Thinking positive under extreme pressure – come on!?

Adam Blicher

A lot of kids who play tennis are often told to just think positively. You know, how hard can it be!?

To be honest, I do think that positive psychology is working in a lot of different areas, but I also think that it is only a short term solution.

If you are put under a high amount of pressure during a longer period of time – for instance a tennis match or an entire tournament – I am convinced that you will very often end up losing the fight to the negative thoughts. Because it is not in our human nature to be worry free when we are under pressure.

Follow me on this one.

Imagine a game of chess. All the white pieces illustrate positive thoughts and all the black pieces illustrate negative thoughts. There will always be the same amount of white and black pieces no matter how you play.

You might move a white piece forward and say: “I prepared well, I’m going to do this” , but then a black piece might move forward saying: “but don’t you remember the other time when you prepared well and then you chocked?”

Then another white piece moves forwards saying “But I prepared even better this time” .

Yet another black piece will move forward saying: “But even the best players in the world struggle from time to time and they are very well prepared as well, so why should it be any different for you”.

My point is that it is not just about thinking positive. If you engage in the fight with the negative thought, you will have no chance at fully focusing on executing your game plan and hitting the necessary shots to perform well.

So be more like the chess board it self. Hold all of your thoughts, acknowledge their presence, but do not engage in the battle.

Remember that it is much more important what you do than how you feel.

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