By Setting realistic goals and working on weak points are some of the strategies to overcome the fear of failure in sport. Find out how to put these and other recommendations into practice.
Learning to manage the fear of failure in sport is a task that athletes must work on. Just like in life, sometimes you win and other times you lose. Therefore, being prepared for the fall will make it less painful.
Failure often happens unexpectedly, but this doesn’t mean that it’s not possible to anticipate it. In fact, a large part of psychological work consists of anticipating situations, both positive and negative, in order to learn how to react without being caught off guard . Keep reading and find out the best tips for dealing with the fear of failing in sport.
What is the origin of the fear of failure in sport?
Before moving on to the tips, we want to share the most common causes of fear of failure in sport. This will make it easier for us to identify possible sources and, therefore, deal with them more easily.
Failure is a multifactorial construct. That is to say, there is no single cause that is the same for all athletes . Despite this, we can highlight the following causes among the main ones:
- Materials: losing sponsors, money, scholarships or financial benefits as a result of the defeat.
- Internal : low self-esteem , perfectionism, excessively high expectations, excessive self-criticism or feelings of guilt.
- Interpersonal : the fear of disappointing others, not meeting their expectations, the fear of provoking negative emotional reactions or facing a powerful rival.
Recommendations to overcome the fear of failing in sports
Next, we are going to focus on tips that can be useful to you in turning failure around . Select the ones that most attract your attention from the list and start applying them so that they are effective.
1. Learn from your mistakes
Recognizing mistakes is an opportunity to learn . In this sense, there is no reason to be ashamed. Therefore, instead of making efforts to try to hide them, use them as a powerful tool based on your previous experience.
To do this, the first thing you should do is analyze the failure . Trying to clarify why, when and how will allow you to discover aspects that previously went unnoticed, but that hindered your execution.
2. Expose yourself to new situations
Getting out of your comfort zone is an experience that every athlete must do at some point. While it is true that the unknown is scary, staying where you feel comfortable greatly limits progress.
Therefore, gradually exposing yourself to things that are uncomfortable will help you get used to them . Also, experience will give you new methods to achieve your goals. In this way, try to approach failure as an opportunity .
3. Practice your weak points
All athletes have strengths and weaknesses. Knowing what we are good at and what we need to improve is very important for planning training in an individualized and efficient way.
A common practice in sports training is to focus only on strengthening the strong points and leaving aside the weak ones. However, this is a mistake, since if we do not work on our weaknesses, they will hinder us , and ultimately prevent us from having optimal performance.
4. Set realistic and achievable goals
Goals are the fuel that drives athletes to strive and give their best. For this reason, it is essential to set short- and long-term goals that are realistic and achievable within each individual’s capabilities.
If a goal is too easy, you will get bored and find it difficult to be consistent. On the other hand, if it is too ambitious, you will become overwhelmed and end up feeling unmotivated.
In this sense, according to a study by the University of León , objectives have to increase achievement motivation . That is, the drive to stand out and excel, which encourages us to strive to succeed.
5. Put visualization into practice
Visualization is a tool with many applications in the field of sports psychology . In the case of overcoming the fear of failure in sports, the power of imagination is used to solve scenarios that cause nerves in real life .
Specifically, one situation where it is regularly applied is to reduce the fear of returning to sports after an injury. This is closely related to the fear of failure, as there is the fear of a negative event in the future. An injury can even be seen as a failure.
In coping with fear of harm, research from the University of Murcia indicates that visualization and relaxation have been associated with positive coping with adversity and a reduction in anxiety.
6. Manage increased activation
One of the parts of anxiety is all those symptoms that are felt physically (the heart beats fast, the muscles tense, the breathing becomes labored, etc.). Treating this component is highly recommended to reduce fear and thus have the ability to cope with it better .
Relaxation techniques, specifically breathing exercises , are the star solution. Think of any time when you have felt overwhelmed; being able to take a few minutes to breathe deeply is very soothing. Apply the same when it happens to you in sports.
7. Work more on your self-confidence
As we said at the beginning, one of the causes of fear of failure in sport is low self-esteem or lack of self-confidence. Improving the image we have of ourselves is a positive help to reduce all those thoughts related to defeat.
But it not only combats this anxiety, but it is also an effective support to reduce pre-competition nerves . That is, those that we feel before an important event.
Don’t be afraid to fail, but be afraid to not try.
The fear of failure in sport is one of the most common fears. However, this does not mean that we should downplay it, as it can become a real stumbling block on the path to success.
To begin to deal with it, it is necessary to find its origin. Once this is done, we have several tools at our disposal, but they must be worked on first . If you want them to be effective, you have to incorporate them as part of mental training. Only in this way will you ensure that they will work when you need them most.