Mental Skills Training

How do you become ‘The Confident Performer’ “You never stop being nervous. The first concert in San Francisco was the scariest night of my life. I hadn’t eaten or slept for days. At the last moment I realised I had been rehearsing for six weeks and playing the Phantom for three and a half years. I must know the words by now.” Michael Crawford

What is performance anxiety Body Muscle tension Shaking Increased heart rate Sweating Nausea Dry mouth Butterflies Need to urinate Mind Negative thoughts Distraction Feeling of impending doom Memory blanks Feeling of panic

The positive experience of anxiety Anxiety is normal “If you’re not nervous you’re dead” A feeling of nervous excitement is a necessary part of performing. Instead of thinking about it as being nervous turn it into excitement – “I have done the work and now I am excited to show you the result.”

The positive experience of anxiety Younger performers usually concentrate more on the technical aspects of their performance and are more concerned with ‘getting it right’. Accomplished artists are more focused on bringing their performance to life.

The positive experience of anxiety “I feel that the only way I can really make a good performance is to go with the flow and forget about the technique. Once I’m in there I should be making music and not playing notes.” “I’ve found if I’ve gone on stage and I’m not nervous I don’t give my best performance. In fact it’s probably the most correct performance but it’s missing something.”

Optimum anxiety Experienced performers let their anxiety peak just before performing, and once they begin performing their anxiety level falls. Inexperienced performers reach the peak of their anxiety during their performance, often resulting in errors. “Offstage I’m not too sure of myself, but onstage I’m in command.” Liberace

The Fight or Flight Response Because a performance is very short in duration, compared with the enormous amount of time and effort in training, performance has a do or die quality. When performers feel threatened they mentally create one or more ‘threat’ Overestimate the chance of failure Overestimate the difficulty Overestimate the consequences of failure Underestimate their ability Often performers forget that the audience is there to support them and wants the performance to go well.

Activity: The anxiety response Begin to become aware of how you respond when you are anxious at any time, not just when performing. How does it affect your: Thinking - Mental response Actions - Behavioural response Physiological response

Nervous vs. Excited I want to avoid this I feel like giving up I often feel afraid I am not ready I think negatively In am not in control I will be relieved when it is over I want to do this I feel determined I feel excited I am fully prepared I think positively I feel I am in control I have set my goals and I am optimistic “We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make our world.” Buddha

Changing your mental response We need to examine our ‘Self-talk’ At every waking moment we talk to ourselves. Perceiving the performance as a threat is negative self-talk and perceiving it as a challenge is positive self-talk. “There’s a trick I use and it works. Go to the theatre early on the first night and get made up well in advance of the curtain. Walk on to the stage and imagine the curtain is already up and you are facing the audience. Look out at them and shout. You are about the see the best performance of your life you lucky people and I will be giving it. Then go back to your dressing room and relax.” Laurence Olivier

Positive Self-talk Sometimes people believe that thinking positive thoughts means to think something you don’t really believe in. Positive Self-talk means that you honestly acknowledge what is happening. As you work through the season it is about building on the work done, acknowledging that routines are not yet perfect but that you are working toward that. By the time of Nationals the work should be done and performers should feel ready to present their routines and confident that their performance will be a personal best.

A list of helpful self-talk The way to counteract the negative thinking is to consciously practice the new ones. Examples Competition stages Preparation tasks Positive thinking Pre-performance routine Manage anxiety Tell yourself you’re ready Remain focused Staying in the present Coping with mistakes Highly emotional Gradual progression Obtain real feedback Preparation – up until the moment you arrive at the venue Before – before you go onto the performance area During – the period of time you are performing After – the period of evaluation after performance

The nervous system The sympathetic nervous system is like an ‘on switch’ and is responsible for making us alert. It is the system that initiates the fight or flight response. The parasympathetic nervous system is like an ‘off switch’ and is responsible for calming us down and helping us go to sleep. The two are always in balance but one dominates the other according to what we need to do. How do we ensure the sympathetic is up and ready to go when we need it. And when we don’t need it how do we ensure that we can relax and recuperate.

The right balance If we can train our athletes to observe their thoughts and emotions and convert ‘threats’ to ‘excitement’ and to help this process through positive self-talk, we are part of the way there. They still need the right mix of nervous system responses. How do we help them relax into the performance. The easiest and quickest form of relaxation is through the use of breathing. Breathing is under their conscious control and can be done in the ‘before’ stage. To recover after training in the lead up to Nationals, full body relaxation works well. Both these relaxation techniques enhance mental functions such as concentration and memory.

Focusing on what matters Finding your pet in the dark Focussed attention can be broad or narrow and can be internal or external. Broad or narrow – 7 bits of information Broad – audience, judges, venue, the outcome Narrow – task-relevant, members around me The focus should narrow as you are closer to performing Internal or external Internal – execution of movement, emotions, thoughts External – moving as a team, timing, formation, music Activity – experiment with your focus. What am I thinking right now and is it relevant.

How to deal with mistakes A mistake in the performance is the worst type of distraction and can lead to task-irrelevant thinking. The performer almost always thinks the mistake is more obvious to the audience than is really the case. If the audience does become aware of the mistake it is usually because the performer makes it obvious by his or her facial expression or behaviour. So, what do you do: Leave them in the past Immediately re-focus Put mistakes in perspective Don’t accentuate Practice doing it wrong again – mind control

Mental rehearsal Creating in your mind an image of yourself going through the performance. This can either be from an audience perspective or from seeing yourself from the inside. Includes all senses – visual, auditory, smell, taste, kinaesthetic and emotional aspects. Muscular activity increases and brain wave patterns change. Mental rehearsal can be used in three main ways: To build self-confidence To reduce anxiety To increase skill development

Mental rehearsal Building confidence Remember one performance or one time in another setting where everything went to plan – remember how you felt, what thoughts you had, what you could see and hear. You had a feeling of self-confidence. You need to practice recalling those feelings so they are ready when you need them. It can help to ‘anchor’ them by a gesture, a sight or a sound.

Mental rehearsal Reducing Anxiety Skill Development One way to reduce anxiety before performing is to imagine yourself completing the ideal performance in a relaxed state. The performance needs to be performed in the ideal way but the thoughts and emotions portray relaxation. You can use breathing awareness to help out. Skill Development To refine old skills and gain new ones. “Before you can achieve perfect movement during performance you need to see and feel this in your mind. It is the mind that tells the body what to do.” Rehearse in real time to make the neuromuscular system able to reproduce the mental imagery.