Читать книгу Sports Psychology For Dummies - Leif H. Smith - Страница 31

If you want to improve your mindset, you also need to work on accepting yourself as human and imperfect.

In sports, athletes seem determined to pursue perfection at all costs. They talk and think about it so much that they actually start to believe that it exists. Here is an inevitable truth, however — perfection has not, does not, and will not ever exist. For you, or for others. You have high moments of excellence, but truly there is no perfection. So why keep pursuing it?

Rather than striving for perfection, what about the idea of pursuing “better”? Better performances. Better mindset. Better practice. Better technique. The idea of “better” is much more achievable, measurable, and doable than “perfection”! In sports, and in life, better equates to improved performances. It also leaves room for those moments when you aren’t performing at your best. In other words, it has all the upside and very little downside. So, instead of pursuing perfection as your ideal mindset, we encourage you to pursue “better.” You’ll see tremendous long-term results via this shift in thinking.

When you can accept that you are “perfectly imperfect,” you will not get down on yourself so much when you make a mistake or do not perform as you hoped. One of the greatest lessons that anyone can take from this book is the fact we are all perfectly imperfect — as coaches and athletes and human beings. We were designed to be different, and to perform differently. In fact, your long-term motivation will endure when you accept this fact and are not constantly criticizing yourself.