Introduction: My Role as Assassin #1

Very recently, I worked on a TV show called The Cleaning Lady. As with most of the “characters” I play in movies and TV shows, my character on this particular episode of The Cleaning Lady had a number. For example, I’ve been FBI Agent #2, Thug #3, Cop #1, Trapper #1, and Laura’s Boyfriend #2. This time, I was Assassin #1.

The scene began just after I’d tossed somebody off the back of a sailboat that had been hoisted up onto and tied securely to a trailer. Next to the boat was a pond on one side and a picnic table on the other. I (Assassin #1) was holding a gun and searching the boat for someone. During the search, the guy surprised me by swinging the horizontal arm on the sailboat (I have no idea what it’s called…a boom?) at me. I blocked it, but the impact knocked the gun out of my hand. After extricating myself from the boom (that’s the terminology I’m going with), I got punched in the stomach and punched in the face. The last punch knocked me off of the boat, and during my fall, I bounced off of a picnic table and then hit the ground…where I immediately got up…and immediately got shot dead.

The Challenges of a High-Stakes Stunt

The fall from the boat was 10ft, and I wasn’t going to a pad. It was going to hurt. But, I knew it was going to hurt when the stunt coordinator called and asked if I was available to do the stunt. And, not only was it certainly going to hurt, the risk of injury was pretty high. Not only that, I was working with stunt people I’d never worked with before, and the director of the episode was none other than the awesome and amazing Lou Diamond Phillips!

So, this qualified as a high-stakes situation for sure.

Thinking About Pressure in High-Stakes Situations

Because of all the recent thinking, reading, and writing I’ve been doing on Pressure, particularly as it relates to high-stakes situations, I paid a lot more attention to this whole job than I usually do. From the first call until I got back on the plane to come home, I kept careful notes, sometimes actual and sometimes mental, about what I was thinking and feeling. I also focused on some of the specific strategies and techniques I used to prepare for the stunt, create and manage emotions and energy activation levels right before and during the stunt, and recover and learn from my experiences after the stunt.

Introducing the PhaseX Approach to Performance

I’m not sure how many blog posts will relate to this particular account of the trials and travails of Assassin #1, but it will likely be quite a few. Those posts will be interspersed with other blog posts about other things that I either experience or think about while going through my daily existence. But, I will continue to return to my in-depth reflection on this stunt sequence until we squeeze out all of the juice.

One reason for this prolonged examination is that it gives me the opportunity to introduce some important terminology, definitions, and concepts. I’ll talk about some different definitions of pressure and then land on the definition I’ll use for the foreseeable future. I will also juxtapose “high-pressure situations” and “high-stakes situations” and argue that the latter is much more appropriate than the former. We will also get on the same page about confidence and motivation and discuss how they relate to our experiences in high-stakes situations.

Another reason I want to continue returning to this story is that it gives me the chance to present a way of breaking down and thinking about performance that I and many of my clients have found very helpful over the years. My conceptualization of this approach emerged from my experiences as a stuntman, was extrapolated to the U.S. Army during my tenure as a sport/performance psychology consultant at Fort Lewis, WA, and has since been applied in the realms of athletics, acting, and even real-estate. This is a simple 4-phased approach to performance that I call, PhaseX.

Breaking Down PhaseX: The Four Phases of Performance

Every performance, no matter what or where, has a Before, Right Before, During, and After. These four phases provide not only a very convenient way to organize my presentation and analysis of Assassin #1’s exploits described above, but it also provides an excellent foundation for conceptualizing, preparing for, executing, and recovering from any and every performance in any and all settings.

The next blog will be a more in-depth introduction of PhaseX. That way, I can continue to refer back to it in other posts…whether about Assassin #1 or other performance situations (my own or others’) I choose to present.

During this imminent discussion of PhaseX, I’ll also introduce the notion of a holistic approach to performance. I’ll discuss how we benefit when we deliberately and intentionally target physical, mental, emotional, social, and sometimes even spiritual aspects of the performance situation.

Applying PhaseX to the Boat Fall Stunt

Once I’ve laid out PhaseX – the four phases, how they operate together, and how the holistic approach is integrated into each phase – I will break down my experiences of the Boat Fall phase by phase. I’ll talk about how I began preparing for the stunt immediately upon accepting the job – physically, mentally, emotionally, socially, and spiritually. I’ll talk about that preparation while I was alone in the hotel room, rehearsing the day before with only the stunt team and the actor I was fighting, and surrounded by a few dozen people on set during the hours leading up to the Boat Fall.

Then, I’ll talk about how and when I transitioned from “hang out” mode to “performance” mode…again, focusing on each component of the holistic approach I mentioned earlier.

Next, I’ll discuss my physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual experiences during the fall itself, the time between “Action!” and “Cut!”

Finally, I’ll talk about how I recovered from the Boat Fall, again framing that recovery in terms of physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual.

Themes in High-Stakes Performance

Throughout the discussion, the theme of pressure will continue to emerge. This is because pressure is an incredibly misunderstood phenomenon and, as a result, causes a great deal of harm for a huge number of people in a wide variety of circumstances.

Another theme that will continue to emerge is energy activation. There is an ideal amount of energy activation for any given task at any given moment. When we tune that energy activation level well, we see a lot of benefits…not only to our performance but also to our overall well-being.

Another theme that will permeate the story is confidence. There is a positive relationship between how high we believe the stakes to be and how much pressure we experience. However, confidence affects the strength of that relationship. This means that two people perceiving identically high stakes will experience different pressure levels when thinking about those stakes if one is more confident than the other. So, the benefits and drawbacks of confidence in performance situations need to be understood.

A Journey Through High-Stakes Performance

There may be other themes as we journey together through this realm of high-stakes performance, and as they present themselves, I’ll discuss them.

For now, though, as we begin this inquiry into performance occurring in high-stakes, adrenaline-fueled environments, I simply ask that you keep a curious and open mind. Some of the things you read will be counterintuitive, while others might be 100% contrary to how you’ve always thought about performance. Give each concept a chance. Filter it through your own experiences in situations that really and truly mattered to you. And, any time you agree, disagree, have questions, or would like some clarity, definitely reach out with comments. I love engaging with this material and can’t wait to wade into the weeds with you over the next few weeks or months.

So, sit back and enjoy the ride as we explore the adrenaline-fueled world of high-stakes performance!