Here’s a great method to help you overcome your fears when you play a competitive match.

I just finished reading a great article over at one of my favorite marketing blogs, CopyBlogger.com, where the subject of the article focuses on conquering your entrepreneurial fears.

And the more I read, the more I was able to relate to the same fears we have when we play matches.

When I started playing a lot of tournaments in my mid 20s, I was a complete mess in matches.  Tighter than a drum, it was as if I could lose to anybody.

In my practice matches, I was pretty good with my nerves, but once I got into the real deal where the matches counted, I was just a basket case.  I’d be cramping all the way even after matches that weren’t very close.

And one of the things in the article over at CopyBlogger that reminded me of what it was like back then for me as a tournament player is that I finally got good and disgusted with myself.

I was sick and tried of being a mental midget out there and it motivated me to figure this thing out.

So I began to watch the top players and see how they behaved in their matches, how they dealt with close matches, and basically just tried to feel what they were feeling.

And I guess it was just a stroke a luck, but I then tried to act in my matches they way the did in their matches.

I simply got out of myself and into someone else – I became an actor.

And for me it worked.  And it still works to this day.  If I’m really struggling in a match and those little voices are going off in my head about this and that (mostly saying “you idiot, how can you play like crap against this guy?”), I’ll force myself to try to act like someone else.

No, I’m not trying to play like someone else, but I’m trying to act the way let’s say Borg would be between points, or Pete, or Roger, or even one of my contemporaries like Brian Cheney.

I try to do what I think they would do in this situation between points.

And it’s not a guarantee, but it is the only hope I have for turning around this match that isn’t going the way I want it to…

It’s definitely helped me get through & win matches where I was fearful of losing big time, especially against the top players.

So, how about you?

Can you become an actor out there and side step your fears temporarily and act the way someone else you admire might conduct themselves?

Let me know below in the Comments area.  Thanks in advance.

Brent

CopyBlogger article – “The Cowardly Lion’s Guide To Conquering Your Entrepreneurial Fears “