These three big reasons will explain why perfectionism brings trouble to racers
=================================================================
These three big reasons will explain why perfectionism brings trouble to racers
Why total dedication and absolute perfectionism can STOP success at the big races
=================================================================
Do you think being more motivated always leads to faster lap-times, more race wins and more championships? Is having bucket-loads of motivation always the way to go, with no possible downside?
Well folks, motivation is a good thing, no question, as without it we may as well give up this petrol-fuelled sport we love and go fishing. (At the Cleveland Champ Car Race in 2000, after a particularly tough weekend, a fellow engineer felt so ‘beaten-up’ by it all he nearly went and did just that. Thankfully for the fish, he still had enough motivation not to jack it all in.)
However, what’s not so widely understood is that a belly-full of motivation can sometimes bring a dangerous downside with it. In sport psychology it’s known as ‘maladaptive perfectionism’. I don’t bother myself with what it’s called and neither do my clients but I am bothered when I see racers doing it because it can really hold them back.
Here are the three big reasons why perfectionism can bring you trouble:
Reason 1
You imagine everything should go perfectly well and may even visualise doing so. (Visualisation is a useful technique we’ll discuss another time.) Something completely out of your control then happens that ‘ruins’ your ‘perfect’ race weekend. For example, you get stuck for a short while behind a back-marker whilst leading. It only takes one, sometimes small thing, to set your emotions off in all the wrong directions.
Reason 2
You place unreasonable expectations upon yourself and so create unnecessary anxiety that slows you down. You think Michael Schumacher, Valentino Rossi or Stefan Everts have mostly perfect race weekends so you should too. (All three of course have had some shockers in their time.) I’ve been with successful teams and unsuccessful teams and both types have an enormous amount of mechanical and human problems to solve. The good ones just deal with the problems better, but they are far from perfect.
Reason 3
You can be so bothered about getting it all nice and neatly perfect that you don’t apply focussed attention to the job in hand. That is, you can be so concerned about getting it perfect that you don’t start it at all. The ‘it’ could be testing a new part, trying a new line on the track, trying a new training technique, etc. (To those that know me well, I hold my hands up to this one in my younger days, but working at it has brought a huge improvement.)
* The Mindset for Racing Finish Line *
Motivation is the bedrock for moving forward and being successful but it can fuel perfectionism and cause you to get in your own way. Not all highly motivated racers are ‘negative perfectionists’ but those that have these non-helpful patterns of thinking, feeling and acting are putting the brakes on when they could be accelerating.
Riders and drivers who are quick year-on-year understand the balance that is needed between focussing on what they did wrong and planning what they are going to do. It’s about the next corner, not the last one. They also understand that these helpful patterns of behaviour are learnable and can always be improved with proper training.
As a quick tip: When you do your post-event reviews (you do these, don’t you?) make a rule to ‘drop the guilt’ say two days later. Make ‘drop the guilt’ a slogan within the team, get it printed up, say it to team-mates when you feel they need a nudge. You obviously need to know the technicalities of what could be improved, whether it’s mechanical or human, but trying to get everything right to the nth degree and then feeling bad when it (inevitably) doesn’t happen will not help you.
Another quick tip: If you’re going to fail (and we need to do this if we’re going to get better), work on ‘failing fast’.
You know what the top guys do and what you should be doing, don’t you?
Enjoy your racing and never give up.
Mike Garth
Motor Sport Psychology
Motor Sport Performance Coaching
These three big reasons will explain why perfectionism brings trouble to racers
Why total dedication and absolute perfectionism can STOP success at the big races
=================================================================
Do you think being more motivated always leads to faster lap-times, more race wins and more championships? Is having bucket-loads of motivation always the way to go, with no possible downside?
Well folks, motivation is a good thing, no question, as without it we may as well give up this petrol-fuelled sport we love and go fishing. (At the Cleveland Champ Car Race in 2000, after a particularly tough weekend, a fellow engineer felt so ‘beaten-up’ by it all he nearly went and did just that. Thankfully for the fish, he still had enough motivation not to jack it all in.)
However, what’s not so widely understood is that a belly-full of motivation can sometimes bring a dangerous downside with it. In sport psychology it’s known as ‘maladaptive perfectionism’. I don’t bother myself with what it’s called and neither do my clients but I am bothered when I see racers doing it because it can really hold them back.
Here are the three big reasons why perfectionism can bring you trouble:
Reason 1
You imagine everything should go perfectly well and may even visualise doing so. (Visualisation is a useful technique we’ll discuss another time.) Something completely out of your control then happens that ‘ruins’ your ‘perfect’ race weekend. For example, you get stuck for a short while behind a back-marker whilst leading. It only takes one, sometimes small thing, to set your emotions off in all the wrong directions.
Reason 2
You place unreasonable expectations upon yourself and so create unnecessary anxiety that slows you down. You think Michael Schumacher, Valentino Rossi or Stefan Everts have mostly perfect race weekends so you should too. (All three of course have had some shockers in their time.) I’ve been with successful teams and unsuccessful teams and both types have an enormous amount of mechanical and human problems to solve. The good ones just deal with the problems better, but they are far from perfect.
Reason 3
You can be so bothered about getting it all nice and neatly perfect that you don’t apply focussed attention to the job in hand. That is, you can be so concerned about getting it perfect that you don’t start it at all. The ‘it’ could be testing a new part, trying a new line on the track, trying a new training technique, etc. (To those that know me well, I hold my hands up to this one in my younger days, but working at it has brought a huge improvement.)
* The Mindset for Racing Finish Line *
Motivation is the bedrock for moving forward and being successful but it can fuel perfectionism and cause you to get in your own way. Not all highly motivated racers are ‘negative perfectionists’ but those that have these non-helpful patterns of thinking, feeling and acting are putting the brakes on when they could be accelerating.
Riders and drivers who are quick year-on-year understand the balance that is needed between focussing on what they did wrong and planning what they are going to do. It’s about the next corner, not the last one. They also understand that these helpful patterns of behaviour are learnable and can always be improved with proper training.
As a quick tip: When you do your post-event reviews (you do these, don’t you?) make a rule to ‘drop the guilt’ say two days later. Make ‘drop the guilt’ a slogan within the team, get it printed up, say it to team-mates when you feel they need a nudge. You obviously need to know the technicalities of what could be improved, whether it’s mechanical or human, but trying to get everything right to the nth degree and then feeling bad when it (inevitably) doesn’t happen will not help you.
Another quick tip: If you’re going to fail (and we need to do this if we’re going to get better), work on ‘failing fast’.
You know what the top guys do and what you should be doing, don’t you?
Enjoy your racing and never give up.
Mike Garth
Motor Sport Psychology
Motor Sport Performance Coaching
Post a Comment
Html formatting: <br /> (line break) <p></p> (paragraph) <b></b> (bold) <i></i> (italics)You need to be signed into istadia.com to post comments
If you are not a member yet, registering is quick and easy! Sign up Now to keep up-to-date, network or promote yourself; or read more about the benefits.
Members login here.
Mike Garth's Articles
| Su | Mo | Tu | We | Th | Fr | Sa |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
| 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
| 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 |
| 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | |||
Search Mike's Article
Recent Posts
- Motor Sport Psychology - Seven key steps to making sport psychology help you go faster
- Five ways a word that generates a snigger can help you achieve your racing goals
- These three big reasons will explain why perfectionism brings trouble to racers
- Motor Sport Psychology - Fear of Failure or Need to Achieve?
- Motor Sport Psychology - Why Did That Happen?
Comments
Rob Robson
Sport and Business Psychologist, Warwickshire