Manipulate Your Flight or Fight Response with OODA LOOP (OODA what?)

Coffee Mindset Go

How do you deal with pressure when it comes to performance? What do you need so you don’t choke? Why do you get nervous? Simple questions to ask but not the easiest to answer. These questions are not answered by a “one size fits all” mentality. But exploring why our bodies respond a certain way will help you perform better. Your brain sends signals from your pituitary gland to the kidneys where the adrenal glad lives. This happens in stressful situations. Adrenaline is released and you start to feel the rapid heart rate. Your chest starts pounding. Your vision becomes sharp and hearing acuter. This is your body’s flight or fight process. It’s been part of the human survival process for 1000s of years. The crazy part about our flight or fight system is your body uses the same process regardless if we are running from T-Rex or speaking in front of 50 people. So what does this tell us? It means as humans we haven’t evolved much since our knuckle-dragging brothers. The threat to human survival has gone way down but even as the apex predator we still use this primal system of flight or fight. In every situation, it’s your own brain determining the threat level delivering the right amount of chemicals (adrenaline) ensuring proper survival. Your own mind determines the proper way to respond which means this can all be controlled. Elite performers control their own body’s response to high-pressure situation. On a weekly basis, how much time do you spend trying to control your body’s automatic response to flight or fight? If the answer is never then you’ll never learn the proper techniques needed to remaining calm in high pressure/ high-stress situations.