Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:06] Speaker B: Welcome to the Game Changer Unlocked. I'm your host, Brian Fetzer. On this show we sit down with the leaders and experts who are helping people perform, lead and grow at a much higher level in sport, in business and really in life. Today's guest is someone who has spent his entire career studying one of the most important aspects of performance, how we respond to pressure, stress and adversity.
Professor Adam Nichols is a sports psychologist and a professor at the University of Hull over in the UK whose work focus on coping, resilience and performance under pressure. He's also the author of a book focused on coping strategies and mental performance.
Fourth version actually coming out this summer. It's helping athletes, coaches and professionals better understand how to manage stress and perform at their best.
Through his academic research, applied work and published insights, he's helped shape and understand mental performance not just at the elite level, but across all levels of life.
And what makes his perspective so valuable is, is the combination of deep research and real world application really just understanding how it works.
Today we're going to break down all that and much, much more. Professor Adam Nichols, welcome to the Game Changer Unlocked.
[00:01:35] Speaker A: Yeah, thank you, Brian, thank you very much for the introduction. Great to speak to you.
[00:01:38] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. It's good talk again.
We've talked in the past off the camera and I'm really excited to kind of take a deep dive into kind of what your world is. And congratulations on the fourth version. Fourth edition. I said save your book, you're coming out in July. So I know you're busy working on that, kind of touching it up
[00:02:00] Speaker A: but. Yeah, no, really busy working on that. Yeah, it's just, yeah, really pleased with it actually got some new additions to it so I'm really happy with it.
[00:02:08] Speaker B: So yeah, so let's go back, you know, what led you into sports psychology and studying stress and performance?
[00:02:16] Speaker A: Yeah. So in terms of what led me into sports psychology, I was a, well, an average kind of tennis player. I played lots of sports and one thing that I guess stopped me from getting to the next level was kind of a mental my met my ability to manage stress really. And I go to, you know, I'd win a kind of county level competitions and then when I go to kind of national events, I just wouldn't be able to perform. And so this was going back in the mid-90s and at that point, you know, I didn't know what sports psychology was but I knew there was.
I wasn't getting the best out of myself. I wasn't getting the best out of my ability. So, so for that reason that's where my interest in sports psychology came as a, as a 14 or 15 year old. And then I studied, I was going to be a PE teacher and I realized actually sports psychology is a thing, we did modules on it. And then so obviously I was quite interested in that. And then instead of being a PE teacher, I trained to be a sports psychologist. And that's, that's where I am today. And where my interest from stress and coping research came, I had, I wanted to be supervised by a chap called Professor Nick Nicholas hall, who's now at Calgary University.
And he gave me two choices, stress and coping. And I can't remember what the other one was, to be honest. I went home and I read a stress and coping book by Richard Lazarus, read it over the weekend and I was like, yeah, that's what I want to do my PhD in and that's what I want to do research in. And that's how it started.
[00:03:48] Speaker B: I mean, such an important topic, clearly. I mean, we're finding more and more about it now. You know, in your early research, what surprised you the most about how people handle pressure?
[00:04:02] Speaker A: Yeah, there was, there's a couple of things that really surprised me. One of the, the biggest surprises I had was as a, as a researcher, I was doing a diary study with a professional rugby union team from Ireland, who are an elite level team.
So I would watch their games on television and then I would read their diary statements. And I'm thinking you couldn't tell that they were experiencing the pressure they were experiencing from watching them on them during the match.
It was just really surprising that you, you know, you'd see these big burly players, they would be experiencing these, I guess in, in insecurities, concerns about their performance. You just would not be able to tell from watching them play.
And then, then leading along from that, it was actually that there are times when athletes don't attempt to cope. It's almost like at the time when they need coping the most and to be able to manage their resources when things go wrong, that is when they don't, they don't. People tend not to do that. So that was the biggest surprise for me. And something that when I'm working with athletes, I educate them on and make them aware of that.
[00:05:12] Speaker B: When you look at what separates individuals who perform well under pressure and ones who struggle, is there anything that kind of comes out?
[00:05:22] Speaker A: Yeah, it's the way in which athletes interpret stress. So those who handle it really well and perform well under pressure they view stress as a challenge. They view pressure as a challenge. They, they focus on what they want to do well in a, in a tough situation as opposed to what could go wrong. They have this belief in themselves and they're, they're some of the key differences that I've noticed, and this is supported
[00:05:48] Speaker B: by research, too, when you look at performance.
