{"id":6306,"date":"2015-02-02T10:21:34","date_gmt":"2015-02-02T18:21:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/http:\/\/www.drjimtaylor.com\/4.0\/?p=6306"},"modified":"2015-02-02T10:21:34","modified_gmt":"2015-02-02T18:21:34","slug":"slump-dont-press-panic-button","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.drjimtaylor.com\/4.0\/slump-dont-press-panic-button\/","title":{"rendered":"In a Slump? Don\u2019t Press the Panic Button"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"crash\"<\/a>I just returned from the men\u2019s Eastern Cups at Stowe last week. I have to say how impressed I was by the quality of skiing. From bib 1 to 117, there was not a bad skier there.<\/p>\n

I spoke to a number of the racers during the two days and I sensed one emotion quite strongly among quite a few of them: panic! Several of the racers described how they were struggling with a bad patch of costly mistakes and DNFs. They were disappointed, frustrated, angry, and mystified. With a desperate tone in their voices, they said they were at a loss for why they were skiing poorly, particularly when they had been skiing so well in training. Even worse, they were talking as if the season was almost over and were already resigning themselves to a failed season.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re one of these racers, here\u2019s what I say: Don\u2019t press the panic button!<\/p>\n

What Happens When You Panic?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a nutshell, if you panic when you\u2019re struggling, you\u2019re almost certain to turn that bad patch into a bad season. Here\u2019s why.<\/p>\n

Every physical and mental resource that you need to rely on to turn your difficulties around go in the exact opposite direction. Physically, you experience anxiety, muscle tension, restricted breathing, and, over all, your body just feels lousy. If your body\u2019s not working right, you have zero chance of getting your skiing out of the ditch and back on the road.<\/p>\n

Mentally, you lose confidence because you feel incapable of turning your skiing around. You tend to focus on the results you\u2019re not getting and the missed scoring opportunities that your competitors are getting. You can\u2019t think clearly because you\u2019re in panic mode which means you\u2019ll have a harder time figuring out what the problem is that is causing you to panic.<\/p>\n

Emotionally, you not only feel the aforementioned disappointment, frustration, and anger, but also a sense of hopelessness because you have no idea what is going on with your skiing. Perhaps even worse, with every race, you feel an inescapable sense of dread at the day ahead because, based on recent history, you just can\u2019t believe that it\u2019s going to end well.<\/p>\n

And when it comes down to your actual skiing, desperation causes you to try way too hard which only makes your skiing worse.<\/p>\n

Possible Causes of Slumps<\/strong><\/p>\n

There\u2019s no doubt that slumps suck big time. But declines in your skiing don\u2019t just happen; there is almost always a reason for them. The good news is that it\u2019s just a matter of figuring what the cause is and fixing the problem. The bad news is that one of the most difficult aspects of ski racing is that it is an incredibly complex sport with many factors that impact how fast and consistently you ski. Your challenge is figuring out what\u2019s going wrong. Here\u2019s a list of possibilities that you must explore to uncover the cause of your struggles:<\/p>\n