Why Some People Excel Under Pressure and Others Don’t

How do actors, athletes, speakers and everyday workers perform well when it really counts? New York Times columnist Paul Sullivan has written a book that tells the hows and whys.

In Clutch: Why Some People Excel Under Pressure and Others Don’t, he identifies people across a range of professions and determines what qualities keep their performance consistent in every kind of situation. These qualities include:

* Focus

* Discipline

* Adaptability

* Involvement in the task

* Fear and desire.

The author says he has battled “the choke” for many years in order to find the answers to why he, and many others, choke when called upon to perform.

Sullivan gives examples of people in sports, such as Alex Rodriguez and Tiger Woods, and in business, the military, and on stage. He examines what they had to overcome.

The culprits included such unexpected problems as:

* An inability to accept responsibility for what was happening

* A tendency to overthink and be overconfident.

In analyzing what makes a person do well, the author is convinced, “It’s not luck!” Rather, it’s the ability to do what you normally do and do it when it really counts, whether it’s in business or your personal life.

Clutch is concise, well-written and entertaining. Geoff Colvin, author of Talent Is Overrated, says “Chokers everywhere, that means almost all of us in some part of our lives, owe him thanks.”

Clutch: Why Some People Excel Under Pressure and Others Don’t by Paul Sullivan, Portfolio, 246 pages in hardcover.