Right, because that's, I mean, that's what everybody wants, whether it's, whether it's in the classroom, whether it's in, you know, the sporting arena, you know, performance.
How much is, you know, mental versus physical at those highest levels?
[00:06:07] Speaker A: Yeah, this is a really interesting question. It's something that's debated all the time by, by, you know, people in social media.
So I always go back to Yogi Berra who said it's 90% mental. Michael Jordan, 80% mental, Kobe Bryant, 90% mental. So I always find it hard to kind of.
I never ever get into those arguments. When people say, oh, it's 60 or it's 50 or we, we know it's really, really important. When you take into account genetics, hard work, elite coaching, talent, when you had all those things together, then what separates those who can perform at the best? You know, it has to be mental. It has to be their ability to perform under pressure.
I think it's really hard to kind of quantify that, what percentage it is, but we know it's really, really important when, when you, when, when the talent is similar, when all those things are similar. What, what differentiates those who can perform at the highest level compared to those who can't? It has to be, it has to be a psychological factor when other things are, other things are equal.
[00:07:16] Speaker B: What, when you just, you just mentioned that the, the 75, 80% so forth. When you, when you look at sports teams in specific, that's kind of a statistic that was brought to my attention a couple weeks ago or so. We were talking to some coaches and he said, well, how much money of your budget do you put towards the mental part of performance?
If it's worth 60% or 50% of your performance, do you put that much in your budget? I mean, if you found that. I mean, I obviously, I don't think many teams put that kind of levels of finances behind it. But what is your thoughts on that?
[00:07:55] Speaker A: I don't think it's. Yeah, so I don't think it's finances and I don't think it's time either. If you look at the time that goes into the psychological element, it's a very, very small Percentage, if, if any for some teams. And it's often a side thought, it's not a priority. The priority is always strength and confidence, conditioning, tactical work, work on the pitch.
And very little if any is, is dedicated to sports psychology. And often it's some. In, in many sports it's athletes employing their own sports psychologist and they do it kind of away from the club.
[00:08:32] Speaker B: Interesting.
And that's, that's very, very, very true for sure.
What patterns have you seen consistently in high performing individuals when you start getting back into the, the specifics?
[00:08:44] Speaker A: Yeah, there's lots and lots of traits that, that you see with them. I think some of the ones that kind of stand out are first of all is this, this resilience so they can handle setbacks and failure better than what other people can. They don't, they don't let it impact them as. And they refuse to give up. That's the key thing. Because no matter who you are, what sport you play in any high performance demand, there will be failure and there will be setbacks. They, they don't let that get on top of them. They also have what I think is a really, really strong work ethic.
So they're always willing to put the work in to do what is required of them.
They have an intensity about them, a competitive intensity that when they're competing, that is their main focus.
And finally, I just think they always have this sense of wanting to get better. They're constantly striving to be better than they were yesterday, the last week and they're always looking for those marginal gains to help them get better.
I think there's just a variety of things, but those are the key, kind of key traits that stand out. When I think about that, I'm going
[00:09:52] Speaker B: to throw out a term that is maybe overused, but maybe it's not used enough.
Mental toughness.
When you hear somebody say, hey, they're really mentally tough, what does that mean?
[00:10:05] Speaker A: Yeah, so I published a lot of work on mental tough as well, some studies on mental toughness. And I guess this is one of the things that tricks people up in terms of. There's very little kind of agreement on what mental toughness is. People argue about it in academic journals and in books, but what I see is it's a person's ability to be able to perform well under stress, not let their performance deteriorate under stress, which often happens when, when athletes or when people are in demanding situations. So it's that, that ability to be able to do things when they might not necessarily want to do them to get up and go out training when they may be tired and, and, and ultimately it allows them to get the best out of themselves. And it's, and it's, and it's essential for elite performance. Regardless of how we term it, whether it's resilience or mental toughness, it's, it's so important.
[00:10:57] Speaker B: Agree 100%. I'm going to, I'm going to give you a quick question to ask before we head to a break. For somebody watching right now who struggles with pressure, what's one thing they can begin doing immediately to help manage that?
[00:11:12] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, this is a really good question. And I get, I get asked this quite a lot. And, and it is something that's really, really simple. And it's about taking a deep breath.
