Are You Ready to Take the Game Winner?

Michael Jordan was the ultimate game winner.  Can performance in the clutch be learned? (Photo source: NBA.com)

 The clock ticks down in what seems like slow motion.  The score is tied.  The ball swings and, for a moment, the player stands open.

After an exhausting 90 minutes (plus overtime) it’s a shootout.  The player stands a few yards from the adversary – the goalie.  The game is on the line for each. 

Why do certain competitors crave that defining moment during a game when victory is sealed or snatched?  Are they simply wired that way?  Or, is this toughness something that can be learned?

The Washington Post’s Sally Jenkins explores this very question in an article entitled Secret to buzzer-beaters, especially on biggest of stages, is all in (mental) release.  It’s a wonderful read and incredibly timely as we are now in the throes of college basketball’s championship tournaments.

Here are a few interesting quotes from the article:

Sports psychologist Graham Betchart uses a variety of cognitive techniques, including yoga and meditation, to attain presence, that alert but restful state.

Somewhere along the line, stress got a bad name.  But stress is interesting and complicated, and the arousal it causes is a potential enhancer if you learn to use it.

A lot of people with a strong fear of performance ultimately become excited and good at it.  It’s a power a lot of people don’t realize they have.    

Teens Talk Hypnosis Part II: The Good, the Bad and the “Interested”

For the past five years I have had the good fortune of being part of the health curriculum at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, Maryland.   

Nikki Marafatsos, the health educator, has developed a unique approach that incorporates a group of guest speakers to share with students different viewpoints related to stress management and overall wellness.

My entertaining talk introduces hypnosis, and its applications for stress and confidence.  I then perform a basic hypnotic induction for volunteers. 

Mrs. Marafatsos solicits feedback from her students about my talk and demonstration, which she then shares with me.  The comments are thoughtful, insightful and (brutally) candid.  It’s exactly what one would expect from a group of high performing teenagers.

Three years ago I published a blog post entitled Teens Talk Hypnosis:  The Good, the Bad and the Boring.  It continues to be one of the most popular articles on this Web site. 

I thought the time was right to once again share feedback from Whitman’s health students.  There is a lot of good…some bad…and (interestingly) a high level of interest in learning the practice of self-hypnosis.

The Good

I enjoyed the experience.  It opened doors for me to manage stress and I even used the strategy last night when going to sleep.

The guest speaker was very interesting.  It was very weird to get hypnotized, but afterwards I did feel very good.  I think this is a good to tool to se while playing sports or trying to sleep.

I enjoyed the presentation!  It was a really interesting way to combat stress.  Thinking about the active mind versus the unconscious mind is new to me.  I definitely want to use hypnosis or meditation in a daily routine.

I really loved the presentation and it actually worked!  Really cool!

He is a cool guy.  I was very attentive to what he had to say.  The hypnosis seemed to actually work on me.  I feel pretty weird.  Overall, it was a great experience.

It gave me a lot of new techniques to help with not only stress, but also sports.

He was very good and informative.  It was interesting to see how strong the mind is.

He is super cool!  I think that hypnosis is something that actually helps to relax and was kind of fun to watch.

Yesterday, I actually was able to sleep well, and have a productive day.  While being hypnotized, I felt stress free.

The Bad

He was very entertaining and uplifting, but he talked a lot and sometimes too fast.

He seemed to talk a lot and was kind of funny.  He could have explained what he did the volunteers after.

It was a good presentation, but he could have talked more quietly.

It was interesting, but kind of creepy.  It could be useful maybe, but I am not sure ow to do it on my own.

I thought the presentation was interesting, but he talked way too much.

The techniques he used seemed legit and helpful.  He could improve on his jokes.

The class was calm.  The presentation was alright, but I didn’t really like the speaker.  I don’t really see how it calming it can be if you are being screamed at by a speaker.

The Interested

It was interesting, but I wish I remembered how to do it to myself.

I liked his soothing voice, but I won’t be able to do it to myself.

It was good except he did not tell us how to do it so we can repeat it or gain something from it.

He didn’t involve everyone and he didn’t teach us how to help manage stress ourselves.

I really enjoyed it.  I didn’t learn how to self hypnotize though.

Great speaker and good presentation.  Curious to know how to do it yourself.

The feedback I would give is explain more how we can employ similar techniques without a hypnotist.