Discussion keeps the world turning.
This is Roundtable. You're listening to Roundtable.
With myself, how young I'm joined by...
You shouldn't. And Steve Hatherley in the studio coming up.
We are going to talk about these Olympic moments we all face in life.
Whether it's a job interview, a big exam, or speaking in front of a crowd, we all have these high-pressure moments where nervousness creeps in.
But how do you handle it?
Just like athletes on the Parasolumpic stage, there's a way to turn that nervous energy into a winning performance.
We discuss strategies to keep you cool when it matters most.
And we share with you what's brought us sheer joy and delight this week.
Join us for a dose of positivity laughter and all things that make our hearts saying in Roundtable's happy plays.
And today we're going to talk about the Olympic highlights, the moments that really made us happy.
And your voice matters.
We want to hear in our Hard to Hard segment.
Got a question? Something you're itching to share.
Fire up that voice memo and hit us up at eZ-FM aroundtableatfoxmail.com.
Our podcast listeners can find us at Roundtable China on Apple Podcast.
Now let's move on to the next topic discussion today.
As the world watches the Parasolumpics, the intense pressure that athletes face that appears to make or break their careers, and it's all on full display for anyone to see.
Moments such as gold medalist, Chuenhong Chen's, poised dives from the 10 meter platform or Fungh-Jun Dong's dramatic table tennis comeback in snatching gold in the men's singles show just how tough these experiences can be.
And they highlight the crucial role mental resilience plays in these high pressure situations.
But it's not just Olympians who face these kind of personal struggles.
We all have our own Olympic moments in life, both nerve-wracking situations that feel just as intense.
Whether it's a job interview for your dream role, a big exam, speaking in front of the crowd, the nerves can be overwhelming.
So how do you shine in these critical moments without letting nervousness take control?
Those jetters, your heart racing the urge to call and sick or just run away.
I'll throw up. Oh, when you're super super nervous.
Yeah, and we've all been there, right?
When was the last time, Steve, that you felt so nervous and then I'll go to you, Chuenh?
Hmm. I remember one moment that kind of stands out whenever this topic comes up.
I did a TED talk, a TED X talk a few years ago.
When I was invited, my initial response was to say no, was to turn down the offer.
That was what my brain said, the initial response.
I thought about it for probably a day and I called them back and I accepted the offer.
So the day that I went to do my presentation, I went there about three hours before because I like to feel even when I'm doing radio before I go to a new studio to do a show, I want to be in that studio first so I can be comfortable with the space.
So I went there three hours early and I looked at the stage.
Now I'm sure we've all seen TED talks, right?
There's no podium for the presenter to use but at that time I didn't know that.
So I asked where's the podium and they said, oh you don't have one.
I said, oh that's okay, I'll just use my papers, my cards.
I had prepared these little cue cards to use and they said, oh actually, yeah, you can't hold those.
I said, oh really? Okay, well I guess I'll just hold the mic and that's it.
They said, oh no, you can't hold a microphone.
We tape one to your face.
I said, oh my goodness, everything in my brain that I had prepared for.
Right? Podium, cue cards.
When you're an announcer, the comfort of a microphone, this thing in front of you is like a children's blanket.
All of those things were gone and I had two...
That's because it goes with your plan.
Everything was off and I had two hours to prepare and what I did was I went downstairs to a quiet room.
I memorized the speech to the best of my ability.
It had to be exactly 22 minutes and I finished it in like 21 minutes and 54 seconds or something.
Oh, that's cool. So I came through and I was really, really proud of myself for getting over that fear.
But your question about being nervous, I was terrified.
Terrified in that moment.
Yeah. What about you, you should?
I would say I'm someone who gets nervous easily.
So, you know, the last time I fell nervous was right before this live show.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. I get nervous quickly and easily.
And sometimes I just just thinking about something important or uncertain, as you said, because I'm kind of person who will like things to go with the plan.
Then if the things didn't go with the plan, even a little, I will feel a little bit anxious or even nervous.
So basically, when I think maybe that's natural, but when people are facing something that is uncertain or you don't know what is going to happen, then people will feel nervous, especially when I maybe will be on a business trip, then I'll be super nervous for it.
Oh, really? What is it? Is it the fear of failure?
A lot of things. Fear of, you know, maybe even communicating with people that I don't know and getting to a different place and do the job that I haven't done before.
A lot of things. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, some extent.
The discomfort, the discomfort of not being in your comfort box.
Yeah. What about for you?
Well, you shouldn't what you just said.
A lot of it reminds me of the first couple of years on the job.
And if this is any comfort with experience, you'll stop feeling nervous.
I think it'll get a lot better.