What happens is when we're, when we're stressed, when we're in a high pressure situation, we have a tendency to not breathe as much to.
Our breathing rate slows down due to the stress. So actually just taking a deep breath, inhaling through the nose for a count of four, exhaling for a count of six or seven through your mouth, and then just then getting ready to go again, it's that, it's that stop. It's that pause, and it's about letting your body reset. And that's. I know it's simple, but it is effective.
[00:11:53] Speaker B: Simple is always great because it kind of helps resets things a little bit.
When we come back, we're going to dive deeper into stress and pressure and how they actually impact performance right after this.
Welcome back to the Game Changer. Unlocked. I'm here with Professor Adam Nichols from the University of Hull. And now we're going to dive into stress and performance.
Adam, how do you define stress in the performance setting?
[00:12:36] Speaker A: Yeah, so stress occurs when we perceive that there's an imbalance between, between our resources to cope and the demands of a situation.
So when, for example, if we think that the demands of a situation, we can handle it easily and we could get bored, stress occurs when we believe that our resources will be tested and that we might not be able to manage the demands of that situation, particularly when we've got an important goal at stake and we feel threatened. And, and that's when we experience stress. It's this, this, this imbalance that we've evaluated between what we're trying to do and whether we'll be able to manage it and the, the environment that we're in, the, the team that we're playing, for example, the opponent that we're playing. And an example of that would be if we're a, say a mid, middle ranked athlete or tennis player and we're playing a high ranked, a higher ranked tennis player and we believe that we might not be able to, to manage that. That is when we experience stress.
[00:13:36] Speaker B: Can, can stress actually be beneficial to a situation?
[00:13:41] Speaker A: Absolutely. I think stress is really, really important at a healthy level because it gives us the motivation, it acts as a fuel if we're worried about a sports event. It's, that's the thing that gets us up in the morning, it gets us training, it makes us put that more, that bit more effort into training. Stress becomes problematic when we can't control it and we can't control the emotions that are a consequence of stress.
[00:14:07] Speaker B: So, so what happens mentally and physically when someone feels that pressure? Is there something that specifically comes on them?
[00:14:15] Speaker A: Yeah, so what happens is that we trigger, we, our body releases a hormone called cortisol which then is responsible increasing our heart rate, increasing our blood pressure. We may get stomach disturbances, digestive disturbances.
So if you, if you could write down all the things that would be inconclusive or would not, would not help our performance. The consequences of stress are those things from a biological perspective and then from a psychological, psychological perspective we experience worry and we may lose our concentration. We struggle to, to think about what we would be thinking about normally and we start having tasks irrelevant for thoughts. So if we're a golfer, for example, our mind starts wandering from the shot that we should be thinking about to maybe other things such as the consequences of failure. So they're, they're the main physical and psychological consequences of stress.
[00:15:15] Speaker B: When you, the next question, I, I think of a couple athletes right off and it says what, you know, basically why do some athletes thrive under pressure? And I think of Michael Jordan, you know, I think of Kobe Bryant. In the past.
There's certain athletes to just, you know, they just seem to rise up better and better the more pressure it's on there. Why does that sometimes happen?
[00:15:38] Speaker A: Yeah, there's a number of reasons. So Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant are both kind of described instances, we'll go back to these challenge days of them purposely generating challenge days. They're purposely focusing on the challenge, challenge of the situation, what they want to achieve and how they're going to achieve it.
They also have at this high levels of self efficacy. So self efficacy refers to their belief in their ability to be successful. They know or they believe. They tell themselves that no matter what comes up, they will be able to handle that situation.
They also they also have this, this task focus of whether they're always constantly wanting to get better, wanting, wanting to get improved. And all of these factors in addition to coping allows them to be able to thrive under pressure almost to actually be able to play better when the pressure comes on. Whereas most, most athletes actually when they're performing under pressure, performance deteriorates. But the very, very best almost seem to get a kick out of that pressure and actually takes them to new levels which they couldn't get to without
[00:16:43] Speaker B: that level of pressure that I mean it always looked like with mj, who I think is the greatest basketball player ever. That's just my personal opinion. But it always seemed like he just the higher the stakes the better he played. So I mean I, I, I can completely appreciate that.
So this is more general, maybe not just athletics but, but when you're talking about stress, what mistakes do people make in dealing with stress on all different levels?
