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Under Pressure
Confronting The Epidemic
of Stress & Anxiety in Girls
By Lisa Damour, Ph.D
Circadian Rhythms And Sports
Performance
By D Jim Reeves Silent Night
This Is Your Brain On Sports:
Beating Blocks, Slumps & Performance Anxiety
For Good!
By David Brand & Alan Goldberg
The Anxiety Survival Guide For Teens
By Jennifer Shannon
Sport, Exercise, and
Performance Psychology
Bridging Theory & Application
By Jaime E. Robbins
& Leilani Madrigal
The Ultimate
Sports Fitness Program
Release Your
Trauma & Grief
The Ultimate Deep
Relaxation Program
Become A BETTER
Musician |
|
7-1
PowerCount8 Exercises for
High
Pressure Drills -
For Practicing Staying Calm During High Pressure Situations
The primary purpose of these exercises
is to force yourself to
FEEL
HIGH LEVELS OF STRESS
while attempting to
accomplish meaningless tasks
that might seem to be more or less, impossible.
And then, you will be
clearing out
that panicky stress you're feeling
while performing these fast-paced tasks.
Completing
these tasks, and clearing out your stress they cause you,
will help you whenever you are faced with ANY kind of high pressure competitive,
or even a life threatening, situation!
Just remember, it is NOT really important for you to be able to accomplish any
of these seemingly
impossible tasks. What IS important here, is that you are able to build up your
stress level enough to FORCE
yourself to feel panicky while doing them. Then you can clear out that panicky
stress,
once and for all, just by counting backward from 8.
Remember
to take a deep breath, and exhale slowly after you complete each round.
DO
THIS:
Complete
each of these exercises several times,
or until you can no longer feel any stress while you're doing them:
This exercise has been created for
you as a spin off of the popular board game,
Perfection.
Note to
Coaches:
Many of these are
exercises that you can do together as a team effort.
Granted, they can get quite humorous at times, but doing the clearing TOGETHER as
a team-bonding practice
can seriously help to build team-unity and strengthen empathy for each other!
Plus, it can also help
to show you which team members are mentally stronger, and which need extra
assistance.
1)
Speed Washing:
First, set a LOUD ALARM CLOCK next to
you, then place 20 dishes in a sink, filled with soapy water.
Note: You
MUST use a LOUD alarm clock, because when you're feeling highly
stressed, that loud alarm will have far MORE of a negative effect on
you, and you will do everything possible to avoid it going off.
Whereas, you might not mind it so much if a quiet alarm sounds.
Set the alarm to ring in ONE MINUTE.
Now, force yourself to wash all 20 of those dishes (top and bottom),
and STACK THEM UP NEATLY,
in just ONE MINUTE...without breaking any!
But you'd better hurry!!
Then, just as you start to feel some panicky stress coming on, start
counting backward from 8 over and over, until you no longer feel any of the panicky stress remaining.
Then, reset the alarm clock to ring in one
minute, again, and begin washing those 20 dishes over.
When you start feeling any stress reappearing, start counting
backward from 8, just as you did before.
Keep repeating this exercise over and over...until you are able to
wash and stack all 20 dishes in one minute without feeling any stress at all.
Then, increase the number of dishes you're washing to 30 in one
minute. Or, if you don't have 30 dishes available, decrease the
amount of time allotted for washing.
You want to
FORCE yourself to feel some more stress, so you can clear it out,
forever!
Pro Tip:
After you've been doing
these tasks a few times, you may find it difficult to get your
stress levels back up again. So...another good way to get
your heart pumping fast again is to run in place for awhile....then
start over doing any of the tasks mentioned, or add any of your own
tasks.
Then, try it while standing on ONE LEG!
ALSO....once you're able to complete this task without feeling any
stress, try doing it over again.....
but blind-folded.
Remember
to take a deep breath, and exhale slowly after you complete each round.
2)
Speed Folding:
Fold one bath-size towel as fast as you can, and time how long it
takes to fold that one towel.
Then, figure out how many of those towels you can fold in one minute
at that pace. Then, DOUBLE that number of towels.
Example:
If you can fold 18 towels in one minute, then place 36 towels
(unfolded) in a basket next to your feet. Then, set your LOUD alarm
clock to ring in one minute, and then start folding those 36 towels
AS FAST AS YOU POSSIBLY CAN!
Note: If you do not own 36 towels, then perhaps you can borrow some
from other team members, or neighbors.
Now, EVERY TIME you start to feel stressful pressure coming on, stop
folding and start counting your stress levels down to where you can
no longer feel any stress.
Then, start this exercise all over again, by setting your alarm
clock for one minute, and starting with the towel folding just like
you did the first time. Continue doing this same procedure over and
over and over, until you can get through the full minute without
feeling any stress from it.
Please remember, you probably won't ever be able to complete folding
the towels in one minute, but that's NOT what matters.
What matters is that you are FORCING
yourself to feel stressful pressure, so you can count that
pressure out of your life forever!!
ALSO....once you're able to complete this task without feeling any
stress, try doing it over again.....
but blind-folded.
Remember
to take a deep breath, and exhale slowly after you complete each round.
3)
Speed
Bathing:
Place a LOUD alarm clock in the bathroom, and set to ring when it
hits 2 minutes. Then step into the shower, and wash yourself from
head to toe -- just as you normally would
(and don't
forget your ears).
