"What if I mess up?" 5 practices to silence self-sabotaging voice to do your best under pressure. Learning from Big Wave Surfing.

The moments that can change your life usually arrive with a racing heart and a loud inner voice that says, “What if I mess this up?”

I want to show you a different way to meet that moment, using a 5-pillar high performance psychology framework inspired by big wave surfer Matt Bromley, a “storm rider” who repeatedly performs in conditions where one mistake can cost everything.

We break down what consistently strong performers do before the pressure hits: prepare the core skill and the small subskills until they’re automatic, then simulate the real challenge so the environment stops feeling threatening. We also get practical about stress and anxiety. If you can’t regulate your physiology, your performance mindset won’t stick, which is why we talk breathwork, visualization, and stress conditioning tools that help keep your brain online when your body wants to panic.

Next we cover “mapping the terrain,” the underrated performance advantage of removing surprises by walking the stage, checking the mic, studying conditions, and doing your research. Finally, we get to the master switch that changes everything: shifting from a threat response to a challenge response. You’ll hear the kind of self-talk Matt uses to flip fear into focus and purpose, plus a clear recap you can apply before your next presentation, meeting, interview, or competition.

If this helps you, subscribe, share it with someone who’s facing a high-stakes moment, and leave a review so more people can learn to lean into the challenge.

Transcript

Why High Stakes Break Performance

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Hi guys, and welcome back to another episode of Change Wired Podcast. My name is Angela Shorina. I'm your host, I'm your partner in personal and collective transformation, your guide on the path towards unlocking and using more of your potential, and just someone who believes that in each of us there is a lot of potential that we are yet to discover, tap into, and use to transform our ordinary existence into extraordinary lives. Today, guys, I'm gonna share with you a five-step framework that is based on research in high-performance psychology, uh high performance training, and I'm gonna share it through the lens of Matt Bromley's story. Matt Bromley, I attended his talk a couple of days ago here in Cape Town at a business networking event. And Matt Bromley is a big wave surfer, someone who is, I guess you might say, if you are in the world of uh surfing, famous, someone who rides some of the biggest waves in the biggest storms all around the world. And yes, he is originally here from South Africa, where he has his family and spends majority of his time. And so to be able to ride those waves time after time after time without dying, Matt had to learn how to muster a specific framework to that that allows him to do his best to perform really at a high level and that allows him to not die in the situation, situations where stakes are super high, and you can literally die at any moment. So this podcast episode is about sharing with you five step or five pillar framework that Matt uses to do his best in the ocean, and that also a lot of high performers that I learned about, interviewed, talked to, that I read about, some really famous people who perform consistently at a higher level. So they all use a combination of these steps. Sometimes they're more aware of this, like Matt, and sometimes they're not that aware of it. But for you, the outcome is uh now when you're gonna prepare for the next high stakes situation or the situation where you need to perform, if not at your highest level, then at least optimal level, and definitely trying to do your absolute best you're capable of instead of because of the pressure, anxiety, or stress, or you know, this like internal feeling that is so hard to manage in those situations, not doing your best, not showing up with your full capability, and because of that, sort of shooting yourself in the food and not seizing the opportunities that could transform your life at this stage into like the next level and extraordinary experience that's gonna blow your mind. So, five-step framework is what you're gonna learn about today, and then what you go you you can do or make notes, and the next time that you need to prepare for that high-stake situation, whether that's an important presentation or public speaking or performing some physical skill, so you have a toolkit that will allow you again, if not do your absolute best, then definitely a lot better, helping you to open up and tap into as much potential as possible.

Matt Bromley And Storm Riding

SPEAKER_00 4:13

So, Matt's story. Um, again, Matt Bromley is a big wave surfer and he's been doing it for quite a while. And look, you can look him up, Matt Bromley, and you'll easily find him online. And he was presenting his uh framework for performing really well at this high-stakes situation where you can literally die every minute. And a lot of people absolutely loved his story and thought about how they can apply like this mindset of what uh Matt uh calls or frames as storm rider, right? Embracing the challenge, embracing what seems difficult ahead, and instead of shrinking and wanting to uh for this experience to be over as soon as possible, and definitely not showing up with your full capacity and potential, instead of that, how to open up, embrace the challenge and do his best. So while people really loved his story, everyone loved his story. I listened in and made a lot of notes. And by the way, we're gonna have Matt Bromley on our podcast sometime soon. I really listened in into his framework that he presented on how he gets to do his best so consistently. And without further ado, let me introduce to the framework. So,

