Five things from this week’s episode:
1. Talent becomes useless the moment it has to be used under pressure. At twenty-one, I beat a world vice champion in his own city, in overtime, where the first score ends it. He was the more talented fighter. That wasn’t the deciding factor.
2. Certainty is built, not issued at birth. When I walked on the mat, I felt it belonged to me and everyone else was an intruder. That came from years of training two and three times a day, not from temperament.
3. Your opponent’s ability is outside your control. I never spent a second on how good the other man was. I worked only on what I could control: composure, breathing, body language, timing, distance, execution.
4. Preparation and pressure training are two different things. A director I worked with knew his board material better than anyone in the room — he built the model himself. One unexpected question three minutes in and he lost the thread. He wasn’t underprepared. He had never trained for the moment things stop going to plan.
5. This week’s assignment: don’t avoid tough situations. Walk into them. Then notice your breathing, your composure, your body language, how you speak to your family and colleagues, and how you decide when the going gets hard.
When you see how pressure affects you, you’ll know where you have the most room to improve.
This is the Huddle. Every Monday: a few minutes, one idea about performing under pressure, and one piece of work to do before we talk again. We meet, we get the assignment, we go.
I want to start with what taught me that talent becomes useless the moment it has to be used under pressure.
I was twenty-one, competing for my first national title in the former Yugoslavia. My quarterfinal opponent was a world vice champion. He was more talented than me; it was in his city, and the crowd was behind him. I won in overtime, where whoever scores first wins and there’s no room for a mistake. There were bigger wins after that, against men more gifted than I was.
So how is it possible that talent, even well-developed talent, guarantees nothing?
When I walked on the mat, I felt the mat belonged to me. Anyone else was an intruder, and there was only one possible outcome: the intruder got defeated. That feeling was not a gift. It was built — years of training two and three times a day, and my teammates knew I would not quit a session short of a heart attack. Pain and discomfort were my fuel.
My opponents sensed it. I never spent a second thinking about how good and talented they are. That was outside my control. I worked only on what I could control: composure, breathing, body language, timing, distance, execution.
Here’s what it looks like when performing under pressure hasn’t been built. A director came to me after a board presentation. He knew the material better than anyone in the room — he built the model himself. Three minutes in, a VP asked a question he had already answered on the previous slide, and he lost his train of thought. He rushed the rest and sat down. He wasn’t underprepared. His problem was that he had never trained for the moment when things don’t go as planned.
So, your work before the next Huddle: assess yourself under pressure. Don’t avoid tough situations — walk into them. While you’re in them, notice your breathing, your composure, your body language. Notice how you speak to your family and your colleagues. Notice how you decide when the going gets hard.
When you see how pressure affects you, you’ll know where you have the most room to improve.
That was Huddle number one. Take your position and get to work.