Only now, you MUST COMPLETE YOUR ENTIRE
SHOWER IN JUST 2 MINUTES!
If you think taking a complete shower in just two minutes is
impossible, that's GOOD! It will force your
stress hormones to flood your body, and you will be able to count
down
the stress you're feeling from it.
Keep counting
until you can no longer feel any stress or nervousness.
Then, after you've completed your first two-minute shower, take the
shower all over again in just 1 minute,
and repeat the counting when you feel some more stress coming on.
ALSO....once you're able to complete this task without feeling any
stress, try doing it over again.....
but blind-folded
(but only
if it's safe to shower that way).
Remember
to take a deep breath, and exhale slowly after you complete each round.
4)
Speed
Reading:
Find a magazine or a newspaper that has some REALLY boring articles,
and force yourself to read a long,
boring entire article in just 2 minutes! When you start feeling your
levels of stress rising as you hurry to finish reading the article,
begin counting backward from 8
until you no longer feel any stress remaining.
Then, begin reading the article all over again in just 1 minute, and
try to force that stress to reappear...and then tap out any
remaining stress or nervousness.
Then keep doing it all over again.
I'd doubt this one would work very well,
blind-folded! ;-)
Remember
to take a deep breath, and exhale slowly after you complete each round.
5)
Speed Gaming:
Another good way I like to practice this technique is to play
Solitaire on my computer, and force myself to finish each game in
less than 60 seconds (a feat that even the best Solitaire experts
would have trouble doing). Whether or not I actually finish the game
in 60 seconds is not what is important here.
What really matters is that I am forcing myself to FEEL THE STRESS
that comes from having to do it.
Then I proceed to count that stress away.
Then I simply start playing all over again so that I can condition
myself to be able to handle any highly stressful situation that may
arise in the future. THIS
WORKS!!
Remember
to take a deep breath, and exhale slowly after you complete each round.
6)
Speed
Hauling:
Try moving 20 big bags of clothes (or whatever) from one room to
another in just one minute. Or you could use just one big bag of
clothes ---- and pick it up in one room, and set it down in the
other room; do this back and forth, 20 times in one minute.
Count out any stress you feel from rushing through this task.
Remember
to take a deep breath, and exhale slowly after you complete each round.
7)
Speed - Anything:
Practicing this stress-elimination technique can be done in many
different ways. Just use your imagination.
It doesn't really matter what you're doing, just as long as
you're forcing yourself to FEEL PANICKY
STRESS from it! Then, count until you can no longer feel
ANY stress or nervousness at all. Then, start all over again to make
sure all of your stress has been eliminated.
Remember
to take a deep breath, and exhale slowly after you complete each round.
8)
Repetitive
Writing:
Start writing the following two affirmation phrases over and over
and over, by hand:
"I am happy, I am
healthy, and I love my life!"
and...
"Thank you for everything. I have no
complaints, whatsoever!"
Just keep writing these two phrases over and over and over...for a
full 10 minutes! The speed at which you write these phrases is not
important for this task.
Now, here's a twist....while you are doing this, notice WHAT
THOUGHTS are going through your mind.
If any of your thoughts are negative in any way, such as: "No, I'm
not really very happy!" or "But, I DO have complaints!" then I want
you to stop writing, and start counting backward from 8, while repeating this next
phrase out loud...
"I deeply and
completely love and accept myself!"
Continue repeating this phrase out loud while counting for a full FIVE (5) minutes. Then, go back to
writing the first two positive affirmations over and over and over,
again.
Remember
to take a deep breath, and exhale slowly after you complete each round.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So, you might be
wondering what this last task has to do with remaining calm under
pressure?
Well, it actually has EVERYTHING to do with remaining FOCUSED while
you're under pressure, because the way in which you FEEL about
yourself, and your abilities, directly affects your ability to think
clearly while you're under tremendous strain!
Now, here is the real beauty of completing this last task. Once you
have finished doing this last task as instructed, go back, and
complete the previous tasks on this page (or as many as you can). I
am confident that, THIS TIME, your efforts during those tasks will
become far easier, and unbelievably less stressful!
Thus, the positive results you've gained during this powerful
exercise will carry over into every goal you set for yourself,
throughout your entire life! You'll see what I mean!
Other
stress-intensive task examples:
> A football quarterback might
force himself to throw 25 footballs accurately through a tire in one
minute.
> A basketball player might
force herself to make 30 free throws in one minute.
> A gymnast might force herself
to do 5 complete rope-climbs (up and down) in one minute.
> A musician might force
herself to complete a chromatic scale (up and down) 20 times in one
minute.
Just remember that it is not important for you to be able to
accomplish these tasks. What's important here, is that you are able
to build up your stress and nervousness levels enough to FORCE
yourself to feel panicky while doing them. Then you can clear out that
panicky stress, once and for all.
Remember
to take a deep breath, and exhale slowly after you complete each round.
Please
feel free to come up with any of your own panicky-stress-cultivating
ideas.
|
Remember....
There
simply is
NO WAY
to do the
PowerCount8
wrong!
This
methodology is so forgiving that you literally cannot get it wrong.
As long as you are counting while you're concentrating on an issue,
it's working for you!
So, just keep counting everyday!
It WORKS!
Next Page:
7-2 Neutralizing The Power That Your Pressures Have Over You
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