But certainly getting on stage, I think, is still pretty nerve wrecking, especially in that situation that Steve you just mentioned.
When there's nothing you can hide behind, even if it's just a microphone that you can hold onto your hand.
And yeah, that I can definitely resonate with.
Now, imagine that you're on television.
Millions of people are watching you, not only that, but you're also in a stadium with thousands and thousands and thousands of people watching you.
And not only that, you have the pressure of representing your country, wearing your national flag on your body.
I'm starting to get into those.
You're just, we just put you in the Olympics right now.
This is everything that these Olympic athletes have to deal with.
And the mental fortitude that it takes for them to be able to put all of that pressure aside is exactly what we should be impressed by when we see these athletes on television.
The Olympics is just about to wrap up.
So our timing is perfect to talk about this.
But we have to remember that when we're watching these athletes, they don't win gold, they win silver, they win bronze, even if they don't win it all, they've still accomplished such a tremendous goal by being there at all.
Yes. And also all that stress and this mental struggle, it goes in the head.
So you don't see it. But you know, under that really calm face, these athletes, they go through so much.
And you know what, we have Greg and American high school teacher sharing his most nervous moment in life with us.
And sometimes getting in front of a whole bunch of students for the very first time can be just that Olympic moment for Greg.
Hi there. My name is Greg and I'm from the United States of America, specifically South Carolina.
And my most nervous moment was probably my first day teaching high school in the US.
It was my first job, of course, a high school English teacher.
And the first day alone is really nerve-wracking because before that you do practical and of course you're with a mentor teacher and they guide you and tell you things to do and they kind of oversee you and support you, even if they don't say much, they're still there.
So you're not all alone.
So if something starts to go off, they can kind of intervene and help you out.
And you're in the classroom below and it's just you.
It's kind of you're steering the ship by yourself.
You're the captain. And I remember that first day feeling like, oh my goodness, these children's lives are kind of in my control.
And that was a heavy burden to bear in that moment suddenly before that kind of felt like, oh, I'm just practice teacher and the other teacher can kind of fix whatever mistakes I make.
And in that case, it was suddenly all on me and the nervousness really kicked in.
So I was super sweaty. I couldn't get my words together well and there was a lot of that.
But ultimately, I got myself through it by I think talking to myself, you know, the way to overcome it.
You can do this. You're fine.
You know, the students also respect you and they look to you with, you know, a lot of admiration.
So you need to show that image of strength and further them as well.
I think that helped me a lot to overcome the nervousness that first day.
Later, I talked to other teachers about it and you know, how they felt on their first days and almost everyone felt the same way.
And so as time has gone by, I feel like we're all that way on the first day of the job.
You really walk in super confident and ready to run.
You know, you walk in and you're a little worried about how things might go.
And I think that's natural with anything we do for the first time.
So the best way to overcome it.
Keep talking to yourself, talk yourself through it.
And you know, kind of just get in there and grind away at it.
Keep keep going at it. Don't don't stop until you kind of overcome it.
I think that's the best way.
And if you can't do it on your own, talk to others about it and get support.
And you know, that's always a solid way to overcome any challenges in life.
Thanks so much, Greg, for the tips as well.
And let's talk about this.
You know, how do you cope with these really stressful moments that make you nervous?
We talk about the Olympics and athletes and that's on a big stage, right?
But stages come in many sizes.
Don't they? And Greg's example was his classroom.
And he felt that same pressure that Olympic athletes might feel or that you shouldn't feel before a live show.
It's all the same, right?
And that's different depending on your surroundings.
But what he talked about is exactly what Dr.
Michelle Clear talks about.
She's a global performance coach.
And Greg said positive self talk, saying I can do this.
And that's one of the things that performance psychologists will talk about with athletes as well.
Say to yourself, I deserve to be here.
I think there's a lot of imposter syndrome possibilities when you achieve a great level of success that self doubt, do I really deserve to be here?
Why is this me? Why isn't this somebody else?
I'm not good enough. So you have to overcome that with positive self talk.
That's on Dr. Clear's website.
Also Dr. Clear talked about the power of visualization techniques and athletes use this a lot.
Where they'll close their eyes and they'll visualize themselves performing at their highest level and maybe even winning that gold medal.
And that can be a very powerful tool for athletes as well.
Yes. And I think being aware of these kind of emotion is also very important because we know that nervousness is kind of natural instinct that, you know, maybe humans have developed, developed thousands of years ago.
It's fight or flight. Yeah.
Yeah. When humans faced maybe danger, they would feel nervous, which help them stay alert to the presence of danger.
So feeling nervous is a form of coping mechanism.
