A Smart Way to Handle Anxiety — Courtesy of Soccer Great Lionel Messi

## A Smart Way to Handle Anxiety — Courtesy of Soccer Great Lionel Messi *By Adam Alter PhD | TED Ideas, June 22, 2023* What separates the very best in the world from the remaining 7 billion of us? Exceptional talent often looks like an act of revolution — a person doing something in a way no one has ever done it before — but many revolutionary talents are actually built on a foundation of evolutionary tweaks. These tweaks develop over time, often compensating for weaknesses and anxieties that might derail a lesser talent. Take the world's best soccer player, Lionel Messi. Messi has won more Ballon d'Or trophies than any other player, is the top all-time scorer in Spain's La Liga, and has one of the highest goal ratios in the sport. For all his brilliance, though, he's famously anxious — for several years, he habitually felt physically ill before big matches. Being incredibly talented doesn't immunize you against anxiety. Many of the world's best grapple with it precisely because they expect so much from themselves. But Messi hasn't allowed his anxiety to diminish his brilliance — because he's mastered a coping mechanism that also doubles as the secret behind his tactical genius. --- ### The Pause That Changes Everything A soccer match runs for 90 minutes, and most players are active from the very first minute. But Messi is famous for *not* playing the game during its opening minutes. This is his evolutionary tweak — developed as he played at progressively higher levels. For the opening minutes, Messi ambles back and forth near the middle of the field and almost never engages. Whereas other players run and sprint, Messi spends much of this time walking. Messi does two things during these first few minutes: 1. **He calms himself.** Easing into the game is his way of ensuring he's fully engaged for the remainder. His on-field anxiety has resolved itself, in part, because he's found a more effective way to settle his nerves. 2. **He scopes out the opposition.** His legs move slowly, but his eyes dart from player to player — assessing opponents' strengths, weaknesses, and tactics, while monitoring his own team's movement. Messi is less valuable to his team early in the game, but this tactical pause elevates his value for the remaining 95 percent of the match. --- ### The Lesson for the Rest of Us As you might imagine, pausing is harder than it sounds. In the face of silence and anxiety, our instinct is to act. Psychiatrist and neuroscientist Judson Brewer developed a mindfulness-based approach for navigating anxiety using the acronym **RAIN**: - **R**ecognize what is arising - **A**llow it to be there - **I**nvestigate your emotions and thoughts - **N**ote what is happening from moment to moment The lesson for all of us is clear: when you're anxious, whether in athletics or in life more broadly — **pause. Slow down. Prepare.** The willingness to wait and observe is often what separates the great from the merely good. --- *Adapted from **Anatomy of a Breakthrough: How to Get Unstuck When It Matters Most** by Adam Alter PhD.* [Read the full article on TED Ideas →](https://ideas.ted.com/how-to-handle-anxiety-lionel-messi/)