#Verified: Georgia Ridler
Georgia Ridler not only works with the top 1% – she's a member of this rare tribe herself. As Lead Performance Psychologist for the Australian Olympic team, Georgia is one of the country's most experienced and sought-after professionals.
Here, Georgia speaks to us about performing under pressure, setting effective goals, and her famous "quiet mind" MP3s.
One of your specialities is fostering peak performance under immense pressure. How do you advise athletes approach this?
Georgia Ridler: I rely on a formula because it helps shape the different considerations when you're trying to perform under stress. So the formula for me is: accept + own + focus = peak performance.
Accepting is making sure that you understand the physiological response and the environment you're stepping into, and that you will have a natural, physiological, and mental response to that. Then you can move to owning that, which is the second part of the formula. Once you can own your response, then you can finish off with focusing on what's actually important – what's meaningful to you in terms of your performance.
Everyone focuses on owning and trying to be confident. Everyone focuses on focusing strategies. But very rarely do people really understand the physiological response that happens when we're under stress. Accept that that's part and parcel of it, rather than try to avoid it or get upset or worried that we're feeling nervous. It's more about understanding and accepting it so that you can perform with it as opposed to trying to run away from it.
On that, actors can sometimes be smashing it in rehearsal, then fail to do the same in performance. What would be a helpful strategy for us in these situations?
GR: When we train, we generally train without the stresses and pressure. Of course, training is still relatively stressful, but not to the extent that you'd experience when you're performing. What happens when we perform is we're exposed to the unfamiliar. When we're training and practising and practising and practising, everything becomes familiar.
We think that what's changed is this bigger, stressful event, but actually what's changed is that we now have some unfamiliarity. And if we're not used to performing through unfamiliarity, that's when we start to get nervous.
So, as much as possible, you want to try and practise it. If there are ways that you can put yourself under that bit more stress or pressure during training – whether that's having colleagues or friends watch you – then you've had some experiences of performing in unfamiliar situations, and you're setting yourself up for greater success.
You've emphasised the importance of "high-performance environments". Can you talk to us about what this looks like in practice?
GR: One thing athletes do really well now is they prepare to perform.
Typically, our external environment sits outside of our control. Sometimes we have influence over it, but often we don't. We also have an internal environment – our body, our thinking, our behaviours – which also sits outside of our control sometimes.
[We] talk a lot about this: preparing to perform and having a process in place, so that regardless of the external or internal factors, you still have a plan.
Preparing to perform commences the night before. So, what is your strategy and your process for being in the best place possible the night before? And that comes down to your sleep habits, what you eat, how you move, and what that process is.
What about the morning of? What are the processes? It doesn't have to be really strict and rigid, because we know things change, but [maybe], "I'm going to wake up in the morning. I'm actually not going to turn to my phone. I'm going to do a stretch. I'm going to eat well. I'm going to say some positive things to myself that work for me".
And then what about the trip in? What does that look like? What am I saying to myself? What music am I listening to? All these things impact our state of mind and energy. So you've got the night before, you've got the morning of, and you've got the travel.
On the topic of processes, a challenging aspect of the actor's life is the lack of a defined in- and off-season. Are there any systems we could put in place to relieve some of the tension this can create?
GR: I would definitely be contemplating [maintaining] performance fitness, definitely. And what does that look like? Are we talking mindset? Are we talking physicality?
I don't know whether actors really consider the impact of physical fitness on mental physiology. The more we move and are active in things that we enjoy, the more we enhance our mental well-being, which has a significant effect on our ability to quickly switch from off-season to on-season.
It would be interesting to not only reflect on what kind of process would be beneficial for off-season, but asking straight up, "Okay, I've got an audition in two hours. Am I ready? Besides reading the script, am I ready?". And if the answer is no, why is it no? Because [the answer] is going to give you your process for off-season.
That's such an awesome way to approach it. Similarly, setting effective goals plays a crucial role in year-round peak performance. Do you employ a particular framework or method?
GR: My preference is to go, "Okay, what do you want to achieve in six months?". And then, "What are the things you need to do in order to achieve that?". So, we're going from the bigger picture to the stepping stones or rungs [of a ladder] that will help you get there. Often we create too big goals, too short a period of time, with not enough specificity.
Make it a creative piece. Rather than just writing down your goals, get out your coloured pencils. Create it as a visual because that's what will continually drive you, and then put it somewhere you'll see it.
When it comes to actionable steps, are there any that come to mind when considering holistic well-being for peak performance?
GR: The biggest thing I will say is, do not start the day with a coffee. Why? To go back to the very start of this conversation: our body has a physiological reaction to performing under pressure. That's what performing is. Performing is about accepting that we have an increase in stress and that stress means we've got an increase of adrenaline in our body.
The last thing we want to do when we have increased adrenaline is add caffeine, which further increases our adrenaline. Right? I mean, it's crazy. Why would we do it? Those who peak perform will use caffeine in the right way. I'm not saying don't ever do it. Just don't start your day with it. Start the day with a glass of water.
Then think of some more nutritional [actions]. Everyone says, "I don't have time". I call bullsh*t. There is always time to do something small. Get frozen fruits, frozen spinach, add your almond or coconut milk (or whatever milk works for you) and make yourself a smoothie. I swear to goodness, it takes one minute and 30 seconds. Maybe if it's your first time, it takes two minutes and 30 seconds. There are ways to get good fuel in the system quickly and easily.
During the 2016 Rio Olympics, you created "quiet mind" MP3s for your athletes. Can you walk us through what these did and contained?
GR: "Quiet mind" is about creating a mindful space – pre-performance, post-performance, or between performances.
The concept is some basic hypnosis/mindfulness strategies to calm the system and let go of what has happened, so the body and mind can relax and create equilibrium. Some people would describe it as just a breathing and relaxation script. It is, but it's crafted more for high performance. Most performers don't want to do a meditation session just to feel good. They want to feel good in order to perform well.
#truth. Any parting words of wisdom before we wrap?
GR: The only thing I would add is similar to what I say to athletes: if you don't want to feel the nerves before performing, quit what you're doing. Otherwise – and most people choose otherwise – accept what it does to you. The physiological response of stress will actually heighten your performance. What won't heighten your performance is questioning and worry. That's what fuels poor performance, not the physiological stress response we naturally have. That would be my 5 cents: shut up, accept what's going on for your system, and then work with it, not against it.
Georgia's qualifications: BA (Hons) Psychology, Master of Psychology (Sport & Exercise).
Big props to Georgia for her time. If you dive into more about Georgia's work and say hello, let her know you're from the Dojo 👊