“Perfection is unattainable. But if we chase perfection, we catch excellence.” Vince Lombardi

For a high-achieving athlete, perfectionism may seem like it could be a good thing. But perfectionism trait is associated with an array of problems that leads to fear of failure.

You can improve your routine and your strategies, but you cannot be perfect. Football psychologist reports when you expect to be perfect it can be mentally damaging and cause you to perform poorly.

Perfectionism & Fear of Failure

When working to improve mental toughness one of the main things to combat is the fear of failure.

Unfortunately, many athletes feel the fear of failure which in turn results in anxiety and stress.

The big question is, where does this fear come from?

Studies in sports psychology for football have shown that athletes with perfectionism tendencies are the ones to suffer from this the most. The ones who are continually trying to reach for perfect scores or perfect performance are driven by the fear of losing.

They have every detail planned out in their head, and they go according to that. What they don’t realize is that football is just as much mental as it is physical and unpredictable things will happen. You have to be prepared for any situation and build a strong football mental game to make on-the-spot decisions.

Signs of Perfectionist Tendencies (Cohn)
• You generally perform better in practice than game situations.
• You want to win badly, which leads to anxiety and fear of failure
• You worry too much about what other people think about your game
• You view your performance as either good or bad, with no middle ground
• You have unrelenting work ethic and very high commitment in sports

*Download the free mental game assessment and get started on Improving your Mental Game in Football.