Staying Calm Under Pressure: Science-Backed Strategies for Athletes and Performers

By, Dr. Seth Rose (CMPC®) – O2X Mental Performance Specialist

“The ability to handle pressure is all in how you look at it. I look at being put under pressure as an opportunity to show how strong and capable you and your team really are.” – Coach Krzyzewski, former Duke Men’s Head Basketball Coach (1980-2022)

High performers know that skill alone isn’t enough if you can’t access it in high-stakes moments. The training is there. The preparation is done, however, in critical moments or under pressure, the body doesn’t always respond the way you practiced. Heart rate spikes, focus narrows, breathing shortens, and suddenly, routine tasks feel unfamiliar. Every high performer has felt this in one way or another.

Pressure doesn’t discriminate. It shows up in competition, on stage, in front of a crowd, or in moments where no one is watching but everything is on the line. What separates consistent performers isn’t talent or motivation, but the ability to manage that internal response. Staying calm under pressure isn’t a personality trait, it’s a trained skill, and like any other performance component, it can be developed with the right tools, perspective, and practice.

Understanding Pressure and Performance

Stress is often misunderstood as something to avoid, but at its core, it’s simply the body’s response to change or demands. Selye’s original 1936 definition may be one of the best: “Stress – the nonspecific response of the body to any demand for change” (Jamieson et al., 2018). It’s a subtle acknowledgment that stress is not inherently good or bad.

Stress responses can show up physically (e.g., increased heart rate, muscle tension), or cognitively (e.g., self-doubt, overthinking, frustration). The key is to recognize that you can either react automatically or respond intentionally to stressors. Learning to pause and use adaptive coping mechanisms may lead to better performance outcomes and enhanced well-being (Nicholls et al., 2016).

Mindset and Perspective Shifts

Not all stress or pressure is inherently bad, it’s your interpretation of the moment, and your response, that determines the outcome. For example, pressure can be reframed as a signal of importance rather than a threat (e.g., Reversal Theory, Apter, 2007).

The Transactional Model of Stress and Coping (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984) explains stress as a product of how we appraise, or interpret, a given situation. This process involves two key stages: first, evaluating whether the situation is relevant or potentially threatening (primary appraisal), and second, assessing whether we have the resources to cope with it (secondary appraisal). These appraisals shape how we experience and respond to stress. If a high-stakes moment feels like a threat and you doubt your ability to manage it, performance can suffer. However, if you see it as a challenge and trust your preparation, that same stress can fuel performance (Jones et al., 2009).

This challenge-versus-threat response depends on the balance between perceived demands (e.g., difficulty, evaluations, consequences) and perceived resources (e.g., skills, knowledge, equipment, team). When resources meet or slightly exceed demands, a challenge response is more likely, supporting clarity, confidence, and effective execution. But when demands outweigh perceived resources, a threat response can kick in, leading to overthinking, tension, and poor performance.

Those butterflies? They’re not red flags, but green lights. Your body isn’t betraying you, it’s gearing you up for the challenge. Reframing those nerves as a performance signal can prevent spiraling thoughts and channel that energy to compete with confidence. When you make this shift, nerves stop working against you and start working for you. You can walk into your performance feeling prepared instead of panicked.

You don’t need to get rid of the butterflies. You just need to teach them to fly in formation.

These mindset shifts are not just theoretical. Research with Navy SEALs Special Warfare Training found that candidates reporting greater “stress-is-enhancing mindsets” persisted 12% longer in training, finished obstacle courses 4.2% faster, and received 60% fewer negative evaluations from peers. They weren’t free from difficulty, they reframed it as growth. This mindset shift has been linked to more adaptive physiological responses, improved performance, and better long-term well-being (Crum et al., 2017; Smith et al., 2019).

Self-Regulation and Breathwork

Self-regulation is foundational for high performance. It includes eating well, sleeping, recovering properly, moving regularly, and using tools like meditation and breathwork. These habits support both mental and physical readiness, but especially under pressure, your ability to self-regulate can make or break performance.

On a nervous system level, combining slow, intentional breathing with cognitive reappraisals helps shift your body from reactive to responsive. Over time, this builds your capacity to recognize when you’re overly tense or under-activated and adjust accordingly. The breath becomes your dial to regulate this energy effectively.

