Stop “Over Trying” to Improve Your Performance

Skatergirl is getting ready for a big competition.
A competition that will determine whether she goes to nationals or not.

She wants to do well.
She doesn’t want to mess up.
So, when she arrives at the competition she tries extra hard.

Unfortunately, “trying hard” makes all the difference.
Instead of performing like she does in practice, Skatergirl’s short and long programs are splatfests.

She’s a human zamboni
She’s on the ice more than she’s on her feet.
By the time she’s done, the ice is smoother than after an ice resurface.

The important competition

When you think of a competition as the be all and end all of competitions, it makes it more important than it actually is.
This puts your focus on the results, which takes you out of your body and puts you into your head.

You feel added pressure.
You feel like you only have one chance.
Instead of being a normal competition, the competition becomes do or die.

We aren’t fortune tellers.
We can’t tell what the future holds.

Yes, you feel like this competition might be your only chance.
But in reality, no matter what happens, going through this experience will make you a better athlete.

However, placing importance on a competition guarantees that you’ll mess up.
Which is the opposite of what you want to do when a competition is important.

This doesn’t only apply to “big” competitions.
If you see a “small” competition as important, it will happen there too.

It’s a mindset thing

There’s a sale at your local grocery store.
They’re selling chocolate bars for fifty cents each, down from the usual four dollars per bar.

A super-mega sale, meant to celebrate the chocolate maker’s 50th anniversary.
It’s a sale you’ve never seen before and one that you’ll probably never see again.

You already have a stockpile of fifty bars, but you hop into your car to buy more anyway.
After all, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity.
You’ll probably never see a sale like this again.

But, what about if the same sale happened every month.
How would that change your mindset?

If it happened every month, you probably wouldn’t bother going to the store.
After all, you already have 50 chocolate bars, you won’t run out for a while and when you do there will be another sale you can hit up.

The pressure disappears.
The importance is gone.
Instead of a once in a lifetime opportunity, the sale is a normal part of your everyday life.

Let’s look at another example.

BTS is coming to your city.
You feel like It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity.
After all, who knows if they’ll ever come to your city again.

You plan your schedule around the tickets.
You go to bed early, so you can wake up right as they go on sale, but you’re so nervous you can’t sleep.

The tickets are constantly on your mind.
You can’t stop thinking about them.

You set multiple alarms to make sure you wake up on time.
You worry that they’ll sell out before you’re able to get one, last time they sold out in 15 seconds.
If you can’t get one, you feel like your life will end.

Your alarm goes off and you wake up.
You rush to your computer and start the ordering process.

Your heart is pounding.
You make several mistakes while filling out your billing information, but thankfully you end up with a single ticket.

Now, what if the group wasn’t BTS?
What if the band was one that comes to your state fair every year?

After your friend reminds you several times, you go online and order your tickets.
You fill out the form without problems and get prime seats up front next to the stage.

You’re calm and collected.
There’s no pressure.
After all, the band isn’t that popular, the tickets most likely won’t sell out.

Dealing with FOMO

Yes, you might only get one chance.
Or you might get many more chances in the future.

You don’t know.
You aren’t a fortune teller.

It might seem silly, but this is the mindset you need to have.
One chance, or many chances, it doesn’t matter.

We see an event as “important” because of the results.
We really want a specific result, because if we don’t get it something bad might happen to us.

However, “something bad” is nebulous.
When it’s stuck in our heads, it seems much bigger than it actually is.

Dealing with this is simple.
Focus on the thing you’re worried about, and write it down.

• “If I don’t beat my personal best, my parents will get mad.”
• “If I don’t qualify, I won’t get another chance.”
• “If I mess up, I’ll be embarrassed.”
• “If I fall, my coach might be disappointed and withhold lessons.”
• “If I don’t do well, my parents will be mad because I wasted their money.”

Once you’ve written it down, ask yourself these questions.

How would these outcomes affect you?
If they ended up happening, would you be able to recover?”

Chances are, now that you’ve written them down, they aren’t as bad as they seemed when they were stuck in your head.
Remember, when something is unknown, the critic in our brains trick us into believing that things are worse than they actually are.

Of course, if there are items on your list that you won’t be able to move through, there are other things you can do.

If it’s related to a person, talk to that person in question.

Your parents.
Your coaches.
Ask them if your fear is actually grounded in reality.
Like many athletes I’ve worked with, you might be pleasantly surprised.

If it’s related to injury, remember this.
I’ve worked with many athletes who, using the right mindset, have recovered from what they thought were “career ending” injuries and returned to competition, mentally and physically better than ever.

And, there are countless stories out there of professional athletes who have overcome these worst case scenarios.
Maybe even including your idols.

Do some research.
You might be surprised at what you find.