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Accomplishment will be a natural by-product of doing the things you believe in and that you enjoy.

If you need to perform under pressure, be sure to practice under pressure: perhaps take 5 minutes off the time you'd have in the exam room, and try to create the same conditions of noise and other distractions. For instance, try writing an essay in a busy room, or put yourself in situations where you are focusing on a task while other people are watching.

Your distinguishing ability will be how calm and effective you can remain when playing the big points.

Look hard at the best innings you've ever played, whether on the sports field or in the boardroom or in the exam hall, and see what you were getting right. At the very least it will boost your confidence, and might offer you some helpful reminders. Mentally replay your previous 'best performances' and recall the level of feelings and focus required to achieve them. Don't just visualise the picture, build in the sound and smell and touch and taste as well. Build in the emotions.

It helps to overkill irrational fears. For instance, if you fear spiders, then you need to reach a stage where you keep a pet spider for a while. One way of helping yourself achieve this is to get really relaxed and then imagine some aspects of the feared thing. Don't let your fear-level rise when you do so. Eventually you should be able to build up to a level whereby you can imagine very vividly and for a long time the feared thing without getting anxious. Then you can start the process again with real life exposures. It's vital not to rush this very gradual process. The feared situation, whether at the stage you experience it for real or simply imagine it, must only push you a little bit further each time, and stick with that level until your anxiety completely goes away. You have to conquer your fear at each stage.

Two key elements in top performance under pressure, whether in an athletics competition or a crisis situation, are good preparation and very realistic training - and these both require mental rehearsal and physical practice for all the future possibilities.

If you stay long enough in a basically harmless but nonetheless feared situation, the fear will exhaust itself, and if you repeat this process several times soon after, you will be cured of your phobia. This goes for fear of public speaking, fear of spiders, fear of enclosed spaces, fear of heights, fear of doing exams or important performances of one sort or another, fear of… well, you name it.

Worry serves little purpose. If there's a problem or the prospect of one, try to work out exactly what it is that's worrying you. For example, is the task ahead worrying you because there's an audience, or is it some other feature of the event. This exact understanding of what's worrying you will allow you to determine a suitable solution or make appropriate preparations.

When it comes to written exams, study past question-papers thoroughly, and then do as much real practice as you can. Try to get those practice tests graded by your tutor. Also, know exactly what's on the exam syllabus and what the examiner will be allowed to give points for.

You, better than anyone, should know your strengths and weaknesses in the lead up to exams. Negotiate with the tutor to make sure you tailor your last 12 weeks to meet your specific needs.

When preparing for examinations, sleep well, eat well and use relaxation as part of your work-strategy, so as not to end up resenting work or burning out.

Styles of mental preparation, motivation, and coping are unique to each individual. Experiment in the safety of the training situation and find what works for you.

Anyone who tells you they are not afraid when they go out there to compete or to be challenged, has never been successful. They are afraid of losing or of coming up short. Bear in mind the opposition are going to be just as frightened of you as you are of them.

Self-sabotage is very common, much more common than we probably realise. It shows itself in hoping things will go 'accidentally' wrong before the big game, the big exam, or the big date, so that either we don't have to do the feared thing at all, or we have an excuse for messing things up. For instance, we hope to get the flu, to split up with our partner, to be robbed, to have a crash, to lose our bag, to have a bad night's sleep…anything, absolutely anything…rather than go through with the feared thing.

High energy levels and low anxiety levels, are the best way to face a big challenge on any particular day. Elite sports people are often very good at achieving this combination. Don't allow your energy to expend in over-excitement. Learn to relax and conserve your energies.

You have to practice overcoming distractions and focusing totally on the task for the entire performance of it. That requires high quality mental-imagery, training, and competition-experience.

Everyone is scared and anxious over things that matter to them, it's just that some people have learnt better than others how to cope with those feelings. Fear isn't inadequacy, and it's nothing to be ashamed of. The important thing is not to let these feelings stop you. Not trying would be the only way that you could possibly let yourself down.

Before a major performance, you'll be feeling anxious and scared, so just focus firmly on the task in hand. This will help block out all the other distractions. Take the job step by step, and keep asking yourself what you need to do now and in the next two minutes, so you don't get spooked by the whole task ahead. Don't panic yourself by staring mesmerised at the whole mountain to be climbed. Don't focus on what the result might be in 45 minutes time; focus only on the task this next minute and then the minute after.

Performance is a time for connecting with the moment in hand rather than reflecting on the situation.

Play for yourself. The moment you start thinking about all the people who want various things for you and from you, your focus is taken away from the task at hand. Don't let your thoughts drift to what others' expect of you.

Top sports players don't fear making a mistake early in a game or early in a season, because they know that it will almost certainly spur them on to try even harder.

The dangerous thing is to break concentration, to think that you're on the way to winning. Before you know it, you start imagining collecting the trophy and what you'll say to your fans. That loss of concentration will lose you the match. Play each point on its own merits. Don't get ahead of yourself.

High-achievement isn't accidental or a complete enigma, it is the result of at least one specific strategy: a great deal of practice.

Mastery of your moods is the personal skill that differentiates the good athlete from the Olympic Gold medallist. If I were asked to name one mental characteristic that distinguishes the very finest athletes, it would be their ability to focus and refocus their concentration in the face of distractions.

Most personal qualities and practical skills are 'transferable' - which means you can probably do more than one thing well, and take enormous pleasure in doing so. The more practice and first-hand experience you can have of such things as planning projects, meeting deadlines, turning crises around and working with people, the better you will be at everything and anything you turn your hand to.

Surprise is a wonderfully effective ingredient if you can add it to any performance.

The best individuals are in competition with themselves rather than the people around them.