[00:17:12] Speaker A: Yeah, they're quite, yeah. For my research and working with athletes and leaders there are quite a few mistakes that they, they make. So typically they stop attempting to cope. So they don't try and regulate the stress. It's almost like they bury their head in the sand and they're not trying to, to focus on the things that they would normally focus on to relieve, to relieve the stress in athletes. They start going through their routine routines.
They forced force the play. So for example, they were, might take on shorts that they wouldn't normally take on purely as a consequence of the pressure and of the stress that they're undertaking. So they're not thinking clearly, they become distracted.
Yeah, they're the main, the main factors
[00:17:58] Speaker B: when you think about perception and handling pressure, you know, how important is that
[00:18:05] Speaker A: this is vital. Perception is vital. How you evaluate situations, how you appraise the situation.
And when working with athletes, one thing I try and get them to do is to almost when they're competing is, is not focus on the, the consequences and that is of, of that of a performance failure. So that is their perceptions perceive the situation as being that, you know, this is one off today. If, even if I fail today I can, I can still go tomorrow. It's not the end of the world. So you're changing how they perceive the situation. But again perception is key and it's focusing on what they want to do, what they want to go right as opposed to what could go wrong. And that's, that's the best athletes do that they're able to block out those negative thoughts.
[00:18:55] Speaker B: What's the most effective like coping strategy that you've identified kind of in your research?
[00:19:02] Speaker A: Yeah, there, there are quite a few. And one thing that I would say is that it's about coping in combination. So using a variety of com. Of, of strategies and combinations. So I'll give you an example now. So we know that thought stopping and blocking out negative thoughts is really, really good.
So for example, I might have missed, missed a shot, whatever sport that might be. So I can shut the down the negative thoughts of that.
However, if I don't replace it with a positive thought, my thoughts will go back to that, that miss again. So negative thought blocking. So I might imagine a stop sign. I might say the word stop to myself and then put in a positive, positive statement that I would then also say to myself, you know, I need, I've got this, you know, I'll get the next one. Just something like that. And it's just this, this coping in combination, again, very, very simple to do. But when athletes are in the heat of the battle, I think we need, like we said before, we need this simplicity. We need things that are easy to do without overburdening the, the athletes at the time.
[00:20:05] Speaker B: I mean, I'm going to ask you this question because I think people need to know it. To me it's a very, a very simple one, but I think for most people it might be a little bit, a little bit different. Preparation. When you're talking about preparation in managing stress, what role does that play in the whole picture?
[00:20:27] Speaker A: Preparation is so important, both physical and mental preparation, because what it does is when you're competing, if you know that you've left no stone unturned, you've done everything you can, you can have confidence when you're there, which then is a stress reliever. We know that confidence is a buffer of stress. And it also gives you this.
You can say to yourself that I've done everything I could leading up to this. If it doesn't work out, I know I've given it my all. So you're not going to feel guilty. The anxiety will be less. And that's what the greats do. They prepared really hard. We know that Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Roger Federer in tennis, they all trained so hard. They gave it their all in training so that they're fully prepared for when the match starts. And then if it doesn't go right, it doesn't go right. But they, they've given it their best opportunity and that then actually lowers the stress levels.
[00:21:20] Speaker B: And that can really apply to not only sport, but business school. I mean, you Kind of put name it, whatever that might be.
Very, very important. I want to ask and ask your book, how does somebody find your book? How does, how does somebody get in touch with you if they wanted to dive deeper and talk to you some more?
[00:21:40] Speaker A: Yeah, so, so I'd look, you know, I'd love to hear from people. So I'm on LinkedIn. Professor Adam Nichols. Just search me on there whole university. My email address is a.Nicholsul.ac.uk and in terms of my book, my book is called Psychology and Sports Coaching Theory and Practice. As we've said, the new edition is out in July so I'll probably hang on for that. Lots of new, five or six brand new chapters in there which I'm really excited about and I think make it, make the book much better than the, the previous edition and all the other chapters are fully updated.
[00:22:14] Speaker B: That's awesome. Super excited to, to get a chance to, to dive in that and I think, you know, can they get it on Amazon? Like I know somebody, you know, not doesn't live in the uk, they live in the US they get an Amazon or one of those.
[00:22:26] Speaker A: Yeah. So from Amazon. Yeah, it's published by Routledge and Routledge have an office in America. So it's available all over the world really. So Amazon online and they ship all over the world. So yeah, wherever. Really.
