One of the reasons why we often continue to persevere with habits and behaviours that we consider to be wrong is because we are afraid of the risks we might run if we decide to change, first of all making another mistake despite the fact that we are changing.
It is certainly easier and less demanding to let ourselves be dominated by the desire to complain telling the classic phrase: “I knew it would end this way”. We continue to defend ourselves by saying that we don’t know what to do, that it’s someone else’s fault, or the bad luck that comes our way, or the fact that there is no other solution.
These are common thoughts in which it is easy to fall into and which serve to mask our deepest fears. When the athletes make the same mistake again and again I often tell to do something different, without being worried about the result, in the worst case they will make another mistake but at least it will be different. To justify this lack of initiative we hide in saying “what if it doesn’t go well?” More rarely we think if it doesn’t go well I will try to do something else until I’ll do right.
This happens because we are emotionally afraid of change and the more we feel the need for it, the more we tend to hide behind reasoning instead of acting differently.
It is important to learn to dialogue with ourselves, accepting mistakes. I propose to write a reflection on “what are mistakes for me and how do I react to them? Think about what you do in different situations in your sport:
- in competition and in training
- when you’re ahead or behind
- with what words you accompany what you do right and wrong
- when you’re happy in training and racing
Write and then read again and decide how you would like to react and which behaviors and parts you would like to eliminate, and then start training.
