Decision making under pressure, and how it can affect your performance * Pete McCarthy

Several years ago, I listened to Craig Alexander (3-time Ironman World Champion) talking about who might win that year's edition of the race in Hawaii. He noted that there were 10-12 athletes who had the potential to win the event but only 4-5 who would be in the mix come the run. The remainder would have discounted themselves due to poor decision-making.

Note that he didn't say they weren’t strong enough on the bike or fast enough on the run! In this instance the poor decisions could have been: pushing too hard early on the bike, holding back too long on the run, nutrition strategy, or just poor choices leading up to the race.

These problems are not exclusive to elite athletes. We all have decisions to make throughout the day and they have a greater bearing on our life performance than we probably ever consider.

Today's guest is a member of my SWAT tribe, Pete McCarthy. Pete is Head of Human Factors at Cathay Pacific airline and we're going to chat about how they utilise science around performance (both physiological and psychological)  to keep their pilots performing at their best. Working around jet lag, loss of sleep, well-being, and positive mental health as well as how to shift from a focus on negative performance to a positive environment. All of these elements affect how the flight crew makes decisions before and during a flight, especially under pressure. It's a fascinating conversation and I’m pretty sure you’ll find some nuggets in here to help improve your performance.

• How a family tragedy klick started Pete’s triathlon career
• Well-being and positive mental health 
• Sleep, fatigue, and fatigue risk management and how these impact decision making
• How to shift your focus from negative to positive performance when assessing training and racing performances
• Teamwork and communication
• How decision making and problem-solving will influence your triathlon performance

To read more about Pete’s daughter please check out this article 

Cardiac risk in the young could impact all of us. Please take a few minutes to visit their website to find out about the valuable work they do and how you might be able to help please go to: Cardiac Risk in the Young

To find out more about Pete please visit this page at Cranfield University https://www.cranfield.ac.uk/people/peter-mccarthy-581115

The PERMA model we chatted about https://positivepsychology.com/perma-model/ 

Pilot wellbeing https://skybrary.aero/sites/default/files/bookshelf/4310.pdf

https://safetydifferently.com - Stories of safety and other successes

 

Pete also recommends the following books:

Just Culture - Professor Sidney Dekker - (reflects my professional thinking and approach)

Any Ordinary Day - Leigh Sales - (reinforces the need to live our lives, be kind and have empathy for others)

The Art of Resilience - Ross Edgley

Thinking Fast and Slow - Daniel Kahneman

Dare to Tri- Louise Minchen 

 

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Visit Simon's website for more information about his coaching programmes.  Links to all of Simon's social media channels can be found here.  For any questions please email Beth@TheTriathlonCoach.com.