Have you ever been in a crucial situation where everything seemed to be on the line and you felt so nervous you felt like throwing up? As MLB pitcher Kameron Loe says, “nerves give me power, if I focus on my intentions.”
Looking back at my own pro career in tennis, I can see where I let nerves distract me from my goals rather than allowing them to fuel the fire to my goals. I was always too busy fighting my nerves to stop and realize I could turn them around and use them to amplify my performance.
Once I learned this powerful technique, I started to really like pressure situations instead of hating them. I started to actually see the pressure situations as an advantage. I knew my opponents were no different than me and were also feeling the pressure, so I would come after them with vengeance and use those nerves as a weapon of destruction.
I would use that extra push of adrenaline to blow right past them. Just that simple shift in my mentality is where I started winning the big points instead of loosing them.
Tips for dealing with nerves:
- They are only a bad thing if you see them as a bad thing
- Look at them as your body preparing itself for greatness
- Welcome the pressure – bring it on!
- Get excited about the extra power you now have
- Recognize that everyone has them – you are no different
Know that if you are too calm, you may end up without that extra power to succeed
Use Nerves as a Benefit – Not a Distraction. Don’t just try to calm down and get all emotionless. That’s nuts. Most of the time stuffing away and burying our nerves actually slows us down and makes us less effective and unproductive. If we use our nerves as an advantage for extra power and strength, we can actually accelerate reaching the goals that we set for ourselves. So practice using the extra energy and powerful adrenaline you get with nerves to “take on pressure” and use it to your advantage for extra power. Treat nerves as your best friend and ally.
