In this episode, you will learn what causes you to freeze during games, and what you can do to stop freezing and perform freely!
Have you experienced the feeling of freezing up? It’s when you’re stuck in your tracks, unable to perform freely. You may be a speaker and you can’t seem to get words to form, a soccer player who won’t shoot on goal, or a baseball player who simply freezes up at the plate.
A great example of freezing up in the middle of competition comes from a high school basketball player I was working with. The frustration he is feeling truly highlights how impactful this type of behavior is.
He expressed to me how he trains relentlessly, putting up two-hundred shots a day. That type of repetition is amazing and crucial to building mastery and gaining confidence. Though, there is one major problem. In the games, he can’t shoot.
The young man freezes up whenever he gets the ball. In his words, “It’s not even that I’m performing poorly, I’m not performing at all.” How frustrating! You put in all that effort to train your skills, but when it comes time to show off your talents, your mind inhibits you from doing so.
I experienced this myself on quite a few occasions. Stepping into the batter’s box, my mind, at times, would be full of clutter. Concerns and fears swimming around, clouding the freedom I needed to perform naturally.
In these instances, I would freeze up on even the most perfect pitches. I can remember taking a pitch right down the middle, stepping out of the box, and thinking, “What am I doing, why didn’t I swing at that?”
It makes no logical sense why we freeze up. As an athlete or performer, competition time is supposed to be your moment to shine, allowing your hard work to be rewarded and showcasing your talents. But that’s not possible when an uncontrollable mind takes over.
Why do we freeze up? What is it about performances that lead to us becoming unable to execute freely?
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