I read an interesting article about Serena Williams (maybe the best women’s tennis player ever) and her ability to perform in the clutch. She talked about what she's going through in these clutch situations. As I read the article it made me think deeper about how I can take this concept and put it into an easy-to-understand format such that it could benefit anyone who will encounter high pressure situations in the position they hold.

So I have come up with 5 key characteristics of clutch performers:

• They know the right thing to do at that time. They have enough knowledge of the game (their craft) that they know the skill needed and what is called for at that moment.

• They are focused on that right thing to do. They have an extremely high concentration level to execute the task at hand as they have worked on it time and time again. Nothing will take them out of their focus -- not the crowd, not the opponent, and definitely not the outside pressure.

• They are disciplined to keep doing it. Clutch doesn’t always mean just one spectacular play at the end of game or match; they are willing to perform even the simplest of fundamentals consistently throughout the entire game or match.

• They have the fight, the drive, and the resilience to keep chipping away. They will not be discouraged if the opponent is on top of their game too; they understand that the opponent is trying to succeed as well. They will continue to execute what is needed until the game ends.

• They believe they can do it. This one sounds simple, but behind every belief is an incredible amount of learning, thinking, practicing, and error as a means of finding the best way to do things. They have put the time in to truly know they have done all they can.

This was a great exercise in that I heard what Serena was saying but I wanted to put it into words and bullets that we all can understand, and then cross check ourselves to see where we may be deficient in some of these areas.