegie Training London
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