[00:22:38] Speaker B: Perfect. Perfect. Hey, when we come back, we're going to shift into the role of coaches and environments and how they shape performance.
Right after this commercial break, we'll be back with the Game Changer Unlocked.
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I'm here with Professor Adam Nichols from the University of Hull over in the uk and we're just turning our attention to coaches and environments.
So Adam, how much influence does a coach have on mental performance?
[00:24:08] Speaker A: Yeah, coaches have a massive impact and I think quite often coaches are maybe not aware of the extent to which they impact the mental performance of the athletes that Coach.
So we know that the coaches can shape mental toughness, they can enhance them mental toughness of athletes, but they can also be a massive source of stress through the way in which they communicate with athletes, through the way in which they give feedback, how they set up training sessions.
And coaches who create a climate in which they focus and reward effort and improvement are associated with athletes who perform to higher levels and enhance well being. So they're vital really in terms of the mental performance of the athletes they coach.
[00:24:54] Speaker B: What are some common mistakes that coaches and I guess this could apply to business leaders as well.
What mistakes do they make when handling athlete stress?
[00:25:05] Speaker A: Yeah, I think first and foremost is they tend not to fully empathize with the situation or fully understand the situation.
So, so sometimes the athlete or the employee might not feel heard because we know that coaches are busy, leaders are very, very busy.
But without the individual feeling heard, feeling empathy, I think it's unlikely that the situation will resolve so that the individual, if it's an athlete, they won't be able to play to their best, they won't be able to have higher levels of wellbeing because they don't feel this connection with their coach. From my experience that I'd say they're the main, the main issues.
[00:25:46] Speaker B: What are some tangible ways coaches can, can better support performance and mental health with their, with their teams?
[00:25:53] Speaker A: Yeah, there are a number of reasons, a number of ways. Sorry. And I think first and foremost they should destigmatize kind of mental health. So don't talk negatively about mental health, you know, using kind of slang terms to, to talk about someone who has a mental health illness. That's really important.
They can also give athletes some autonomy in terms of what they do, some control, letting athletes recover in between sessions. So we know that lack of recovery between sessions is a big factor in terms of mental health illness among athletes. So they're kind of the main, the main things. But then also finally, celebrate achievements. This is really important and it comes from a coach. So if you have a success, whatever success that may be, if it's in sport, if it's in business, it might be closing a deal. Celebrate that success, let people have fun, let them feel the achievement and the positive emotions of that. All of those factors can promote a healthy environment which then can reduce and help reduce the incidence of mental health within a set team or business.
[00:27:01] Speaker B: You know, there's a fine line between pushing and protecting with an athlete. You know, what's the balance right there?
[00:27:10] Speaker A: There is, there's a real fine line and what I would say is first and foremost it should be done with love. If we look at some of the greatest coaches, Greg Popovich, for example, Nick Saban, and also Charles Lee, I've just posted about him today. It was at the Charlotte Hornets.
They push their athletes hard, but, but at the same time they explain why they're doing it and, and they have a relationship with the athlete already and they, and they love them away from the court. And I think when you can do that, when you do that, you can push athletes because they understand why you're pushing them. But then ultimately, as a coach and from knowing an athlete, you know where an athlete's limited limits will be. And it's almost don't take them over their limits. But that can only occur when you have a relationship with them, when you know the athletes. And that's why I think that's so important that, that connection that coach has with the athletes.
[00:28:06] Speaker B: When you talk about performance situations, how can a, how should I should say, how should a coach communicate in one of those high pressured moments? You know, you just mentioned the Hornets who were in the playoffs in the NBA right now.
How can coaches communicate better in kind of those high. Professor. High pressure moments?
[00:28:25] Speaker A: Yeah. See in, you've got to remember in a high pressure situation, athletes and even business leaders, business people, their concentration can be, it can be undermined slightly due to the pressure, which means they can't concentrate as well. So in those instances, the communication instruction should be kept to the shortest minimum.
So as a coach, think about what you're going to say. Condense the instructions, deliver them in a calm way because the last thing that athletes need to see is their coach struggling themselves. And Phil Jackson always said about this, he, he said he learned that he needed to be calm on the sidelines because if he wasn't calm, the players wouldn't be as calm.
So think about your body language and then, and, but the key thing is when you deliver the instructions, keep them, keep the messages simple. No more than three, three instructions at once, at the very most, probably one or two would be best delivered in a calm way that the athletes understand.
