High Self-Worth Has Paramount Importance For Reaching Peak Performance

One of several reasons why I believe the R & D method is so unique when compared to most other sports psychology and mental coaching, is our focus on self-worth and beliefs of self-adequacy/inadequacy. Self-worth can touch on and be related to pretty much all classic sports psychology topics and I believe it is a major confounding factor during both peak performance and inadequate (lacking) performance.

Why is this?

First off, how much relevance one puts on an achievement goal, the higher the emotional stakes become. Let’s say I really want to make a certain sports team and am in the middle of a competitive tryout for one of the last remaining spots on the team. It is not that hard to see that if I make any mistake, my mind will immediately turn to judging how much this will hurt our chances of reaching that goal. Sadly brains loves this exercise (even if this only happens subconsciously for some people), they love to constantly calculate how well we are stacking up to others and how much relative competence we are showing; as in, they love appraising situations and where we and our ‘selves’ fit into that situation.

Almost by default, the brain is allergic to any failures; for many of us it mistakenly believes that if we fail then we will be, by definition, the ‘opposite of good’, and maybe even unworthy to participate in competitive pursuits like sports. It will be extra painful if we actually try our hardest and still fail. This is where performance anxiety and pre-match fears come in; this is why during big moments it sometimes feels like our bodies want to stiffen up and sabotage us. It’s all in the brains effort of control: ‘don’t do it, don’t ever ever ever let us be exposed to any possible situation that might show others or ourselves that we don’t have what it takes, that we tried our best and failed, that we’re not special…, IT IS WAY WAY TO DANGEROUS, SO JUST QUIT AND PLAY IT SAFE NOW!’  It must seem silly and stupid that the brain likes to do this to us, even for something that’s not life and death such as sports (or academic or professional). What can we make of this; how do we move past it? How can we first go even deeper to understand it more fully, and in the process take away it’s sting so it does not derail us as much in the future.

Ultimately, we need to remember that we have been exposed to many failures, and now expect it on some level; it’s like we are ready to welcome yet another moment of failure and thus hold back from putting our absolute best effort out there (a misguided means of protecting us).  In more technical language, we can think of this phenomena as learned (at least mostly learned) associative networks of low self-worth belief that are actively turned on and have difficulty accepting positive possibilities or probabilities from our environments. Adding awareness into these subconscious realties, and then questioning them for truth, is the first and most important step of reworking and moving past them.

We also need to remember that it’s been engrained in us through constant societal and sport cultural messaging that without comparative success over others (without our ‘selves’ getting ahead and others falling behind; a ‘zero-sum game’) we are not special, or even worse, not even worthy for health and contentment. Being a ‘loser’, or even just ‘average’, becomes the worst possible fear for many. Awareness of this very fact that we have been bathing in an ocean of unhelpful messages can do wonders to get young athletes kickstarted and eager to surround themselves with more positive influences and messages, and in turn build better mental health, confidence, and sport performance.

Building more self-worth from avenues outside of sport is another important way to take the sting out of both fear of failing and the misguided zero sum game approach. If I know I am a very worthy and loved person by my friends and family, and I bring value to others and myself in various avenues of life, the momentary achievement fears during sports performances will lose much of their forceful sting. I will be able to still strive my hardest in stressful competitive moments because I still would very much like to make that team, but I know I am not defined solely by my sports achievements like making that team or my stats as a player. So now, the possibility of a bad result is a less terrifying concept and won’t hurt our ‘selves’ and egos and identity quite so much, and lets us play more free, tough, and inspired. Essentially, we can go for it because we are confident in our selves and our self-worth in life.

To close I will add that although the language of ‘self-worth’ may seem a bit new and novel and even uncomfortable to talking about sports achievement; it is the best concept with which to see how performance and confidence can get either derailed or built. It’s a phenomena that touches all the way down into our subconscious layers yet it is something we can reflect on, add awareness to, journal on, and alter and change through positive mental reps and placing ourselves in environments that help shape us in healthier holistic ways. Talk of ‘self-worth’ should not be an awkward thing but one we should all embrace in helping to frame our quests for peak performance and mental health.