The Preparation Bank: How to Train for Legendary Performances

What separates elite performers in high-pressure moments? Preparation. In this episode, we break down how Captain Sully’s 2009 emergency plane landing and Ray Allen’s iconic 2013 NBA Finals shot reveal a core principle: Performance under pressure is a reflection of your preparation. Learn how to train both physically and mentally so you can stay composed, execute when it matters most, and avoid relying on hope instead of reps. 

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Transcript

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For all the performers listening to this, whether you realize it or not, you're preparing for a test. You're preparing for a moment where you're going to be asked to perform and deliver when it matters the most, not just for you, but also for others. You're preparing for a moment where everything that you've done and or haven't done is gonna be tested. And in that moment, you're likely not necessarily gonna rise to the occasion, but rather you're gonna fall back on your preparation. And in the world of sport, we love clutch moments, just like last week's Elite Eight contest in the men's uh tournament between Duke and Yukon and the incredible last second shot that took place. And as sports fans, we expect our favorite players and the stars to shine brightest when it matters the most. But most of these moments are orchestrated well in advance. So today's episode of the Win More Live Better Podcast is about making sure that when your moment comes, you've done the work, both physically and mentally, to execute when it matters most. Hey coaches and leaders, I got a quick question for you. You spend a lot of time building game plans for those you lead, but when was the last time you built one for yourself? If you're looking to sharpen your leadership skills, strengthen your team culture, or find better ways to support and challenge your athletes in the mental game, I'd love to help. I'm offering a free coaching call where we can talk through your current challenges and create a simple game plan for what might move the needle most for you, your players, and your program. Most coaches I know obsess over developing their team, but they neglect the person in the mirror. This call is a chance to invest in you because a better you is going to produce a better them. And if that sounds helpful, you can grab a time at Callendly.com slash Zach Brandon. That's Callendly.com slash Zach Brandon, or just check the link in the show notes. I'd love to connect and explore how I can best support you. So before I kind of shine a spotlight on the world of sport, I actually want to give kind of an alternative example about how this can show up for any performer. I want to take us back to January 15th, 2009. Captain Chesley Soli Solenberger took off from LaGuardia Airport, and just minutes into the flight, both engines of the plane failed. The plane had no power, there was no clear options about what to do next, and there was little time to decide. And in one of the most high pressure, pressure situations you could possibly imagine, Soly made the decision to land the plane on of all places the Hudson River. But that decision, that choice, it actually ended up saving all 150 people on board. Now from the outside, it looks a lot like composure under chaos and many other things in between. It was like he rose to the moment. Like this is his version of hitting that huge, massive clutch shot in the world's biggest stage. And in in his particular instance, there's some severe, significant consequences if he makes the wrong decision there. Now later on, he was asked about what helped him stay calm. And his answer is something that's become, I think, kind of legendary, but I think there's a lot of value in it for all of us. He said, For 42 years, I've been making small, regular deposits in this bank of experience, education, and training. And on that day, the balance was sufficient for a very large withdrawal. How about that quote? I I think it's great. He didn't just become a great pilot just because of that one singular moment. It was revealed that he had been building and that he had developed into one over decades. This principle of like the countless unseen hours and preparation is relevant, obviously, in the world of sport. Take, for instance, game six of the 2013 NBA Finals. The Miami Heater down three, five seconds left, and Ray Allen drifts to the corner, catches, and knocks down a game tying three. And in real time, it's gone down as one of the most iconic clutch shots in the history of the NBA from one of the game's all-time sharpshooters. But it was also a product of repetition because since that iconic shot, Allen has actually talked a lot about he had practiced that exact shot in warmups on a regular basis. So when you step back and you look at both of these moments, one from Captain Soli and one from Ray Allen, they're different arenas, there's very different stakes, but there's the same underlying principle that neither performance was created necessarily in real time, but both were revealed in real time. And this is where this becomes relevant to all of us because every single day you're making deposits. The question though is whether they're intentional, because performance under pressure is a withdrawal from your preparation. We like to call it clutch, but what we're often seeing is accumulated preparation simply being cashed in. Now, when pressure hits, your brain, it doesn't all of a sudden say that like you're all of a sudden more capable. It's gonna default to what it's trained. Your body's gonna do the same. So if a moment feels unfamiliar, if your preparation hasn't matched the demand and stress that's now been placed on you, that's when all of a sudden panic will start to show up. Panic is your brain's way of calling you out. It signals when maybe you haven't put in the work that you know you needed to. So if all of this is true, then the real question becomes what are you depositing? Because if you want to be ready for pressure, then you have to start being more intentional with how you prepare for it. Here's a few things, very simple things, that I think can help. First is you have to align your reps with the actual reality and demands. So in other words, don't just practice skills. Make sure that you're practicing and you're rehearsing those specific moments where those skills are gonna be demanded most. If you're an athlete, that might mean ending workouts with more game-like scenarios when you're fatigued, putting yourself in situations that you know you're gonna face and do so before they arrive, physically and mentally. Second, it's helpful to train under as much pressure as you can at times, not just in the form of comfort. Make sure you're adding constraints to your preparation, using maybe time on the clock, uh, creating consequences, making sure that there's stakes in the form of like tracking outcomes. Um, the more stakes you create, the more it helps kind of heighten kind of that sense of pressure. Because if your training is always calm and controlled, then don't expect to suddenly feel composed when it's not. And then one last one here that kind of gets overlooked is I think uh for the coaches listening to this, you can really help players make sure that they're tracking their deposits. Paying attention to what you're depositing day to day, no matter how big or small, that can serve as a reminder and most importantly as evidence that you're prepared for what you may face. Because the reality is you're gonna be tested. And when you are, it won't feel calm. So your preparation can't always be either. So take a moment and ask yourself if your biggest moment showed up tomorrow, would your balance be sufficient? Where are you maybe underprepared right now? And where are you relying on maybe something like hope instead of the actual hard-earned reps and evidence in your preparation? Because when your moment comes and it will, you're not gonna have time all of a sudden to prepare on the spot. You're only gonna have time to make a withdrawal, and you're gonna hope that that preparation bank is full. Thanks for listening.