
But what does it take to be so composed? It begins by being in control of yourself, not too high, not too low, but just right in that ‘Goldilocks zone’ – controlling yourself mentally, physically, and emotionally. To do so requires controlling your arousal level. Arousal is your level of ‘up-ness’ on a physiological (pumped up) and psychological (psyched up) level. For a better understanding of arousal, let’s first get some brain basics covered.

The hippocampus is part of your limbic system, which can be thought of as your emotional brain and is responsible for memory, emotions and motivation.
The cerebellum is located in the brain at the back of the skull (in vertebrates) and its function is to coordinate and regulate muscular activity.
Lastly on our brain basics is the amygdala which is an automatically functioning part of your brain responsible for survival which operates in milliseconds – think fight, flight, or freeze model. Although the famous Waterboy scene directs us solely to the Medulla Oblongata as the source of alligator anger, the amygdala can easily be hi-jacked too.


Optimal arousal can be demonstrated by Figure A above called the Yerkes-Dodson Law of Arousal, where the optimal zone is dependent upon the person, the task, the day, and the given set of conditions. Each person in each situation requires a different amount of arousal – think a 1 rep max on back squat versus getting in some seven on seven reps. Each scenario has its own optimal arousal zone and each is equally important for the given task.
To be able to perform your best, you must get your arousal to the right level for you. As shown in Figure B, you can be under or over aroused and you will be unable to perform your best. To perform your best, you must find your optimal arousal, find your zone.
Thought control is controlling your self-talk and choosing the right thoughts, specifically by choosing arousing affirmations that take you up or relaxing affirmations that bring you down depending on your need for each.
Physical activity control is performing active and explosive actions to bring you up or passive and slow actions to bring you down.
Lastly, breath control can have huge impacts – a cleansing breath followed by deep abdominal breathing is how you begin breath control. By choosing to emphasize the exhale you will relax and calm down; or you can choose to emphasize the inhale which will energize and excite and bring you up.
By choosing to use these three means of control you are literally able to choose the quality of our performance! Check out the following videos for ways to control your breathing.
Learning composure and being composed is about being in control of yourself, not too high, not too low, but just right. Be in control mentally, emotionally, and physically.
Example routine:
- Stop …
- Take a deep breath …
- Positive affirmation …
- Focus and park it …
- Review your strategy (know the play, know your assignment) …
- Trust …
- Go deliver!