This regulation must be practiced outside of the “danger zone.” Just like you wouldn’t pack random gear in your bag before you compete without using it beforehand. You can’t throw yourself into chaos and expect calm without prior reps. Just a few minutes a day of slow, intentional breathing (~5–7 breaths per minute) has been shown to reduce anxiety, increase clarity and focus, and shift the autonomic nervous system toward a recovery state (Laborde et al., 2022; Magnon et al., 2021; Zaccaro et al., 2018).

Other Mental Strategies for Performance Under Pressure

1. Mindful Attention – Present-moment focus and self-awareness can reduce overthinking and redirect your attention when it drifts under pressure. It helps you notice distractions and return your attention to what matters most in the moment (Zanesco et al., 2019).

2. Imagery – Visualization is more than picturing success. It’s mentally rehearsing movements, sensations, and emotions of your performance. Frameworks like the PETTLEP model (Physical, Environment, Task, Timing, Learning, Emotion, Perspective) create stronger mind-body connections, and improve execution (Wakefield & Smith, 2012).

3. Productive Self-Talk  – The way you talk to yourself shapes how you interpret pressure. Replacing fear-based thoughts with grounded ones like “I’ve trained for this” or “This feeling means I’m ready” helps calm the mind and build confidence.

4. Pre-Performance Routines – Consistent, intentional behaviors signal the body and mind that it’s time to perform. These routines create a sense of control and familiarity, and can anchor your focus to the task at hand. They might include controlled breathing patterns, mental cues (e.g., “locked in”), imagery, music, or specific physical warmups.

Final Thoughts

“Pressure is a privilege.” It’s more than a quote; it’s a reminder of what’s at stake. Ultimately, pressure doesn’t have to be the enemy of performance. It reveals where your habits, preparation, and mindset stand. When you train your response to pressure with intention, pressure shifts from something that can derail you into something that sharpens you. The goal isn’t to avoid pressure, it’s to build the capacity to meet it, manage it, and thrive within it.

References:

1.Apter, M. J. (2007). Reversal theory: The dynamics of motivation, emotion, and personality. Oneworld Publications.

2.Bali, A., & Jaggi, A. S. (2015). Clinical experimental stress studies: Methods and assessment. Reviews in the Neurosciences, 26(5), 555–579.

3. Crum, A. J., Akinola, M., Martin, A., and Fath, S. (2017). The role of stress mindset in shaping cognitive, emotional, and physiological responses to challenging and threatening stress. Anxiety Stress Coping, 30, 379–395.

4. Jamieson, J. P., Mendes, W. B., Blackstock, E., & Schmader, T. (2018). Turning the knots in your stomach into bows: Reappraising arousal improves performance on the GRE. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46(1), 208–212.

5. Jones, M., Meijen, C., McCarthy, P. J., and Sheffield, D. (2009). A theory of challenge and threat states in athletes. Int. Rev. Sport Exerc. Psychol. 2, 161–180.

6. Laborde, S., Allen, M. S., Borges, U., Dosseville, F., Hosang, T. J., Iskra, M., Mosley, E., Salvotti, C., Spolverato, L., Zammit, N., & Javelle, F. (2022). Effects of voluntary slow breathing on heart rate and heart rate variability: A systematic review and a meta-analysis. Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews, 138, 104711.

7. Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. Springer.

8. Magnon, V., et al. (2021). Effects of a five-minute slow breathing exercise on immediate anxiety and physiological stress. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 52, 101831.

9. Nicholls, A. R., et al. (2016). Coping and performance in sport: A meta-analytic review. Sports Medicine, 46(9), 1239–1268.

10. Smith, E. N., Young, M. D., & Crum, A. J. (2020). Stress, Mindsets, and Success in Navy SEALs Special Warfare Training. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 2962.

11. Wakefield, C. & Smith, D. (2012): Perfecting Practice: Applying the PETTLEP Model of Motor Imagery, Journal of Sport Psychology in Action, 3(1), 1-11

12. Zaccaro, A., et al. (2018). How breath-control can change your life: A systematic review on psychophysiological correlates of slow breathing. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 11, 353.

13. Zanesco, A. P., Denkova, E., Rogers, S. L., MacNulty, W. K., & Jha, A. P. (2019). Mindfulness training as cognitive training in high-demand cohorts: An initial study in elite military servicemembers. Progress in brain research, 244, 323–354.

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