Mr Daniel McGinn on the techniques that can make all the difference ahead of that job interview, big presentation or first date.

**Mr Daniel McGinn is a senior editor at **Harvard Business Review and the author of Psyched Up: How The Science Of Mental Preparation Can Help You Succeed (Portfolio), from which this article is adapted.

Ever since Mr Malcolm Gladwell published Outliers, professionals have recognised that the only way to develop true expertise in any field is practice – and lots of it. Mr Gladwell popularised the 10,000-hour rule, which says that it takes years of focused and deliberate practice to become world class in any field.

But there’s more to preparation than just practice. No matter how much skill you’ve developed, when you’re about to take the stage for a stressful event – a sales call, a closing argument in court, a business presentation, or even a high-stakes moment in your personal life, such as a proposal – nerves and anxiety can subtract from how well you do. That’s why top athletes learn to use a pre-performance routine – a specific sequence of thoughts and actions – in the moments before they compete. To bring your A-game when you need it most, you should develop a routine, too. Here are three techniques that can help.

Psychologists at West Point [the US Military Academy] teach cadets and athletes to visualise moments when they performed at their best, almost like an ESPN highlight real. West Point even creates professionally narrated audio clips describing these moments, backed by motivational music, which cadets can listen to before important performance events. You can use the same technique, without the professional soundtrack, by creating your own mental greatest hits collection of sights, sounds and recollections of your best moments at work. Focusing on moments when you crushed it in the past will and get you ready to bring it again.

Ms Amy Cuddy, a professor at Harvard Business School, popularised the idea of “power posing” in a Ted Talk that’s been viewed 41 million times. Her study showed that standing in a dominant position – legs spread, hands on hips – can affect people’s feelings of power, willingness to take risks and hormone levels. Although Ms Cuddy’s work has become controversial, there are other studies that suggest that subtly exposing someone to a particular stimulus can affect subsequent behaviour. In one study, for instance, people who wrote about a time they felt powerful just before a job interview performed better.

Superstition isn’t scientific, but research has shown that people who believe a special object will help them perform better often do. (Why? If an object helps you feel more confident, that confidence gives you a boost.) What kind of object works best? Several studies have shown that people who believe they’re wielding an object previously used by a high performer do better themselves. When my son met his favourite professional basketball player recently, instead of asking him to sign a poster, he asked him to sign his sneakers, something he can actually wear during the game. If the autographed kicks make him feel more confident, that’s a great way to be more prepared.