Tom Brady retired this week as the NFL’s all-time leader in just about everything, including Super Bowl wins (7) and game-winning drives (58). He’s widely considered the greatest of all time as well as one of the most clutch quarterbacks in history because under the highest pressure and in the biggest moments, he was so poised that it seemed like just another day at the office.
Then there’s the terrible, horrible, very bad day at the office that Dallas Cowboys kicker Brett Maher had in the Wild Card round against Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Maher missed an NFL-record four extra points as part of a three-game stretch in which he missed six out of seven kicks.
Maher is more than a competent NFL kicker. He made 50 of a league-high 53 extra-point attempts during the regular season and more than 95% in his four-year career.
The question is . . . what happened? Why, in high-pressure situations, do some athletes excel while others fold?
According to Dr. Michael Lardon—a clinical psychiatrist and performance coach who has worked with NFL kickers, PGA golfers, Olympians, and Fortune 500 CEOs—it’s complicated, but also quite simple. Or at least it can be.
Fast Company: Every kicker misses kicks. But what happens to someone psychologically that leads to missing four extra points in one game?
Dr. Lardon: There are certain patterns in the brain where there’s a synchronicity and everything hooks up. Some people call this “flow state,” or being “in the zone.” Generally, in this state, the use of the cerebral cortex, where thinking is done, is minimal, and the athlete relies on instinct and rhythm. When the nervous system is functioning at this high a level, the circuitry is much faster. So the brain is picking up stimuli more quickly, which is why you hear some athletes talk about how the game “slows down” for them. It’s a state of mind where athletes perform at their highest level because they’re not thinking.