, assistant professor of clinical psychiatry, knows all about stress. As associate director of 菠萝视频鈥檚 (PCC), he frequently sees students who are seeking guidance on how to cope with pressure-filled situations. Roughly one in five students visits the PCC during his or her time on campus, and even more attend its outreach and prevention activities.
Drawing upon his background in sports psychology, Sacks often teaches students not just how to cope but how to excel under pressure, much like high-performing athletes. He argues that when stakes are high鈥攚hether on the playing field, in the classroom or in the office鈥攐ne can influence the outcome by following these five tips.
1. ENGAGE IN DELIBERATE PRACTICE.
鈥淵ou鈥檒l never find an expert in his or her field who doesn鈥檛 work hard at it, but there鈥檚 a difference between practice and deliberate practice,鈥� Sacks says. 鈥淒eliberate practice involves setting goals. Ask recreational golfers what they鈥檙e working on in their game, and they probably won鈥檛 be able to tell you. But a professional golfer will.鈥�
2. FOCUS ON WHAT IS WITHIN YOUR CONTROL.
鈥淒uring times of stress, there鈥檚 nearly always something we can control,鈥� he says. 鈥淚f we attribute outcomes, whether good or bad, to things outside of our control, we鈥檙e not motivated to do anything differently in the future. The key is to move toward a controllable attribution.鈥�
3. THINK ABOUT THE UPSIDES OF SUCCESS, NOT FAILURE.
鈥淲hen things go badly, we often catastrophize the situation, but the truth is failure usually isn鈥檛 as bad as we make it out to be,鈥� Sacks says. 鈥淚 like to use the metaphor of walking on a tightrope. Recognizing that you have a net under you can reduce your anxiety, and it鈥檚 not your intention to fall and land in that net. Knowing that it鈥檚 not a life-or-death situation can help you keep your focus on your goal of getting to the other side.鈥�
4. FOLLOW A PRE- AND POST-PERFORMANCE ROUTINE.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really unfortunate when we worry about a task without working on that task. It isn鈥檛 productive, and it ruins our leisure time,鈥� he says. 鈥淭o combat this, most athletes have a simple routine, which gets them from their time off to their time on鈥攍ike baseball pitchers between each pitch. I tell students to do something similar. Go to the same location each time to study, or during tests do short breathing exercises between questions.鈥�
5. DIVERSIFY YOUR LIFE INTERESTS.
鈥淚 encourage people, even when their time allocation is unbalanced, to give at least some thought to a diversity of issues,鈥� Sacks says. 鈥淏esides hobbies and exercise, I鈥檇 suggest talking to friends or family members who have no clue what you鈥檙e invested in. If their affection for you is not contingent upon how you perform, they become your safety net.鈥