Motor Sport Psychology - Fear of Failure or Need to Achieve?
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Fear of Failure or Need to Achieve?
Which side of the line are you on? The battle between fear of losing and the need to achieve and which trait the top racers have
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The 2008 season is almost upon us and two British hopes are well on with their preparations. In F1 Lewis Hamilton continues to post competitive times in testing at Barcelona and Jerez and Tommy Searle raced to victory yesterday in the MX2 traditional curtain-raiser at Mantova.
What do you think motivates athletes like Lewis and Tommy to succeed? It’s very likely their motivation to do so has far more to do with a real need to achieve rather than a strong will to avoid failure. On reading this sentence you may think that these two things are one and the same, but although they are indeed two sides of the same issue, the consequences of which one you choose are massive.
Imagine going into a race gripped by fear of cocking it up, how are you likely to be? How close to ideal is your mind and body going to be? Fear of failure will put the brakes on your performance and in some cases can cause you to avoid challenges that might help you in your quest to become faster and better.
For example, this might be during a race:
“I’ll look stupid if I attempt that double and come up short. I mustn’t come up short.”
But it can equally be during the week or off-season:
“If I sign that deal to race international single-seaters next year and don’t do well, that could be the end of my career. I can’t let that happen.”
Needing to achieve however means you’re not so bothered about failing and are ready to face the challenges head-on, just like Lewis and Tommy.
* The Mindset for Racing Finish Line *
Bjorn Borg, who until Roger Federer beat Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon in 2007, was the only man in history to win five consecutive Wimbledon Men’s Singles Titles, once said
“If you’re afraid of losing, then you daren’t win”.
This sums up what this month’s Mindset for Racing is about. Just because you hate losing, doesn’t mean you should fear it.
Winners have some major things in common, including a lot of failure early on and a lot of action to bring improvement!
You know what the top guys do and what you should be doing, don’t you?
* Reminder of the previous Motor Sport Psychology Article *
In the last article ‘Why Did That Happen?’ we talked about the reasons racers give for success or failure and the four key challenges to those reasons. You’ll remember that the top people always believe they can control the reasons for an outcome. This is something that some people do naturally, but you should know that it can be learned through specific training.
What happens though when the reason we give for success is “I am a good rider / driver”, ie it’s down to talent. What are you going to do when you step up a class / level and you’re not top dog anymore? How talented will you feel then and what will you feel you’ll be able to do about it?
Recent research (‘Subtle linguistic cues affect children’s motivation’ in the journal Psychological Science) has established that kids respond to challenges better when they believe they did a good job in a similar challenge before. Crucially, kids are less likely to respond well when they believe the reason they did well before was their talent.
Like all of us, the kids cannot change or control their talent, but they can change and control the job they do next time.
This has huge implications for how we coach youngsters. => Praise the action, not the person, or we may be giving false confidence.
The next time you’re down at the kart / moto-cross track with little Johnny / little Janet, you’ll think about this, won’t you?
Enjoy your racing and never give up.
Mike Garth
Motor Sport Psychology
Motor Sport Performance Coaching
Fear of Failure or Need to Achieve?
Which side of the line are you on? The battle between fear of losing and the need to achieve and which trait the top racers have
=================================================================
The 2008 season is almost upon us and two British hopes are well on with their preparations. In F1 Lewis Hamilton continues to post competitive times in testing at Barcelona and Jerez and Tommy Searle raced to victory yesterday in the MX2 traditional curtain-raiser at Mantova.
What do you think motivates athletes like Lewis and Tommy to succeed? It’s very likely their motivation to do so has far more to do with a real need to achieve rather than a strong will to avoid failure. On reading this sentence you may think that these two things are one and the same, but although they are indeed two sides of the same issue, the consequences of which one you choose are massive.
Imagine going into a race gripped by fear of cocking it up, how are you likely to be? How close to ideal is your mind and body going to be? Fear of failure will put the brakes on your performance and in some cases can cause you to avoid challenges that might help you in your quest to become faster and better.
For example, this might be during a race:
“I’ll look stupid if I attempt that double and come up short. I mustn’t come up short.”
But it can equally be during the week or off-season:
“If I sign that deal to race international single-seaters next year and don’t do well, that could be the end of my career. I can’t let that happen.”
Needing to achieve however means you’re not so bothered about failing and are ready to face the challenges head-on, just like Lewis and Tommy.
* The Mindset for Racing Finish Line *
Bjorn Borg, who until Roger Federer beat Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon in 2007, was the only man in history to win five consecutive Wimbledon Men’s Singles Titles, once said
“If you’re afraid of losing, then you daren’t win”.
This sums up what this month’s Mindset for Racing is about. Just because you hate losing, doesn’t mean you should fear it.
Winners have some major things in common, including a lot of failure early on and a lot of action to bring improvement!
You know what the top guys do and what you should be doing, don’t you?
* Reminder of the previous Motor Sport Psychology Article *
In the last article ‘Why Did That Happen?’ we talked about the reasons racers give for success or failure and the four key challenges to those reasons. You’ll remember that the top people always believe they can control the reasons for an outcome. This is something that some people do naturally, but you should know that it can be learned through specific training.
What happens though when the reason we give for success is “I am a good rider / driver”, ie it’s down to talent. What are you going to do when you step up a class / level and you’re not top dog anymore? How talented will you feel then and what will you feel you’ll be able to do about it?
Recent research (‘Subtle linguistic cues affect children’s motivation’ in the journal Psychological Science) has established that kids respond to challenges better when they believe they did a good job in a similar challenge before. Crucially, kids are less likely to respond well when they believe the reason they did well before was their talent.
Like all of us, the kids cannot change or control their talent, but they can change and control the job they do next time.
This has huge implications for how we coach youngsters. => Praise the action, not the person, or we may be giving false confidence.
The next time you’re down at the kart / moto-cross track with little Johnny / little Janet, you’ll think about this, won’t you?
Enjoy your racing and never give up.
Mike Garth
Motor Sport Psychology
Motor Sport Performance Coaching
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