1. Indifference/Apathy – There’s no room for these feelings if you want to develop your skills and improve your performance. Always put in 110%.
2. Stubbornness – Being stubborn leads to being uncoachable, which leads to being unsuccessful. Be open-minded and you might be exposed to a new skill or technique that you would’ve otherwise ignored.
3. Pride – It’s ok to be confident in yourself, but don’t let that confidence make you be obnoxious or prideful. Being prideful will lead to silly mistakes and potential embarrassment.
4. Self-Doubt – It’s easy to be overly critical toward yourself. Just focus on the positive things about yourself.
5. Cautiousness – If you’re too hesitant, you miss out on key opportunities and leave room for the other athletes to close the gap. Be a little risky.
6. Perfectionism – Be careful when setting goals because you don’t want to force high expectations on yourself. It’s ok to make mistakes and to continually work on being a better athlete. Michael Phelps stated, “I knew I was not a failure in any way, and so did those close to me. It doesn’t matter if you fall short; it is never a failure to go after goals with everything you’ve got.” Mistakes are going to happen, they should be viewed as a source of motivation and a means of learning. Plus, once you’re a “perfect” athlete, it’ll become boring!
7. Over-seriousness – You should compete because you like it and you enjoy it. If you take it too seriously, you lose some of the enjoyment and add extra stress on yourself. At times like this, try to remember why you started your sport in the first place.
(Check out our page!)