in a cookie jar performed better in a free-throw
shooting contest than those who were given an
explanation of the shot’s mechanics. Your client
can achieve a similar benefit by focusing on a
single word that she wants to embody during the
pressure moment (e.g., “cool,” “relaxed,” “fun”).
FURTHER
READING
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Invite your clients to engage in creative
brainstorming to identify other tactics and
strategies they can use to thrive in (rather than
succumb to) pressure moments.
COTEs of Armor
Today, we associate confidence, optimism,
tenacity and enthusiasm (COTE) with individuals’
psychological capital. However, long before the
rise of positive psychology, these traits were
psychological adaptations that arose to help
humans be effective in the face of everyday threats.
From an evolutionary perspective, these attributes
are the natural tools to combat the injurious
effects of pressure. Individuals with high levels of
self-confidence do not see pressure moments
as threats; they see them as challenges and
opportunities. A highly enthusiastic individual is
more likely to embrace a new decision than feel
anxious about it. A highly tenacious individual is
more likely to move forward despite setbacks,
and someone with a high level of optimism will
believe that a goal is reachable, even in the face
of significant obstacles. Someone who possesses
all of these attributes is dressed for success in a
COTE of armor.
ICF BUSINESS
PART N E R S
Choke: What the Secrets of the
Brain Reveal About Getting It
Right When You Have To, by
Sian Beilock (Free Press, 2010)
“Coming Through When it
Matters Most,” by Heidi K.
Gardner (in Harvard Business
Review, April 2012)
22Touch
Annuity Managers
Agency, LCC
Assessments 24x7
AudioAcrobat
choice
Coaching at Work
Coaching-Websites
Forward Metrics
Performing Under Pressure: The
Science of Doing Your Best When
It Matters Most, by Hendrie
Weisinger and JP Pawliw-Fry
(Crown Business, 2015)
“Relax, NBA Players Choke
Too,” by Art Markman, Ph.D.
Read here.
Human Grid
iTelecoach
Moo Business Cards
Nationwide
Frequently, clients who report seeing pressure as a
threat and choke in pressure moments also report
lower COTE. Thus, supporting clients in cultivating
these attributes can have a secondary benefit of
enhancing their response to pressure.
Soffront
Although most pressure moments don’t have
life-or-death ramifications for your clients,
this doesn’t mean they won’t feel that way.
However, by enhancing your own awareness of
what pressure looks like and how it operates,
empowering your clients to do the same, and
fostering strategies for addressing pressure
proactively, you can support positive, effective
responses to pressure moments.
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