And then if you are aware of it, you will know that, okay, this is actually helping me to go through all of these difficulties or things that I'm going through.
So maybe moderate nervousness can keep the brain and body in an optimal state of activation.
And in this way to, you know, overcome these high pressure competitions and all of these maybe athletes can still withstand the pressure and achieve good results.
And another point I would like to say is that, of course, clearly understanding this kind of natural instinct and also accepting our own current situation can also help, you know, reduce maybe nervousness because what do you mean accepting your own situation?
I mean, the ability that you have, you know, when we have a clearer understanding of or are more at ease with the results we're facing, maybe the level of nervousness about the situation will gradually decrease.
Yeah. Yeah, like Panjant Leu, who won the gold medal in freestyle with a record, record breaking speed in Paris Olympics, he said that, you know, he never felt like he couldn't do it.
And whatever others say about, he doesn't matter.
It's just himself. I think there's something kind of unique about these Olympians.
One thing is that they've possibly worked 10 years, 20 years, definitely more than just the four years to get to this Olympics.
And therefore so much as at stake.
And I think that's such an insurmountable pressure for average folks to imagine.
Yeah. I think that's one thing.
Yeah. And we don't think about it when we watch TV or see the highlights, we don't take that into consideration because we can't see with our own eyes what they're feeling on the inside.
And another thing that makes their situation a little bit unique, which I suppose could help them deal with this Olympic situation a little bit better or what not is that these are top athletes.
They have not just started complete competing today.
So they've gone a long way to qualify one level after another.
So they should know their abilities quite well.
And they're probably more experienced in dealing and regulating emotions better than, you know, average people thinking about it.
So I'm not saying it makes it that much easier to deal with Olympic amount of stress, but they possibly have the experience to deal with it a little bit.
Maybe, yeah. But maybe not because you talk about you used to be nervous going on stage, right?
And still a little bit are.
But if you went on stage this week and then next week and then the next week and then the next week, then your nervousness would probably subside a little bit.
But these athletes don't get to do the Olympics next week and then next week and then next week.
So for a lot of these athletes, they might get a second Olympics.
They might get a third Olympics, but this might be it.
And therefore they don't have a do over.
So I agree with you, they've trained their entire life to be at that moment.
But yet that moment is that moment.
And so that amount of pressure is something that I will probably never be able to understand.
And that's the part that I wish there's a psychologist can answer my question that is, you know, of course everybody's different.
Maybe some people perform better under an adequate amount of stress, which is, which could be a lot.
And maybe some people just, it's best for them not to visualize, not to think about the know to think this is maybe it.
This is it, like just not think that way.
You should kind of touched on it.
Sorry to interrupt you when he said that when you said you shouldn't that a little bit of nervousness can be a good thing.
It is something that's biological.
It keeps us on our toes, right?
So a certain amount of heightened alertness or preparedness to help us face a really big challenge can be a helpful thing.
But I think who you're talking about maybe is like that level of nervousness that maybe is overwhelming and you can't handle it.
And then the start to sweat and then the butterflies in the stomach are really aggressive too.
Yeah. And I remember Rafael Nadal, wonderful tennis player.
He said that I never think about the title.
I think about the match and how I need to prepare for it, how to handle it and how to enjoy it.
So for him, maybe he is not thinking about the end game, but actually, you know, just being focused in the game.
And I think that's something we can all sort of maybe draw some lessons from.
That is, it's about being in that Zen state of mind to really focus on what you're performing where you're trying to deliver.
And sometimes you can only do your best and your best will be good enough.
Coming up next, welcome to the happiest corner on the airwaves around tables, happy place.
Delivery delivery delivery delivery.
What is it? Happy news from round table.
This week our happy place has an Olympic theme because it's brought all of us some joy and maybe more.
You shouldn't tell us about your happy place.
Yeah. So some of these games are really, really thrilling.
And I think some of them all then caught my eyes.
So men's four by 100 meters swimming relay and the women's singles tennis final are the ones that I, you know, remembered the most because first of all, I am thrilled and congratulate the Chinese swimming team and Junqin, for winning gold medals for both of these games.
But more importantly, the matches themselves were incredibly exciting, you know, for the swimmers, they all pushed the limits of speed and endurance, especially with the final leg of the relay where they achieved a comeback to win the championship.
Yeah. And the swimming events are always some of the most exciting events to watch during the Olympics.
You never know the results.
Until the end. And as for Junqin, when every serve, every rally, every point was a battle and watching these athletes and her given their all for Olympic glory was utterly exhilarating.
They could both be described as, you know, heart pounding spectacles and a true showcase of skill strategy and of course mental toughness.
But aside from that, I also want to mention that, you know, during every Olympics or major sporting event, people often cheer for champions or gold medalists.
