Not(?) doing it

I have tried to do a muscle up on a bar way too many times without succeeding so far. It feels frustrating to try something over and over again. Failure after failure I start to think that I will never get on that bar. It causes fear inside me, to watch the bar again the next day thinking: “I couldn't do it yesterday after so many tries, how could it be possible to do it now?”

The fear of failure is very common feeling among athletes and leads to negative results of failing: underestimating oneself, the feeling of insecure future, shame and embarrassment. Athlete’s energy and performance motivation goes off track and therefore the athlete starts to avoid taking risks. ( Matikka – Roos-Salmi 2012, 76.)

Thinking of the failure in the next similar situation leads to thinking: “I will not do the same mistake this time”. But unconsciously we react precisely the same way we did. Actually thinking of the mistake increases the possibility of it happening again. When we are trying to avoid the mistake, we are actually focusing on doing it. (Gardin 2013.)

The mistake has to be processed. After a while the athlete is capable of reviewing the mistake and the emotions it brought out. The experience stops haunting after being brought to consciousness and being recognized. The mere walk-through of thoughts is not sufficient. (Gardin 2013.)

In my opinion another subject relating to the fear of failure is self-talking. Not the kind of when you start talking to yourself out loud after being home alone for a while, but the one that describes your thoughts. Your thinking.

If you think that you will not do the same mistake again, you will definitely do it, because the brain does not “turn” negative words the way we would like them to turn. Thinking: “Don’t do it”, is actually the same as thinking: “Do it”. The words we should use while learning a new talent or trying not to do something should be guiding. Succinct, realistic and positively formed words help us to keep our thoughts in the doing. (Matikka – Roos-Salmi 2012, 164-165.)

I still haven’t been able to do that muscle up. Or should I say, I still haven’t done it. But I can do it, I will do it. I have watched some tutorials and found some “keywords” to use the next time I’ll try. Maybe it will take some time still but I will learn how to do it.

“You never fail until you stop trying.” – Albert Einstein

Sources:

Gardin, M. Epäonnistunut urheilusuoritus. Lounais-Suomen liikunta ja urheilu ry. 2013. Osoitteessa: http://www.liiku.fi/seuroille/valmentaminen/epaonnistunut-urheilusuoritus/ 28.10.2013

Matikka, L. – Roos-Salmi, M. 2012. Urheilupsykologian perusteet. Liikuntatieteellisen seuran julkaisu nro 169. Helsinki.

Picture:

http://www.globalbodyweighttraining.com/kipping-muscle-up-series/ 28.10.2013