[00:29:27] Speaker B: I've seen that way too many times, coaches going through an entire dissertation to their team and you're looking at the athletes faces and they're not paying attention. They're looking in the crowd.
They're so in the other places that information overload, I think is the term that I've heard a lot used, which is true.
[00:29:49] Speaker A: Yeah, they forgot the first thing that the coach said to them. Let alone the next 10 things. And that's why we should be keeping the messages simple and concise.
[00:29:57] Speaker B: Very much so. So let's talk about specific athletes real quick. And I say, you know the difference between understanding individual differences from a coaching standpoint, how can a coach do a better job of understanding that?
[00:30:12] Speaker A: Yeah, the best coaches and the best leaders do this naturally. They get to know the athlete, they understand their background, their family situation, what's going on in their life. So when you have that understanding, you can, you know why on a next, on a particular training session, why they might not be giving it their all. Because they've got this going on in their life and that only comes from this understanding.
And I think the most experienced coaches know that what goes on in a person's life does have an impact in terms of training and performance. So they can understand that, they can relate to that. And that's why knowing your athletes is key. Because then you understand the individual nuances that an athlete has and how that impacts both their performance and their well being.
[00:31:00] Speaker B: I want to make a quick transition to youth sports since youth sports is blowing up all over the United States and really around the world. What are you seeing in youth sports today from a mental standpoint?
[00:31:13] Speaker A: Yeah, and I see this. I've got a 12 year old son who plays youth sports. And from a mental standpoint, what I see is that there's too much pressure being placed on youth sport athletes. They're all focusing on, you know, the scholarships, the professional contracts and actually not enjoying the sport. And a lot of them are struggling, which is why there's a massive dropout rate as people progress through adolescence. I think it's around 50% of 12 year olds will not be playing by the time they're 16 across many different sports. And I think a lot of that is due to the pressure that they're, they're under and, and, and which can often come from the coaches unfortunately. And I've seen that myself.
[00:31:53] Speaker B: Is there something kind of advice that you would give to a youth coach that maybe just starting. Yeah, it's part of it right now.
Yeah.
[00:32:02] Speaker A: So yeah, ultimately let the, let the athletes play. Let them play. Let them enjoy it. Don't put pressure on them. You know, it's not about gaining a D1 scholarship. It's not about securing a professional contract contract for 99.999% of athletes. It's about enjoyment and it's about fun and it's about keeping them in the game. It's about giving them memories that they'll want to continue playing and it'll become part of their identity of who they are. And that only comes from when enjoying it and having this motivation that's about enjoyment rather than doing it for an external reason.
[00:32:38] Speaker B: Couldn't agree more.
So for a coach that's watching, what's one immediate adjustment that they could make to better support their athletes mentally?
[00:32:51] Speaker A: Yeah, that's a really good question. And what I would do is from a coach's perspective is actually just remind the athletes to have fun, remind them to enjoy it and then at the end of each training session, ask them what what did you enjoy the most from today?
And that again, another basic strategy. But I think that's really, really important. It's not too all coaches can do this and it can have a massive impact.
[00:33:18] Speaker B: Adam, that's some amazing stuff, your book coming out another version in July. Where can somebody find out a little bit more information about you and about your book?
[00:33:33] Speaker A: Yeah, so I think in terms of finding more information about me, I Post regularly on LinkedIn on a daily basis. So you'll get an insight into kind of my views on things.
The book is available if you just search it from Amazon directly from the publishers at Routledge. It'll be available from all sources as a paperback copy, hardback, and also as an ebook.
[00:33:57] Speaker B: I tell you what I mean, we originally connected on LinkedIn and some of your posts are super enlightening, super just educational from a lot of, you know, different perspectives on and it doesn't just apply to sport. I know a lot of this conversation has been very directed towards sport, but it can apply to everything else from business and everything in between. So, yeah, keep doing those 100%.
Those are fantastic.
When we come back, we're going to expand this into business, everyday life and how the same principles that apply in sport, they apply far and beyond. We'll be back right after this. Commercial break on the Game Changer unlocked.
I'm here with Professor Adam Nichols and we've talked about performance in sport. Now we're going to expand into business and life.
So, Adam, how do these principles translate into the business environment from sports?
