Mindsets and Perfectionism

Seeking out adaptive perfectionism and growth mindsets.

I commonly hear coaches dismiss players because of their mentality or “they don’t have it in their heads” or some other undefined criticism suggesting a lack of psychological skills and/or emotion regulation. The specifics rarely are attributed to specific behaviors or performances; it is mostly vibes or explanations for perceived underperformance. The vague descriptions often indicate players who lack confidence; cannot rebound after failures, mistakes, or setbacks; suffer from anxiety and fear of failure; possess fixed mindsets; and more. Despite administrators, coaches, and organizations repeatedly identifying these limiting factors, few take actions to address these shortcomings, and instead move to the next high-potential player. How does an organization insure the next prodigy does not meet the same fate?

I was the only experienced coach in my first applied sports psychology course. When we shared our experiences, I identified most examples as bad coaching, as that was the lens through which I viewed the stories. One worked with a player who lost confidence when his coach substituted for him after mistakes, and we brainstormed ways to improve his confidence and behavioral response to these incidents, as I sat in class thinking the solution was not to substitute for mistakes because the player was 14 years old and making mistakes was part of the learning process. Therefore, we should first examine the environment, including the coaching, when identifying a player’s mentality as his limiting factor.

Some players, maybe all players, can benefit from mental skills training or at least an awareness of common emotional, mental, and psychological issues facing athletes and tools to improve their resiliency when facing these issues. I sent parts of the below, a combination of previous newsletter articles, to two players this week.

Practice makes perfect is one of the oldest adages in coaching. We encourage players to strive for perfection. Shooting coach Dave Hopla introduced me to another common coaching adage: “Good is the enemy of great.” I coached a player named Matt who separated himself from his teammates and opponents because he strove for the perfect shot. He did not settle for pretty good or better. He wanted perfect. His desires motivated his behaviors, such as shooting after a Saturday-night game while still out with an injury to have video to analyze the next day rather than going to a post-game house party with the rest of the team.

The ephemeral goal in any endeavor is perfection, although we accept perfection as unattainable: Nobody shoots 100%. Pursuing perfection with the right mindset, adaptive perfectionism, may enhance development, but an unhealthy obsession with perfection, maladaptive perfectionism, impedes improvement.

Striving for excellence, organizational skills, tendency to plan ahead, and holding others to high standards characterizes adaptive perfectionism, whereas maladaptive perfectionism is characterized by concern over mistakes, need for approval, tendency to ruminate over past performances, and perceived parental pressure.” (Hill et al., 2010)

The difference between adaptive and maladaptive perfectionism is the source of motivation. Adaptive perfection comes from one’s self, whereas maladaptive perfectionism comes from an external source. “Adaptive perfectionism is an internal standard for achievement,” Appalachian State University Psychologist Robert W. Hill noted. Matt strove for the perfect shot for himself; he was internally motivated to maximize his potential. “Maladaptive perfectionism is an external concern — wondering what other people are going to think. It’s kind of a thinking habit: ‘I made a mistake there.’ ‘Someone will notice I didn’t do that right,’” (Jacobs, 2010).

Striving to execute a skill perfectly for one’s own sense of accomplishment can motivate and enhance performance as the player refuses to settle or give up. Matt focused on the process of reaching perfection. He never settled for “pretty good,” but strove for excellence. He organized and recorded his practice to measure improvement. He planned his practice and imagined his performance, rather than dwelling on mistakes. Finally, he expected a lot from his teammates and coach, and was frustrated by his teammates who were unwilling to commit as completely as he did, ultimately leading him to transfer.

I coached a player named Alyssa who scored high (or low depending on perspective) in three of the four maladaptive categories: She apologized for her mistakes, even when there were not any, when she exited games; she often looked to the sideline for approval; and she dwelled on past performances, even recalling mistakes from a previous season when I was not her coach. This mindset or personality inhibited her performance.

An obsession with perfection due to a concern for mistakes or other’s perceptions of their mistakes inhibits performance because athletes never move beyond their comfort zones. Players who suffer from Perfectionist Syndrome need everything to be perfect at all times. They are unwilling to make mistakes in the pursuit of improvement, and often stunt their own development.

Adaptive and maladaptive perfection echo Carol Dweck’s fixed and growth mindsets. A growth mindset is related to adaptive perfectionism as the person strives for excellence and is motivated internally to learn new things and perform at higher levels, whereas a fixed mindset is related to maladaptive perfectionism because the person avoids mistakes, believing mistakes show he is not good enough or lacks talent.

Matt practiced with a learning or mastery orientation. In a mastery climate, seeking to master a skill fully motivates the athlete. He had a growth mindset in that he believed he could master his shooting technique and become a great player, even after he had graduated from high school when many college coaches were hesitant to change players’ shooting techniques.

I worked with a player named Hank who suffered from Perfectionist Syndrome; he focused on the results with an outcome orientation. He expected mastery on his first repetition. He had a fixed mindset, believing the lack of success on initial repetitions demonstrated his lack of talent. He got visibly upset after every mistake, even in individual workouts. His performance decreased even further once he got emotional. When athletes fixate on perfection on every repetition — focusing solely on the result and not the process of improvement — perfectionism is a limiting factor. His development stagnated and his performance declined until he changed to a a more process, learning-oriented mindset.

To enhance improvement and performance, players must shift their mindsets from maladaptive perfectionism, worrying about other’s perceptions, to an adaptive perfectionism where they pursue excellence for the sake of their own accomplishments and to learn more about their selves. With an attitude of adaptive perfectionism, focusing on perfect shooting technique motivates the player to work harder, practice more, and improve. Without this attitude, however, critiques and instruction may be mistaken for criticism and cause a negative reaction.

The first step for me is not to talk about perfect practice, but to encourage mistakes. I often say, “If you are not making mistakes, you are not improving. Mistakes are part of the process.” I want players to push past their comfort zones and explore new skills or new variations of skills, and consequently, I celebrate these explorations, even when resulting in negative plays, rather than punishing their attempts.

I also encourage players to develop their own mistake ritual — a way to stop dwelling on mistakes in the moment. I want a next play mindset. The mistake is in the past; we cannot change or correct the mistake, so do not allow the first mistake (turnover) to cause a second mistake (head down and slow to get back on defense). As I repeat semi-frequently, the first mistake does not beat you; the second mistake does. After the game, players can review mistakes, learn from them, and then forget them; they should be used to plan future practice, but forgotten so they do not affect future performance.

Adjusting perfectionism often takes time, as the differences are often a part of a player’s personality or result from previous environments (parents). There is not a quick fix. The key for me is for the player to center his purpose; why are you playing? The purpose should be for the individual. When they realize this, we can talk about ignoring the outside influences and focusing on one’s own motivations. Often, however, this process is beyond my scope or expertise, and these players would benefit from a mental skills coach, sports psychology consultant, or therapist. I hired a mental skills coach as my assistant coach one season for this purpose.

Hill, R. W., Huelsman, T. J., & Araujo, G. (2010). Perfectionistic concerns suppress associations between perfectionistic strivings and positive life outcomes. Personality and Individual Differences, 48(5), 584-89.

Jacobs, T. (2010). The two faces of perfectionism. Pacific Standard, January 28.