Choking (continued)

One of my US readers pointed me to a Wall Street Journal book review (here) "What Happens Under Pressure: Two books investigate the not-so-fine art of choking." Greg Norman's choke in the 1966 Masters (from comfortable lead to a five stroke loss) is nominated for Choke-of-the-Century. The two books reviewed, Clutch by Paul Sullivan and Choke by Sian Beilock come to conclusions that are similar to Johnah Leher in How We Decide (reviewed in a prior post).

There are a few new insights: (1) The younger you learn your skills, the less you are likely to over-think the situation and choke, (2) People who are basically analytical (anal retentives) have a tendency to over-think and choke, and (3) arrogance ("Pride goeth before the fall").

The recommendations to prevent a choke (at least for sports): (1) distract yourself so you don't over-think the mechanics, (2) keep a steady rhythm, (3) change your technique every so often to avoid going stale, (4) know your abilities (sometimes choking is just not being good enough--more practice, more discipline) and (5) put yourself into competitive situations to learn how to handle the stress.