July 1st 2020 – Klik hier voor de Nederlandse Versie
Athletes often have high standards for themselves. Everything needs to be perfect and they always want to improve themselves. They want to have the perfect performance. Perfectionism can help athletes to get the perfect performance. This shows perfectionism can be a positive trait.
But why is everyone so negative about perfectionism then? A lot of people think that perfectionists do not want to make any mistakes. Of course part of this is true. Perfectionists do not want to make mistakes, but there is a difference between not wanting to make mistakes or being afraid of making mistakes. When an athlete is scared of making mistakes, it becomes a negative trait. De athlete gets negative thoughts about making mistakes. These negative thoughts can influence their performance. The tension goes up and unnecessary mistakes are made. Mistakes they normally would not make.
It is even possible that the athlete avoids certain tasks. You cannot make a mistake when you are not doing the task, right? Or.. can you? When you are avoiding tasks you may not reach your optimal performance. And only because you don’t want to make a mistake? But is it a problem when you make mistakes?
“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
Michael Jordan
This quote of Michael Jordan shows that mistakes need to be made to become better. He became successful because of the mistakes he made. When you make a mistake you now how to do it better next time. Try to learn from the mistakes you make.
But… mistakes are scary, stupid and definitely no fun. It brings a lot of emotions (anger, shame, sadness, frustration). It is important to change the negative thoughts to positive thoughts. Learn from the mistakes. To accomplish this change you could train your thoughts.
Perfectionism is not a negative trait on its own. It becomes negative when it disturbs your performance, because of the fear of making mistakes. When you are focussed on possible mistakes, you will not reach your real potential.
Do you recognize this and do you want help or more information about this, feel free to contact me and we will plan a non-committal appointment (by phone).
Kind regards,
Jeroen Davids
info@jeroendavids.nl or 0657625575