Choking in Public

Once upon a time, I nearly choked to death on a piece of bacon whilst on holiday. A mysterious stranger appeared from the crowd (who were doing nothing to help) and performed a bruising heimlich manoeuvre on me. Once the food was dislodged, the man disappeared and couldn’t be found again.

Today’s blog is about another kind of choking, but in many ways it can be devastating. Choking in public, the instance when the pressure of the moment gets to us and turns highly experienced professional performers into amateurs again.

The curious thing is that amateurs themselves, can’t really choke. It’s because they don’t have the level of skill to momentarily lose, they can only do what they can do and mistakes are just the result of inexperience and lack of fully developed skills.

So choking is uniquely for professionals. And professionals of all kinds can choke, in a sudden moment of fear or confusion or the pressure of the moment the expert-ingrained behaviour short circuits and reduces the professional to the amateur again.

So how do we attempt to divert choke points? It’s rather difficult to stay calm under pressure. You’re there in front of the camera for the first time, even with years of acting under your belt, the director shouts action and you’re left freaking out.

But it’s not just the first time actor that might choke, it’s also the old pro. Whenever we have something to lose, the anxiety we feel rapidly gains.

It’s that sense of pressure, public failure etc, that makes the choke occur. Sometimes, something happens which knocks your confidence, something short circuits your well trained internal mechanisms. Suddenly, you can’t do a thing right. You choke.

So how do you avoid it? Your focus has become shifted to the wrong part of your job. You’re now focusing on your own failure/success, instead you need to shift your attention back to the task at hand. Breathe. Nice and slowly through your mouth. Tell yourself what your task is, quickly visualise yourself doing the task, and then push off from the side and get back to doing it. If you can step away for a moment (if you’re not on stage) do that. Give yourself a proper moment to breathe. Then focus back onto something specific. You need to divert your self consciousness away from getting in your way. This means giving your focus of attention something to click onto.

We are rather uniquely capable of self-sabotage under pressure. But here’s the big thing. Start considering mistakes, failures, bumps, errors and accidents to be part of the job. Because if you prepare yourself for perfection, if things don’t go your way, it’s possible for you to have your confidence knocked easily.   Whenever you practice, learn to cope with the way the moment likes to mess with you. That way, when it doesn’t go your way, you don’t take it as a personal failure.