In the first of our new series of guest blogs, Performance Psychologist, Dr Anna Waters, shares a simple exercise to help performers refocus and achieve their creative goals.
New Year resolutions not working? Performance psychology tips can be more effective than New Year resolutions in getting yourself properly set up for the year ahead.
The turn of the year offers a chance to reflect on the opportunities ahead and the success we would love to achieve on stage and in life. However, as the year starts, it’s easy to get caught up in thinking about all the things you don’t want to happen, or are worried about. For example:
- “I don’t want to get nervous before auditions”
- “I don’t want to worry about what others think of me”
- “What if I’m not good enough this year?”
Everyone’s mind has a limited attention capacity, which means that worries like these can quickly fill your mind and not leave space to focus on what you need to do, in order to deliver your best performance. Specifically, your mind will be filled with anxiety and worries about being nervous, instead of what you need to do to feel calm, focused and confident.
With the performers I work with, we complete an exercise, which helps them learn how to shift their attention onto how they want to be and the behaviours they want to have, rather than be distracted by doubts and anxiety.
Here are some steps you can follow to have a go yourself.
1. Start by getting yourself a blank piece of paper, or something to write on.
2. Initially, you need to identify what the ideal version of yourself as a performer looks like. We often say ‘I want to perform at my best’, but what does that look like? What does that entail? In order to perform in the way you want to, you need to have a clear understanding of what you are aiming for.
3. Think about how you want to be as a performer. What qualities would you ideally like? For example, this could be being focused, calm, resilient, powerful, engaging, professional. There are no rights or wrongs here, it has to be entirely what you believe you need. Write these down and start to form a list.
4. What behaviours do you want to engage in? Write down a list of those that are important to your performance. These can be linked to your qualities, for example:
a. time management – I need to manage my practice time effectively to feel confident and ready to perform.
5. When you get up in the morning spend 10 minutes looking through your list and think about the day ahead and how you can be prepared to engage in being ‘confident’ or ‘calm’ in any challenging situations you have coming up that day.
6. Throughout the day, when you notice yourself getting distracted by fears or worries, shift your focus back to your list and what you need to do, to engage in your ideal qualities and behaviours.
7. If you have a day where nothing goes to plan and you don’t manage to engage in your ideal qualities and behaviours, don’t give up. Spend a few minutes reviewing what happened, what stopped you from engaging in them? Then, make a plan for how you might manage the situation more effectively next time.
8. Ensure you celebrate and take confidence from small steps forwards each day in building your skills and being the performer you want to be.
–
Dr Anna Waters
Dr Anna Waters’ passion for performance psychology started during her time as a professional jockey in horse racing. Whilst watching the other jockeys riding with her, she became fascinated by how some riders were able to deliver their best performances under the pressure of the race, whilst others were unable to cope and underperformed.
With over 20 years expertise supporting the performance and mental health of performing artists and athletes, Anna has been fortunate to work with prominent classical musicians, opera singers, ballet dancers, recording artists, stand-up comedians and actors. She has enjoyed working with national music conservatories, ballet companies and television companies.
Anna loves drawing on her experience of both the performing arts and sporting worlds to help facilitate her work with her clients. She believes that there are many similarities between both arenas, with performers being talented and ambitious people, whose lives are spent working towards big events. Where each day is filled with training, practice, and preparation for the next big event, where they are required to consistently deliver their best performance under the scrutiny of the world.
With a strong academic background, including a PhD in applied sport psychology, Anna spent seven years working alongside Professor Steve Peters sharing The Chimp Model ideologies. This combined with her sport psychology backgrounds forms foundations to her work.
Anna is a Chartered member and Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society and is registered as a practitioner with British Association for Performing Arts Medicine (BAPAM).
–
Related Resources
BAPAM Healthy Practice Training Webinars: Our FREE expert-led sessions for artists, creators and professionals are designed to equip you with essential techniques and strategies to sustain creative practice and prevent health problems
BAPAM’s free health information resources are grounded in research, evidence and best practice. Find actionable tips on Managing Performance Anxiety and Psychological Self-Care plus a range of health resources to support sustainable creativity.