Pressure
I was watching the Champions Tour yesterday and golf can be a very cruel game. There are not too many sports where you are out there all alone and the pressure of winning can really cause some funny things. Here we have Nick Price, a former #1 player in the world, leading the golf tournament by four strokes with a few holes to go. Now he has won many golf tournaments before, but not in a while and not on the Champions Tour.
He proceeded to hit a ball in the water on two consecutive holes which lead to two double bogeys in a row and he eventually lost the tournament by one stroke. This just shows you how pressure can get to you and make you do some strange things. You might never be playing golf on TV for thousands of dollars, but getting up on the first tee in front of people, playing your buddy for money or hitting it over the water can cause the same results as Mr. Price, but people can take comfort in the fact that as the song says even the best fall down sometimes.
Pressure is a funny thing. Imagine you are in a crowded room with all strangers in a work environment and all of a sudden you are asked to give a talk on your part of the business. How would you handle it? Could you get up there and talk as if you where talking to your best friend? I think one of the secrets here is to control your focus. Focusing on what you specifically want to say or do will stop us form focusing on outcomes, like people laughing at us or are inability to get a word out of our mouth. Keep focusing on the task at hand and not worrying about the future is one way of handling the nerves. But take comfort in the fact that even the best have their awkward moments.
