Physicians, like Olympians, are highly trained professionals who do physically and mentally demanding work. Because of that parallel, physicians may find it useful to adopt the training elite athletes use to perform under pressure, Medscape reported July 10.
Medscape spoke to sports psychologists who work with Olympic athletes and other experts to find nine mental techniques physicians can use to perform like Olympians in their work.
- Try "control" exercises: Using a pen and paper, draw a small circle and write the things you can control, for example attitude, effort and preparation. Then draw a bigger circles around the first and fill it with what you can influence. In a third circle that encompasses the first two, write down the things you cannot control. For physicians, this can be a patient's medical history and insurance. Using the diagram as a visual reference, experts recommend focusing on controlling what you can, forgiving yourself when influences go wrong and forgetting about the things you cannot control.
- Argue with yourself on behalf of yourself: High achievers tend to be hard on themselves. When doubts arise, creating a log of evidence to the contrary can help overcome fears and negative self-talk.
- Engage in visualizations: Many athletes do visualizations where they smell the court, hear the crowd and rehearse their performance on the field. Brain studies suggest imagining a task can strengthen motor neural connection and help the brain build a plan to produce certain actions. Visualization can help the brain improve and learn new skills, and be useful before complex or challenging treatments.
- Try cue utilization: This is a method of simplifying more complex tasks to refocus and redirect during challenging moments. Focus on the cues that filter out distractions.
- Protect energy: Taking some time alone before a demanding endeavor can better prepare physicians for a busy day. No one else will necessarily protect a physician's time or space other than themselves.
- Live in the moment: Focusing on the past or future can be distracting and increase the pressure. Using a word like "goldfish" — made famous by Ted Lasso's "be a goldfish" rule — can remind the brain to keep moving forward.
- Focus on what is important in the moment after a setback: After an unexpected problem or mistake, physicians can focus on "what's important now?" Concentrate on fixing the problem.
- Review performance: Athletes watch postgame tapes to identify opportunities for improvement, and physicians can do the same with video-based coaching. This requires sitting down with an experienced colleague to review footage of the physician's work to provide feedback. This is a recommended practice for surgeons, though other specialties may benefit from it as well.
- Align with the environment: Environmental factors can affect a physician's work. Doing a value alignment check by listing the physician's five core values and comparing that to the work environment can be a strong indicator of when changes to the environment may be needed.