[00:35:08] Speaker A: Yeah, the principles I've spoken about translate perfectly because pressure is pressure, whether you're an athlete making a shot or you're a business lead or business person trying to close out a deal. The pressure that we experience, the way it manifests itself through symptoms of stress, increased heart rate, worry, they're exactly the same. And all the principles I've spoken about in terms of coping, a lot of them actually don't necessarily come from sport. As a sports psychologist, I've adapted them to fit sport, to work in sport. So they work really well. And I've had experience with working with people away from sport and it fits really well.
[00:35:51] Speaker B: Do you think individuals that come from the sporting environment that were athletes or coaches shifting into the business world, do you think they have any kind of advantage because of that, of their background in sport?
[00:36:04] Speaker A: I think so, yeah. I think if they've had a good experience in sport, if they've learned how to deal with things well, it, it teaches them how to get over setbacks and they can apply what they've learned in a sporting context across other domains. I actually did some research with some academy football players in the Premier League and what we found is that what we taught them they would use in school with relationships about dealing with stress more effectively. So absolutely, I think they do have an advantage message.
[00:36:37] Speaker B: Shoot that. To me, that says higher athletes that were athletes in high school or in college or even in the youth ranks are leaders in business dealing with the same types of stresses that athletes do, in your opinion?
[00:36:52] Speaker A: I think they do, but I think they have other stresses. I think they have very similar stresses to performance directors and coaches in the sense that they, they can experience a feeling of isolation.
If you're an employee, you've got other employees to talk about, to talk to about your issues, but as the leader, you're the person making decisions, your decisions are scrutinized.
And so for these reasons, you can experience this feeling of isolation. So I think in almost, I think in a lot of senses, leaders experience higher levels of stress because ultimately the, they're responsible for their organization's performance, they're responsible for their employees. They have to deal with any conflicts that occur. So being a leader in a business is very, very stressful. Absolutely.
[00:37:40] Speaker B: We talked about performing under pressure for athletes.
Shift that to the business world. What mistakes do professionals in business make under pressure?
[00:37:51] Speaker A: Yeah, from my experience of leaders that I've supported, I think some of the biggest mistakes they make and not building connections with their employees, the people they lead, they don't get to know them properly.
And then because of that, their, their decision making is often, often questioned so that they don't build the relationships. Once you've got the relationships there, I think that's the first step to getting employees to work effectively, to get the best out of them.
And for, from my perspective, that's what I think is the, the biggest, the
[00:38:23] Speaker B: biggest thing you just talked about building teams with within a Business standpoint, how can leaders build, you know, more resilient teams? What are some, some thought processes?
[00:38:34] Speaker A: Yeah, I think, yeah, this is really important and I think it's something that sport does much better than, than businesses. And we're not. When we said earlier, sport doesn't do it that well either.
What, what they need to be doing is I think it's creating environments that are supportive. It's about teaching them how to be resilient, teaching them coping strategies.
It's about recruiting individuals who, who can be resilient, who have got some level of resilience already.
And it, when we, when we do that, because I think that's a big mistake that we can't just expect employees or people to be resilient. It's not something, something that will be the case for everybody, but it's something we can develop with time and with training. And I think that's really important for all businesses because if you think about it, if a more resilient workforce will be a workforce who has less time off, will be more productive, will have higher levels of well being. So actually the business will win overall from productivity levels.
[00:39:38] Speaker B: Do you think in similar between business and sport, do you think mindset plays, plays a major role?
[00:39:45] Speaker A: Mindset is 100% vital across sport business because we need to have a mindset which allows us to make decisions under pressure, which happens in business. It's a key part of all businesses of all professions, whether you're a surgeon, a teacher, work in finance. It's about making those decisions under pressure. And if you can't do that, then you can't perform to your best and the organization will not be as successful.
[00:40:14] Speaker B: Makes complete and total sense to me as an individual. I'm in a business environment and I'm trying to work through just daily stress.
What are some tips on how an individual can manage their daily stress in a work environment?
[00:40:33] Speaker A: Yeah, I think this is a multi, multi dimensional approach.
I think if I just offered you some coping strategies, it wouldn't be as effective. So I think it relates to having good routines. So exercise, diet, scheduling, rest breaks and then add in some of the, the coping strategies, some of the meditation, some mindfulness practices. There are some excellent mindfulness exercises that you can do on YouTube. You can start off with 5 minutes, then build up to 10 minutes, 15 minutes, schedule time for these and you'll see that within, you know, within a matter of weeks you'll start to feel much better. And this is backed by science. We know that regular mindfulness and meditation can Enhance well being. And you will see that yourselves as a regular.
