There are can be two typical negative outcomes that I’ve observed in people that ‘aim for perfection’ in all that they do in their sporting lives; the first, struggling to deliver ones best on the day of competition. The second, burn out. There can obviously be some cross over in both those traits also- but those two behaviours, I’ve observed anyway, so often accompany perfectionist tendencies.
I’m not overly keen on ‘blanket messaging,’ not every athlete requires the same message. So, for context, I’m largely coming from the point of view of being a former full time Judo athlete who walked the line of ‘perfectionist thinking’ for a period of time at an earlier stage of my career. I now coach competitive and motivated youngsters and support with highly driven senior full time athletes. Whilst in a different context but obviously along the same line, I have seen similar behaviours in a couple of students on a recreational senior judo session that I run over the years, and while training in Jiu-Jitsu; largely, individuals that ‘smash it’ for a period of time then burn-out or disappear.
In terms of the first point, the relationship between perfectionism and competitive underperformance, one could argue that the inability to bring ones best in contest is caused by too much mental and emotional strain from the ‘strangling’ of daily routines. This often comes from a place of wanting to win so much that the fear of losing drives an individual into a place of perfectionism, doing absolutely everything to the millimetre that they can in order to ‘feel safer.’ No wonder they often look and feel flat on competition day- they’ve exerted themselves so much in the daily routines. I believe a certain amount of damage has been done to the culture of more ‘chaotic’ and ‘multidimensional’ sports like Judo, wrestling and BJJ by multi-sporting bodies that in more recent history have been headed up by individuals from more simplistic sports like cycling or rowing. ‘Marginal gains theories’ and too much additional attention and energy spent on support activities and such things at ground level, tend to be far less rewarding to results in the ‘chaotic’ combat sports. I ask, is that extra time, stress and energy worth it?
The second trait, hitting burnout, is of course related to point number one however, there are a small number of individuals that can lead a near perfect, what would nowadays be term as a ‘performance’ lifestyle, and still deliver on tournament day. These are often those possessing the ‘adrenaline junkie’ style personalities. I’ve know a few lads like this. Some can maintain it for years but, without fail, everyone of them has crashed at some point. Those that continued on to further success normally learned how to navigate their own thinking and extremist tendencies.
I found that learning and remembering that there is NO perfect way or balance of doing things- ultimately you crash/mess up a bit and go again. It’s a feeling out process, not something that be directly implemented from a text book.
A personal motto that I try to remind myself is that, “over strictness is so often counter productive.” I then ask myself if this ‘extra’ I’m about to do is truly benefitting me or tipping me over.
To finish, something I’ve observed and learned more from the last few years of coaching is that just because an individual stresses or worries more doesn’t necessarily mean that they want it more. Ultimately the work and, most importantly, translating it to bringing ones best on competition day are all that matter. The more an athlete can navigate their own thinking and behaviours to minimise extra stress the better.
No medals for hard work. No medals for added personal pressure. Medals only for those that can put it together and take it off of the opposition on event day.
Danny
