“Virtually nothing is impossible in this world if you just put your mind to it and maintain a positive attitude.” Lou Holtz

No matter how much you know or think you know, it always necessary to learn from the mistakes you make on the football field.

Some of the greatest lessons are those you learn from mistakes.

So how can you leverage your mistakes when you are not performing well in?

Become Aware of What Derail Success

It’s essential to take the necessary steps to make fewer mistakes but at the same time, don’t beat up yourself over the ones you make.

Athletes who are perfectionist ruthlessly beat themselves up emotionally for the errors, failures, or bad performances.

Research on sports psychology for football shows that maladaptive attributes like beating yourself up for mistakes or feeling like you can’t live up to high expectations make you upset and more vulnerable to self-defeating thoughts and behaviors.

Other football psychology studies have shown that ‘adaptive’ aspects like striving for high achievement have no impact on performance.

When you focus on outside markers of success such as accolades from your coaches, teammates, family, and friends as a measuring stick of your self-worth; when it does not occur it starts the cycle of self-defeating behaviors. You fear – the fear of failure.

How to Stay Calm Under Pressure

• Confront yourself. What are you afraid of? Recognize that you can learn from your mistakes. When you make a mistake ask, what can I learn from this experience? More specifically, think of a recent mistake you have made and list all the things you can learn from it.
• Set realistic goals. Focus on one or two things you want to accomplish. Don’t try to accomplish everything at first. Those giant leaps are not realistic and set you up for disappointment.
• Focus on the process, not just the result. Instead of thinking about the results, think about “How could I achieve it?”

There is no such thing as a “perfect game.”

Be ready to face new challenges each day and each game. When you face a challenge, concentrate on the process of going through it instead of avoiding it. Calm your mind with some positive self-talk. Keep reassuring yourself with mantra and affirmations.

Train your mind to be aware when you fall into a negative self-talk pattern and aim to pull yourself up out of it as quickly as possible.

When you start falling down a slope, determine what you need to say to yourself to pull yourself out.

Change takes time and energy. You will continue to make mistakes, but the goal is to learn from the mistakes and become a better player as a result.

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