focus to keep his focus in the present moment. He glances at the scoreboard and sees that he has two minutes left. He has the overview.
He then focuses on the immediate task, which is to help get the ball back in a coordinated team effort. The team have practised two-minute scenarios many times in training to prepare for this type of situation. He has the specifics.
He goes into dual focus – moving flexibly back and forth between the situational overview and his specific tasks – as the end of the game unfolds. There is a vague feeling of discomfort at the back of his mind that seems to be calling out, but he just accepts it and focuses his attention on communicating with his teammates. It’s time to hold his nerve, find his move and nail any opportunity to emerge, while maintaining a good RED–BLUE balance. In the final two minutes, Leo sets up teammates in good attacking positions three times. Although his team fall just short, afterwards Leo’s coach praises his ability to rebound from his disappointment and remain focused and engaged in the game.
Split attention divides attention in time and place; the different parts interfere with each other, and they all seem to occur simultaneously. Dual focus keeps the connection in the present moment.
Dual focus also trumps split attention because of the type of information being processed. When our attention is split, the diversion is inevitably about the negative meaning of a situation. Problems become jumbled up with solutions. When we have dual focus, we’re tightly focused on the process of completing our task (detail) while constantly reading shifts in our environment (overview). It’s about looking ahead without disconnecting from the moment.
I find that many people assume they already routinely use this two-level control of attention without any significant interference, when in reality they habitually fall into attention traps that lead them to think too much or too little.
Some fall for one-level attention, becoming preoccupied with either the overview or the detail, but not both. Having a single focus is simplistic: we will either miss shifts in the wider context and react slowly, or miss crucial detail in the specific task we’re working on.
Others add a third element to the dual focus and let themselves be diverted by a negative loop. Having a triple focus is too complex when it involves a RED mist that interferes with BLUE clarity.
Yet experts across countless fields have the capacity to switch their attention between perspective (the overview) and precision (the detail) when the heat is on. Skilful control of attention – avoiding negative content loops and maintaining their dual focus – is what separates them from the rest.
The lead violinist in an orchestra doesn’t just look at the music (detail) but also focuses much of the time on remaining in sync with the conductor and setting the rhythm for the whole orchestra (overview). This is so important that the second violinist turns the pages for their more senior colleague.
For flight crews, losing focus on the overview (called situational awareness) can and does lead to tragedies. Dual focus isn’t a desirable add-on, it’s a sharp-edged performance essential. It’s vital for flight crews to execute tasks accurately but it’s also vital for them to remain alert to changes in their environment.
It’s common for surgeons to face complications within an operation, or timing issues requiring careful rearrangement of their surgical list. Experienced surgeons have told me that as their decision-making abilities have developed in these areas, so has their execution. They make fewer errors when they make better decisions. If we are constantly updating our overview and continuously adjusting the specifics of the task we’re doing, we are in a good place.
Dual focus is nothing more than an ordinary, everyday mental process – paying attention – but maintaining this focus under an extraordinary set of circumstances is another matter again. High performers do not have different mental apparatus when it comes to paying attention. Everyone can check the overview and focus on the task, in ordinary circumstances. Whether you’re a surgeon, teacher, taxi driver or graphic artist, the trick is not letting your focus fall away into split attention when the pressure is on.
Under pressure, do you tend to get diverted into the RED and halve your mental efficiency, or do you do double time into the BLUE and accelerate with undivided attention?
Which are you more skilled at: the situational overview or the task detail? Would other people who know you well say that, under pressure, you are both aware and accurate?
Going APE vs Deciding to ACT
APE
Under pressure we all fail in predictable ways.
We’ve looked at how the same emergency reactions seen in animals – fight, flight or freeze – are triggered in modern-day performance situations, although usually more by social threats than physical danger. To help us translate them from the animal kingdom to our world of performance, let’s modernise the behaviours by renaming them.
Rather than fight, think aggressive. Under pressure, people raise their voices, threaten, bully, confront, insult, reject and exclude.
Rather than flight, think escape. Under pressure, people remove themselves from the fray by being late or not turning up, taking sick leave, resigning, or getting sent off the sports field.
And rather than freeze, think passive. People who can’t get out of a situation may not go completely immobile, but they go quiet and look down when volunteers are requested, always letting others go first and staying a step behind, just generally going through the motions.
For my money, the passive reaction is the invisible killer of performance. People can hide in plain sight by being present and operating at a minimum standard, doing just enough to avoid drawing attention to themselves as not contributing. It’s a silent epidemic that can completely undermine a team dynamic.
Many team-sport athletes know this type of player: the one who is on the field but never really gets their hands dirty, and always seems to be one step off the pace. Large organisations are often full of people who say the right things but whose actions lack impact.
Sometimes the passive state can be misread as being relaxed: a basic but common error in the sports world. Unless we are an animal playing dead and hoping to escape, it is a poor performance state.
These three styles of behaviour, aggressive, passive and escape – APE – are the three most unhelpful reactions we have under pressure. They all arise from RED, high-arousal reactions; even the passive reaction, involving low arousal, follows an initial high-arousal spike. The APE acronym reminds us that we share these responses with most members of the animal kingdom – and they are most definitely within us all.
In our early years, we all develop a personal pattern that means one of these three becomes our default reaction to extreme pressure. Or it might be a combination of two, or all three. Passive–aggressive behaviour is a classic example.
Recognising our personal defensive behaviour style and how it hurts our performance will show us what traps to avoid in the future. If we take this step, we are already in a stronger position to perform under pressure.
What APE pattern do you default to when you fall apart under pressure – A, P, E, or a deadly combination?
ACT
Under pressure we all succeed in predictable ways.
Peter is a foreman leading an expensive new house build that is just three weeks out from the date when the owners expect to move in. His team is facing pressure on several fronts. The architect has identified a large area of plastering that will need to be redone. One of Peter’s senior builders has had an accident onsite, which has triggered a health and safety investigation and left Peter short-handed. Plus, Peter’s usual subcontracting electrician