Peak Performance, Repetition and Failure

Peak performance, regardless of level, is still peak performance. And in the beginning, performance in front of others with an unknown outcome brings about all sorts of fears of the unknown. This situation feeds your brain with phrases and feelings that make little sense away from the situation, but when you’re facing the situation for the first few times they are real to you.

Being able to perform, especially in front of others, is a skill that is developed through – you guessed it – repetition and failure. This is where repeated rituals can begin to calm you down. The reason a ritual can calm you down is that it allows your brain to know what is coming next.

These rituals can be seen in many sports, from bouncing the tennis ball a certain number of times before you serve or bouncing the basketball a certain number of times before a free throw or practice swings for a baseball player before he steps into the batter’s box. These rituals allow the brain to remember previous situations when the rituals were used and what followed. It becomes more relaxed because it knows what is coming next.

When your rituals are the same rhythm and sequence and you preload your brain with clear visual movies of where and how you want the shot to take place, then the action you are about to perform can take place without thinking – and success is frequently the result!

We have observed that it is a lack of a vivid preload of the movie of where and how you want the shot to come together that shooters don’t use when they are practicing. This is what keeps them from using it when competing.