Getting out of your own way
At any given moment we have the ability to maximise our performance, if only we knew it.
I see this so clearly when I reflect on my time as a ballet dancer. I trained multiple times a week and performed around 3 times a year as well as sitting examinations. It was constant training and preparation to improve technique, flexibility and understand the terminology.
But when it came to performance day, practising was no longer an option. There was no more time for preparation. I needed to do the best I could with what I had.
If I focussed on what I didn’t know, worried if I had prepared enough, or stressed that I wasn’t the right level, my performance suffered. I would obsessively run over the choreography in my head, count along with the music, and worry about my fellow dancers. It often led to mistakes and fumbles and even if a mistake wasn’t made, I didn’t dance as well as I could have, and I didn’t enjoy it either.
But other times I would forget to worry. I would let go, be in the flow and dance freely and without mistake. What I didn’t know at the time was that those moments where I performed at my best were the times where I stopped over-thinking.
Performance is not our job. Our job is to get out of the way and unleash our full potential.
To perform well, we need to let our operating systems work in harmony. By relying on, and trusting the fact that we are designed for psychological success, we free up our thoughts to bring more fresh thinking and creativity. We don’t get bogged down by overthinking and can, in turn, tap into our innate source of wisdom and creativity and experience our own greatness, no matter what the circumstance is.
