Athletes Who Focus on Avoiding Mistakes…

Sports Psychology Case Study

Do you or your athletes focus too much on avoiding mistakes? This happens a lot with athletes who have a fear of failure…

You might think that trying to avoid mistakes or have a mistake-free game is the way to go, but it backfires for most athletes.

When you try to avoid mistakes, you:

1. Focus more on mistakes
2. Think too much about outcomes
3. Perform tentatively with the fear
4. Over control your performance
5. Second-guess your decisions and hesitate

What you might not realize is that athletes harbor an underlying motivation when they attempt to avoid mistakes…

If you’re prone to avoiding mistakes, this means you try to avoid failure–of some kind.

Thus, the REAL fear is about NOT embarrassing yourself, not disappointing a coach or teammate, or needing respect from others.

I call this the “aftermath” of mistakes because the fear is not just about missing a shot on net or committing an error that’s scary. The real fear is about what the error might mean to you, such as criticism from teammates or the wrath of the coach when he benches you.

How do you overcome the fear of making mistakes and perform freely?

I answer this question in my new sports psychology case study video. Mike (not his real name) is a college athlete who was paralyzed by the fear of screwing up…

Learn the most important thing you (or your athletes) have to do to free up their performance and stop focusing on avoiding mistakes.

Watch the video below at my YouTube channel, Mindset For Sports:

Don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel to be updated on all our latest videos!