But I think it's important to also support and encourage those who may not have won gold or who made mistakes even.
I believe that, you know, all athletes who make it to the Olympics are among the world's top competitors and have, you know, likely undergone law and rigorous training.
And recently there have even been some, you know, negative trends such as criticizing athletes who, you know, make mistakes or the emergence of fan culture, which includes, you know, devaluing others in order to support one athlete.
So the, actually the Chinese Olympic Committee also had caught for more understanding and support for athletes who may not perform perfectly on the field.
And I also want to quote the statement of table tennis player Chowmong after her match that she hopes fans can view victories and losses correctly.
I mean, loses or losses focusing on the athletes fighting spirit and courage in the face of challenges.
I also believe that, you know, this is the true meaning of the Olympics.
Yeah, exactly. Of course, it's fun to win gold medals and silver and bronze is and it's fun to stand on a podium and it's fun to celebrate those victories as fans.
Yes, but everything we just talked about is still true.
These are the best in the world.
If we're talking about table tennis or swimming or track and field, it doesn't matter.
These are the best of the best of the best of the best.
Even the athlete who finishes in last place in the 100 meter dash is still the 10th best person in the world at that thing.
So let's not talk about failure here.
Let's talk about the fact that everybody who competes at the Olympic level is an absolute champion.
Definitely. And don't you know someone or have you found out somebody from your hometown?
I don't know her person.
Yeah, but she was in the Olympics this year.
And this is my happy place athlete.
We have a little bit of an Olympic theme for happy place today.
Her name is Ellie Black and she's from Nova Scotia, which is the province in Canada where I'm from.
And I'm glad that you went first, you shouldn't because everything that you said there is true about Ellie Black.
She's 28 years old. She's from Halifax, which is the capital of Nova Scotia.
And she finished sixth in the individual all around competition and sixth in the vault final in Paris.
And then the Canadian women, they finished fifth in the team event.
She's a gymnast and she didn't win any medals at all.
But when you watch her interviews or listen to her audio when she's giving talks, she's just so proud of the fact that she was there competing and doing a great job.
And for me personally, you know, we don't have a lot of Olympic level gymnasts or Olympic level athletes coming from Nova Scotia where I'm from.
It's a really small place Halifax is a really small city.
I don't know the population, but it's a brown.
I don't know, maybe 200,000 or something like that 300,000.
If you look that up, you might find a different number anyway, it's a small place.
So I just wanted to give Ellie Black a shout out and say well done, representing Nova Scotia at the Olympics and finishing fifth or sixth is still an incredible feat.
I definitely think so. And the Olympics are definitely about winning, but there are also about so much more.
It's about friendship, respect, and sportsmanship that go beyond the medals.
Here's one story that really sort of made me feel this extra warmth or or feeling towards the Olympic Games.
Herping Zhao, the Chinese BAMMinton player, she exemplified the true Olympic spirit during the Women's Singles Final at the Paris Olympic Games.
After winning the silver medal, Bing Zhao stood on the podium holding a Spanish flag badge in honor of her semi final opponent, Carolina Marlin, Marlin, who had to withdraw due to a knee injury and this touching gesture highlighted Bing Zhao's respect and compassion, you know, for her opponent, for the sport, earning her widespread admiration for sports, woman ship.
So it's really, you know, all these like little moments that is not about winning the gold or any medal really.
I think make us look at the Olympics and go maybe beyond sports itself, this, but beyond the results itself, these are the reasons why it's worthwhile to hold these events.
To hold the Olympics and I wholeheartedly agree with you.
I was watching the springboard diving competition and the Chinese athletes were amazing if you haven't seen the highlights from that.
But the other, you know, everybody was celebrating everyone.
One athlete would do a great dive.
All the other competitors.
That was really great. And the next person will go everybody.
That was really great. And then when they won, they just congratulated each other.
It's just really nice to see.
Yes. And another story that I really enjoyed as well, if you live in China, then you know table tennis is something that people pay attention to.
And then there is a formidable and it feels like ever lasting rival.
That's earned our respect.
Timo, bowl or boar in Chinese.
He's competed with almost like seven generations of Chinese ping pong masters.
And he's just recently retired as he announced at the Paris Olympics this time.
And earning the respect from your opponents, I think that is that that's true testament to sportsmanship and also just once endurance in that particular field.
Makes me wish the Olympics were two weeks longer.
Yes. I want to watch more and more and more.
And do enjoy the Olympic Games when you can.
And that brings us to the end of today's roundtable.
Thank you. You should. And Steve Hathaway for joining the discussion.
I'm Ha Young. We'll see you next time.
