We all face stressful moments in our careers, when we have to perform under pressure. This isn't just limited to clinical challenges, there are frequent pressures related to time, resources, learning, exams, and interviews. How do you set yourself up for success? In this episode, Adam Nicholls tells me that success starts well ahead of the moment of performance itself. It is wise to think and plan in advance, so that you have already considered possible challenges and obstacles, and have a plan in place for dealing with them. Visualising events in advance can be useful, and visualisation can focus on touch, sound, smell, as well as what you see. When it comes to training others, there needs to be a focus on strengths as well as on development areas, and over time the stressfulness of the situation should be increased in a supportive learning environment. And in the moment of performance itself, a threat mindset when people worry about threats can cause sabotage, but a mindset of challenge focused on what needs to happen is better.

Adam is a professor of psychology within the Department of Sport, Exercise, and Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Hull, UK. The main focus of his research relates to the psycho-social factors that predict doping among adolescent athletes, along with coping and emotions among athletes.

His research is supported by more than £1.1 million as a principal investigator and £1.5 million including all projects. He has published more than 90 journal articles and written three books. His book, Psychology for Coaches: Theory and Practice has also been translated into Arabic and Hungarian. https://www.routledge.com/Psychology-in-Sports-Coaching-Theory-and-Practice/Nicholls/p/book/9781032062600

In addition to pursuing his own research interests, Adam is the Director of research for the school and also the Research Excellence Framework (REF) lead. 

 You can also watch our conversation at www.youtube.com/@dr-coach/videos