Someone who engages meditation myself is. The differences are profound and it will help you immensely with your daily life.
[00:41:32] Speaker B: I mean, you just meant, you mentioned the, you know, a few, a few points that can be, can be built in. And I would say this, you know, building long term resilience are those similar practices that people should do to try to, if they're trying to work on habits to build long term resilience.
[00:41:52] Speaker A: Yeah. One really effective way of building long term resistance is doing those things that we've just spoken about, exercise, diet on a regular basis. And another really good ways is journaling. Journaling your experiences of stress and what you did to cope with that stress, what worked and what didn't. And we know there's some really good evidence from a study that was published last year that it shows that it does build long term relationships, resilience over time by being aware of what you did, what worked well. And then if you reflect on this on a daily basis, it builds resilience.
[00:42:27] Speaker B: I mean I can speak from, from personal experience. I mean my, my daily quiet time, I journal and it's always interesting to go back and look at journals from a year ago, two years ago that, you know, as I'm reading the Bible and I, you know, write down some notes afterwards and it's like, man, you know, that's how I was thinking at that point in time. And it's great reflection just to kind of, kind of see where you were from a standpoint and see where you are now. Really.
Do you.
I want to talk about a key word that I've been asked about recently and that's failure.
You know, how do you see failure moving into success?
Or where do you see failure as part of the whole resilience and, and just culture.
[00:43:21] Speaker A: Yeah, Failure is really, really important topic and it's something I speak a lot about with athletes and leaders when supporting them, the best, the greats in terms of any walk of life, whether their surgeons, athletes, business leaders, they understand that failure is part of the process. It's not an endpoint, it's not a point where you suddenly think, right, I've failed, I'm not going to go again.
You have to embrace failure. You have to accept that failure is part of the process. But then ultimately you have to learn from it and move on. Failure shouldn't be something that you're scared of, it's something that, it's an obstacle, but it's an obstacle that you get round through reflection and through going again. So failure is really important, unfortunately. It's something that anyone who pushes the boundaries and tries to move things forward will always have experiences of failure.
But it's about not stopping when you failed.
[00:44:20] Speaker B: You got to bounce back. You got to get back up when you, when you fall down. For sure.
[00:44:24] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:44:25] Speaker B: I'm going to put you on the spot for our last final question.
If you could give one principle for handling pressure, what would that be?
[00:44:37] Speaker A: It's about ultimately focusing on what you want to gain from that pressurized situation. Is it a business deal? Is it a sporting event?
What am I going to achieve today and how am I going to make that happen? And that's your only thoughts for that day. You're not thinking about any stress, any pressure, because you're focusing on what you want to happen and how you're going to make it happen. And there, that's what you think about that day.
[00:45:05] Speaker B: That's some good advice, freshman Nichols. This has been incredibly value beyond. I think most people kind of understanding for those watching, they'll kind of want to go deeper and find more about your book, learn more about your work. How can they connect with you?
[00:45:24] Speaker A: Yeah, so I'm on Instagram a+nick. That's my user handle. My email address is a.Nicholsulac.uk I'm on LinkedIn. I regularly post on LinkedIn and I would love to hear, hear from people about there. Any questions, any insights? You know, I think I'm always open to that and I welcome it. If anyone has any questions from today's question, comments as well.
[00:45:51] Speaker B: Awesome. And they can get their book Amazon anywhere. The latest edition is coming out in July.
[00:45:58] Speaker A: Yeah, it's out in July and I'd recommend holding off for that one out in July. And it's about. I think there's enough, there's lots in there for people who want to be leaders.
Any athletes who read the book coaches.
Yeah, there's quite a lot of diverse topics in there.
[00:46:15] Speaker B: So yeah, absolutely love it. Adam, thank you for sharing your insights today with us.
What you've shown us that performance isn't just about talent. It's about how we respond to pressure, manage stress and how we build resilience over time.
Hey, whether you're an athlete, a coach, leader or anything else, those principles apply across every area of life. And that's all for today's episode of the Game Changer Unlocked. I'm Brian Fetzer reminding you that growth happens when we learn to handle pressure, stay resilient and keep moving forward.
Until next time stay strong, stay focused, and keep changing the game.
