Essay Example on Olympic Athletes: Mental Imagery & Performance Stress Strategies

Olympic athletes usually go through a lot of pressure and scrutiny during competitions. The pressure and scrutiny often trigger high levels of stress and anxiety hence the need for self-leadership strategies. The paper, therefore, seeks to provide a case analysis of mental imagery and performance stress instructions as applied by the Olympic athletes and other employees.

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Self-leadership strategies can benefit Olympic athletes in many ways. The strategies are essential because they not only enable athletes to address how they need to compete but also how to do it in a manner that eventually makes them successful. These strategies are categorized into three groups.

First, are behavior-focused self-leadership strategies that enhance an athlete's self-awareness concerning behavioral management, especially during competitions? Second, are the natural reward self-leadership strategies which motivate athletes by creating situations in which they can enjoy the positive rewards of being successful in their respective competitions? Third, are the constructive thought pattern self-leadership strategies which impact positively on the performance of athletes by building and developing useful patterns as well as habitual ways of thinking?

The strategy of mental imagery is useful in overcoming stress hence enabling athletes to improve their performance. For instance, if an athlete experiences nervousness before the actual competition, mental imagery is of great importance because it allows the athlete to experience these feelings in one's representation. The athlete then takes appropriate measures that enable the individual to relax, thus positively impacting the individual's performance during the actual competition. Also, if an athlete is distracted by noise and sound during the real competition, mental imagery can enable him to generate such destructive sounds in his or her representation. The person then develops the necessary corrective measures thereby improving one's performance during the actual competition. It is true that people, other than those in sports, but in pressure performance situations, can also benefit in similar ways from applying these self-leadership strategies.

An example is those who work as salespersons. They work under challenging situations, and their payment is based on commission hence the need to work harder and sell more. They must, therefore, develop natural reward self-leadership strategies that motivate them to sell more in an attempt to gain and enjoy higher commissions.

Another example is building, supporting, as well as improving the career motivation of employees. The employees go through challenging situations in the process of work and career development. It is necessary to motivate them during these situations by providing positive reinforcement, which promotes performance. This can be achieved in several ways, including motivating employees to be in a continuous thought of their current work behavior and its possible effects on their long-term career development as well as setting appropriate goals for career development.

Conclusion

In summary, it is evident from the above case analysis that Olympic athletes go through a lot of pressure and scrutiny during competitions, which leads to increased levels of stress and anxiety. Similarly, other employees who work under pressure performance situations also go through these same kinds of experiences. As such, it is essential for the Olympic athletes, other sportspeople, as well as the affected employees to adopt the appropriate self-leadership strategies, which can enable them to overcome the stressful situations and improve their performance at work and develop their careers successfully.