Preparation Through Subskills And Reps

SPEAKER_00 5:40

step number one, preparation. Matt talked a lot about preparation. Before you know, you can get out there and ride the biggest waves uh in the world, you definitely need to have to have some skills dialed in. And yes, it comes from actual surfing in the ocean, but even before that, if you really want to dial in all the smaller skills, all the sub skills, even things like you know, holding your breath, which doesn't necessarily seem like the number one skill for you to ride those waves, but there are a while riding those big waves, it's not just about riding the wave, it's also just staying alive and holding your breath allows you when the water overtakes you. That happens uh all the time in the uh you know surfing world when people try to ride those huge, I don't know, 10-story building kind of waves. So holding your breath allows you to survive and to be alive when the water runs over you and takes you into the ocean. So those minutes really matter, right? And when we think about high performance, it's not just about performing in this situation that we need to embrace, whether that's presentation or as I'm speaking again publicly, those are the things that I usually have to do in my work all of the time. It's not just about speaking, it's not just about presenting, it's also about those smaller subskills that allow that bigger skill set to be used optimally. And we're also going to talk about some of those biological sub-skills that Matt uses, and we all need to learn to some degree to perform really well in challenging situations. So preparation, right? You repeat and repeat and repeat until the skills that you need to use in this stressful, challenging situation becomes automatic. That you do them without thinking. So that preparation really matters, especially at a high uh level with high-stak situation, especially if it's life-threatening. So preparation, learning those sub-skills in the pool and in uh different environments which allow you to safely fail a lot and just put in the reps.

Simulate The Real Conditions

SPEAKER_00 8:04

The second thing is simulating the challenge, training not just in the pool and not just in sort of uh safer environments, but also as much as possible, getting yourself out there, getting yourself in the ocean, getting yourself on stage, getting yourself to present in front of people, right? Recording yourself in front of the camera and really knowing your content for speaking, for example, it's great preparation, but what's even better is actually often getting out there and speaking in front of people as often as possible. So simulating the challenge, it's a very that's why you know top stand-up comedians also before they get to present the the routine that grabs people on bigger stages all the time that key they keep showing up in smaller club clubs, testing stuff out, but still like in front of the public in very similar environments, so they get to the point where the environment feels like home ground and it doesn't make them more anxious, or at least not as anxious, not so it doesn't feel foring or threatening, but instead it feels again like home ground, it feels like familiar space, which decreases your stress responses, which allows you in the same sort of high-stakes situation to keep your brain online instead of overwhelmed and anxious, and focus on delivering the best that you can. So, simulating the challenge that you need to take on in many possible forms, another high performance technique that every single high performer who does great things consistently uses. So, number one is preparations and learning the skills and sub-skills in not necessarily simulating the challenge, but in more in a safer environment till automaticity, and then the second one is simulating the challenge, getting out there and actually performing whatever you need to do in the situation which is as close to where you need to perform as possible.

