Performance Under Pressure: Overthinking, Automaticity, and Psychological Flexibility

By Meagan Yarmey, PhD, MSW, RWS

There is a version of high performance that relies on preparation, discipline, and accumulated expertise. Most high‑achieving professionals already inhabit this version. They have trained extensively, invested in credentials, and developed reliable technical competence.

What is far less frequently trained is the psychological dimension of performance itself, the capacity to remain clear, present, and responsive when stakes rise and conditions become unpredictable.

That is often where performance begins to degrade, not because skill is absent, but because thinking starts to interfere with its expression.

Overthinking as Interference

In performance contexts, overthinking often masquerades as diligence. Clinically, it functions as interference.

Research on performance under pressure demonstrates that when skilled individuals direct conscious attention toward processes that are normally automatic, performance becomes less stable. Beilock and Carr (2001) showed that explicit monitoring, actively thinking about how to perform a well‑learned skill, disrupts automaticity and increases the likelihood of choking under pressure.

This is not a failure of effort or preparation. It is the introduction of the wrong kind of effort at the wrong moment.

For many professionals, the instinct to “double down” cognitively during pressure situations is understandable. It is also counterproductive.

Flow and the Loss of Self‑Consciousness

Csikszentmihalyi’s work on flow offers a useful contrast. Flow describes a state in which attention is fully engaged, self‑consciousness recedes, and performance feels both absorbed and effective (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990).

Flow is not mystical. It emerges when skill and challenge are well matched and when the internal commentator, the part of the mind that evaluates, corrects, and anticipates judgment, reduces its grip during execution.

Psychological flexibility plays a central role here. The issue is not eliminating self‑conscious thoughts, but preventing them from dominating attention at moments that require responsiveness rather than analysis.

Psychological Flexibility and Performance Under Pressure

Popular narratives about performance often emphasise grit, persistence, and mental toughness. While perseverance matters, research suggests that performance under pressure depends less on endurance and more on adaptability.

Kashdan and Rottenberg (2010) define psychological flexibility as the capacity to remain in contact with the present moment, shift perspective when needed, and act in alignment with values despite discomfort. This capacity allows performers to notice anxiety, self‑doubt, or physiological arousal without becoming organised around controlling or suppressing them.

From a clinical standpoint, psychological flexibility explains why two equally skilled individuals perform differently under pressure. One becomes rigid, effortful, and self‑monitoring. The other remains responsive, adjusting in real time.

Linehan’s (1993) distinction between willingness and willfulness is relevant here. Willfulness reflects a rigid insistence that internal or external conditions should be different, creating resistance and internal friction. Willingness reflects openness to what is occurring and a readiness to respond effectively. Performance deteriorates under willfulness and stabilises under willingness.

Why Automaticity Matters

Highly developed skills depend on procedural memory systems that operate best outside conscious control. When pressure triggers excessive self‑monitoring, these systems are disrupted. What follows is a narrowing of attention, slowed responsiveness, and an increased sensitivity to error.

In this sense, overthinking is not an intellectual problem. It is a regulation problem.

Psychological flexibility supports automaticity by allowing attention to stay task‑oriented rather than self‑oriented. Instead of asking, “Am I doing this right?” the system is free to execute what it already knows how to do.

Practical Implications Without Platitudes

The psychological capacities that support performance under pressure are not add‑ons.

They include:

• attentional regulation that prevents self‑monitoring from dominating performance

• nervous system regulation that allows arousal without destabilisation

• mental rehearsal grounded in realistic conditions rather than idealised outcomes

• rapid recovery from errors without extended rumination or self‑criticism

These are not motivational strategies. They are regulatory skills that allow competence to remain accessible under stress.

A Note on This Work

I work with professionals whose roles carry real consequence, clinically, legally, organisationally, and interpersonally. Many are functioning well by external measures but notice that their thinking has narrowed, their confidence has become less reliable under pressure, or the gap between capability and performance is widening.

These patterns are not character flaws. They are signals that the psychological demands of performance have shifted.

They are also tractable.

If this reflects what you are navigating, I would be glad to hear from you.

References

Beilock, S. L., & Carr, T. H. (2001). On the fragility of skilled performance: What governs choking under pressure? Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 130(4), 701–725. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-3445.130.4.701

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. Harper & Row.

Duckworth, A. L. (2016). Grit: The power of passion and perseverance. Scribner.

Kashdan, T. B., & Rottenberg, J. (2010). Psychological flexibility as a fundamental aspect of health. Clinical Psychology Review, 30(7), 865–878. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2010.03.001

Linehan, M. M. (1993). Cognitive-behavioral treatment of borderline personality disorder. Guilford Press.

© 2026 by Meagan Yarmey

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