• risk averse
• prone to anxiety
• uncommitted to their decisions
• hesitate under pressure
• overly critical of their performance

These are often secondary effects of perfectionism. They happen because athletes are afraid to fail.

Unfortunately, failure is exactly what they get.

The danger with perfection is that it is an absolute; black or white, perfect or flawed. There is no middle ground. If you believe, as I do, that there is always room for improvement, then perfection is – as coach Lombardi said – unattainable.

Two Sides of Perfection

Let’s start by defining our terms. According to Joachim Stoeber (2011), “perfectionism is a personality characteristic defined by striving for flawlessness and setting exceedingly high standards for performance accompanied by tendencies for overly critical evaluations.”

You can see from this definition that there are two distinct dimensions of perfection: 1) a pursuit of flawless performance and 2) over concern for evaluation.

The first dimension, pursuit of flawless performance, is associated with striving for perfection and setting exceedingly high standards for performance.

The second dimension, overly concerned about evaluation, is associated with an overemphasis on avoiding mistakes, fear of negative evaluation by peers and coaches, disappointment of not meeting expectations, and extreme frustration with errors.

Researchers have found that the first can help improve performance (in training and competition) while the second hinders it.

More specifically, the chart below captures the differences between the two different dimensions of perfectionism.

How to Promote Healthy Perfection in Your Athletes

Unfortunately, these two aspects of perfectionism are likely to coexist in an athlete.

Naturally you may be wondering if it is possible to reap the benefits of pursuing perfection without the maladaptive and overly critical side effects.

The simple answer is yes. Researchers call it healthy perfection.

However, as you can probably guess, it isn’t that easy. So, what can you do?

You can help your athletes develop skills and tools which minimize the negative effects of perfection AND promote the positive benefits. That’s what healthy perfection is.

Here are 5 ways to help your athletes develop the healthiest aspects of perfectionism.

1. Foster a Growth Mindset. A growth mindset drives an athlete to focus on improvement and mastering his or her skills. This focuses him on what he can control and a daily process of getting better.

2. Encourage Process Goals. Process goals direct an athlete’s focus to executing the fundamentals of their sport. Flawlessly executing the fundamentals gives athletes the best chance of success.

3. Redefine Success. Often athletes define success simply by wins and losses. This creates a fragile sense of confidence and a fear-based mentality – both undercut performance. Define success by measures that are more controllable and which show improvement over time.

4. Accept Mistakes as Part of the Process. When coaches emphasize perfection, this is where they go wrong. When athletes pursue their full potentials, they have to get outside their comfort zones. That means taking risks. And when athletes take risks, they make mistakes. Mistakes can be corrected and coached.

5. Use Mistakes & Failures to Get Better. This is a key factor in determining an athlete’s resilience – how they cope with failure. Mentally tough and resilient athletes use their failures and disappointments to fuel future successes. This comes from understanding that failure is inevitable (see above), isolated, and in the athlete’s control.

Free Download

To help you share these 5 strategies with your athletes download this free poster to hand out or hang in your locker room.