Control Biology With Breathwork

SPEAKER_00 10:18

The third one is things like breath work and visualization. The basic idea here is before you can deliver anything cognitively, before you can try to control your mind and your emotions, your focus in the high-stakes situations, you need to be able to control your biology. Biology drives your emotions and mindsets and things like uh anxiety and worries. How your body feels will define to a large degree how your mind goes. And so, if you don't learn how to control your biology through things like breath work, visualization, different other tools, like, for example, conditioning your body and brain for stress, so stress doesn't feel that stressful, like cold um exposure, for example, is very very helpful for that, or high-intensity interval training also familiarizes your body with the state of stress without feeling like it's threatening and overwhelming your thinking, your emotions to the point that you can't really perform well, right? So, controlling your biology through tools like breath work, which Matt also emphasized and is uses regularly, right? He explained like when you're on that wave, you really need to be present in the moment, not in the future, not uh, you know, in the state of panic. You need to still be, you need to still have your brain online thinking through the situation through every turn, so you literally don't die. And breath work uh allows you as one of the tools and also exposing yourself to different stressors and still uh trying to think and do your best and calm down, you know, when your body is in the stress situation, but you can keep your mind still using your breath work, one of the tools that allows you to switch your nervous system from stress and fight-to-flight to rest and digest, by, for example, controlling your breath rate and focusing on exhales. That is a very powerful tool that again allows your brain to stay online and thinking instead of reacting on autopilot like a scared animal. Like tools again, right? Like breath work and other tools that allow you to work with your physiology help you to do so. So then when you are on stage and you're feeling quite agitated, you don't panic and don't screw up your performance, completely forgetting what you are going to say, or just not doing your best or as best as you could. Like those tools again are very helpful, and when you learn how to use them in all possible scenarios. Like, for example, when I'm on stage and I forget a line or something breaks, I don't like and my presentation doesn't work and my mic stops working, or somebody uh interrupts me, etc., or somebody, something happens. Breath work is what I use right there on stage. I'm like, okay, let me take a deep breath. And I usually, you know, do it somewhat not that noticeable quietly. Sometimes I even uh teach it people right from the stage and tell people, yeah, this is what's happening, this is what I'm using, and here is why. That allows me to get back on track and continue, and maybe not continue from the same start, but not being stuck without words as well. So breath work again and controlling your biology is what allows you to go from controlled by your state to in control of your state.

Map The Terrain Before You Start

SPEAKER_00 14:01

The fourth one is map the terrain, and what's that's all about is before my first big public speaking event, someone gave me a simple tip go and walk the stage, check the mic, talk to the media team, look at the screens, the lighting, know what you're walking into before you walk into. I talked to a few car racers here in Cape Town. Car racing is actually kind of big here, and they told me how they need to walk the track, feel the road, smell the dirt almost before they ride it. And they swear about it, like there are successes. Your brain makes a lot better decisions, guys, when the environment is not a surprise, and uh very often it's it's very unconscious. You don't think about that, that your brain uses this information to make better decisions, but your brain does. And once you also notice that it really helps you, then you notice it even more, and your brain pays even more attention. In terms of math, before they go to write any big wave, they look up the conditions like what the literally terrain is like, what's the geography, what's the maybe history, what the temperature, what the wind, they they compare that to their previous experiences, their notes, and what they learned from that, right? They might look up some information, all of that to again help their brain to make fast decisions a lot better, having that information in place so that the outcome is as positive as it possibly can be. Don't underestimate it, right? When you know the terrain, again, you feel a lot like home, you feel a lot calmer, and also the brain can adjust so much better when it knows what to expect. So mapping the terrain is another high-performance psychology and high performance sort of technique that allows high performers, people who deliver great results and use as much of their potential as possible in high-stakes situations. That is what they consistently do. And that's also any high performer would do, of course, before that. Okay, let me walk the stage, let me try the instrument, let me try my mic, all of this. Which sometimes, as a newbie, you might not think about like I'm just gonna focus on my presentation, I'm gonna deliver it. No, walking the road that you're gonna run on is actually very, very helpful for your brain to make better decisions and stay calm under pressure. And then the fifth, but definitely not last, I would say it's the foundational.

