Aaargh I'm not stressed!
- Jeroen Nollet
- Mar 19
- 3 min read
Updated: Mar 21
Tanay - Russia 2021. The plane we are in is turning onto jump run in the Siberian sky, for the second round of the world championships. After the initial high stress situation of a first round of a world meet I feel strangely, quite relaxed. With us in the aircraft, a LET L-410, there are 2 other teams; USA, and Qatar. We have already seen the scores from the first round and we are leading them by 7 and 8 points respectively. In our sport of 4-way formation skydiving, being 7 or 8 points up is massive, hence my relaxed feeling. One would think that being relaxed is a good thing, but not for me. For me this is a real problem, and one I have to fix, ASAP, before it’s time to jump.
One might ask, “Why on earth would you want to be more stressed instead of less?”. Well, myself and my team HayaBusa from Belgium need nothing less than peak performance. We are competing to be the very best in the world - period. In my years as a competitor I have found that in order to achieve such peak performance, a certain level of stress is mandatory.
It turns out this is not a new finding, but something that was discovered over 100 years ago; the Yerkes - Dodson law. In 1908, the two psychologists Robert Yerkes and John Dillingham Dodson, came up with this model. Basically, the law states that in order to achieve your optimal performance you need to be in a certain state of arousal. No, not the sexual kind, but a state in which you feel excited or very alert. For example, as a result of fear, stress, or anger. If your arousal or stress level reaches a certain zone, you can set yourself up for maximum performance. Too much stress could be a disaster, but too little stress is also not great. If you are chasing optimal focus, peak performance, or want to give yourself a chance to achieve flow, you need to be in the right zone.
*The terms arousal, stress or pressure are often used interchangeably. The Yerkes - Dodson law is also known as the 'pressure / performance curve' or 'Stress curve'.
Anger is not an issue for me, and although I am not fearless, when you have done thousands of skydives, jumping out of a plane becomes somewhat normalized. The only thing that I do need to change or take control of, is my personal stress level. Most people in this situation, would need to dial their stress level down, by using breath work for example. However, as I feel too relaxed, my stress level needs to go up. Therefore, I focus more on the outside...
I feel the tension rise in my body, and think: GOOD!
Our team wants to be the best in the world, and another level above that – is to build a legacy that will inspire others. Thinking about this increases my arousal and focus as there aren't many opportunities in life to work on this. Each and every competition we attend is a potential world record we can set, meaning each competition jump is an integral part of building that legacy. This is now becoming my focus, trying to break the record for the highest overall score for a full, 10 round competition. Each jump, each formation we build correctly, will move us closer to achieving this goal. The question, 'What will you be remembered for?' fills my mind. I feel the tension in my body rise and think: GOOD!
As we are doing our pre-jump routine in the plane, I enjoy the feeling of pressure and tension. My body is preparing itself for peak performance... Qatar has just jumped and USA is now setting themselves up in the door. The pressure is on, and I feel it. A gust of wind fills the plane as the Americans jump out. An open door is now inviting us for peak performance. Nothing more we can do now but to lean into the experience. I pick up the grips that I need to make the first formation, and close my hands tight. The gloves around my fingers feel comfortable and familiar. It feels like time is slowing down, and then just for a moment, it comes to a complete stop, before...
Shake - shake - READY - SET - PERFORM!
Footnote:
*The meet would end prematurely as bad weather came in after round 6. We couldn't finish the meet and thus had to leave Russia with a incomplete competition. The slower rounds of the meet came in those last 4 rounds but did feel it might have been possible for us to break the previous record (also set by HayaBusa).
We will never know...
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