Flip Threat Into Challenge

SPEAKER_00 16:48

And the reason why I'm bringing it last because I wanted to remember it a lot better, and that's what also Matt promly swears by, what allows him to deliver his best performance almost every time he goes to ride those waves. And the most important thing is the switch that you do in your mind, and the same switch that, according to Matt and from my experience, allows you to go from just existing and staying in your comfort zone to growing and leaning in to challenges that allow you to unlock and test and develop more and more of your potential. So, what is the switch? The switch from threat to challenge in your psychology and in your brain. The switch from Matt's in Matt's words, what if I die? What if I can't? What if it goes wrong? To this is the opportunity of a lifetime to do my best, to explore my limits, to unlock my next level, from hiding to leaning in, from avoiding to looking forward to it. Psychology has a name for it. The switch from threat, stress response, I don't have the capacity to handle this, to challenge stress response. I'm capable of figuring this out, and I can't wait to give it my best. Which one is active? Threat response or challenge response determines everything, guys. Threat response narrows you, even your biology, like your blood circulation goes out of your brain and towards your limb, towards sort of your core center, so you don't bleed to death, your blood pressure goes up, your cortisol go up, you have like blood sugar, and what happens is you're not at your best, you are reacting, responding really fast to just keep you alive. And it's never the place where you unlock more of your potential, it's the place of survival, staying comfortable, staying where you are. Challenge response, and again, in uh psychology and in research, in the high performance psychology, and just uh in the stress research, researchers, scientists separate those two responses, and it was quite recent that they realized that stress is not all the same. We have different responses to stress, and one is actually quite beneficial, this challenge response, and one the threat response might also be beneficial depending on the situation you are in, but it's definitely not the one that's gonna unlock and help you use more of your potential. So, challenge response. It opens you up, it sharpens your senses and synchronizes your biology, your psychology, it puts you into your big potential. It's the leaning in, the approach towards challenge state. And what determines which uh stress response you get is what Matt discovered, and high performance psychology confirms what you tell yourself and how you frame the challenge ahead or the stress ahead in your mind. Some of the things that Matt consistently tells himself when he starts fearing and feeling this anxiety about the upcoming experience that can interrupt his best performance. So, one of the Matt's go-to lines that he learned really work for him. I am a storm rider, I was born for this. This is the opportunity to unlock my potential and fulfill my purpose. You can almost feel the energy in this phrase. I'm a storm rider, I was born for this. This is the opportunity to unlock my potential and fulfill my purpose. You almost feel the drive, the charge, the like the desire to get out there and ride that thing, right? And that's the master switch that turns that flips your ordinary existence in the comfort zone into your extraordinary life. And the choice again is yours. And the question is have you learned how to flip that switch yet? I'm gonna finish up. We're

Purpose On The Other Side of Fear

SPEAKER_00 21:22

gonna recap the whole episode, but I wanna first uh share with you Matt's favorite quote that he believes he's there to show off and to deliver and share with all of us through his life, through his uh craft of riding those big waves. So the quote Our big moments of purpose lie on the other side of our fear. And what Matt learned, and I also learned myself and through with my clients, is that To get to that other side of your fear, you need to really master this master switch, helping you to get from, you know, I have to do this, it's a threat, to I get to do this, leaning into the most challenging but also expanding moments that help you to figure out to experience what you are capable of on the edge of your potential to then lean into that, grow it, and keep moving forward on your journey of self-awareness, self-growth, and self-development. Our big moments of purpose lie on the other side of our fear. And to get to that other side of your fear, you need to master that switch from threat to challenge in real moments of your life and work. Guys, don't forget, please, to share this podcast episode with one other person who might not yet like mastered, who haven't yet mastered this switch from threat to challenge, from I have to to I get to, from being anxious and avoiding hard things to leaning into and responding and taking them on, growing through experience more and more and more into the person who they were destined to be all along. Yes. So please share this podcast episode. Let's help each other grow and lean into challenges that unlock more of our potential.

Five Pillars Recap And Goodbye

SPEAKER_00 23:35

And before I go, as usual, the recap five step or five pillar framework for doing your best under pressure and leaning into the challenge without feeling incapacitated by your own anxieties and worries. So number one, prep, train the skills, the sub-skills to automaticity that allow big things to happen without overwhelming you. Simulate the challenge. You know, training in the pool or in front of your camera is nice, but getting out there on the ocean and in front of other people speaking, that's where your mastery will really start moving, start moving forward. Breath work, you gotta control your biology before you can control your mind. So practice tools like breath work, like exposing yourself to stress through cold plunges and similar experiences, to then being able to, even in the most stressful situations, be in control of your mind instead of it controlling you. Mapping the terrain, number four, walk the walk before you have to run on it or ride it. It helps your brain to make better decisions when you actually start running or driving it. Map the terrain, don't go cold into unfamiliar territory, or at least do your research. And then use the switch from if I die, what if I die, what if I can't, what if something goes wrong? To this is the opportunity of my life to be my best, to test and explore my limits and to unlock my next level. Right? Our peak moments of purpose lie on the other side of your fear. And to get to that other side, you need to learn how to control that switch. So, have you learned how to flip your switch yet? Thank you guys for tuning in. Thank you for listening. Appreciate you a lot. Uh, if you have any questions, need any help, feel free to reach out. Info at your bestculture.com or Angela Brainbody Coach, Angela Brainbody Coach, all one word on Instagram. And till next time, guys, keep growing. And the most important thing, keep leaning into the challenge that you definitely can take on.