5/11/22

Jon Gold, M.A | Go 4 Gold

“Helping your athlete work through Failure”

Good results don’t change the fact that loosing or bad results still hurt. No matter how many times we win or no matter how well your athlete does, bad results and losses will always be more hurtful and difficult emotionally. Because of this we become susceptible to avoiding failure and losses. 

We call this… Loss aversion

So how do we deal with loss aversion?

It comes down to how we interpret and define failure and losses. We need to reframe and restructure our mindset around it. Instead of failure / being a failure we can reframe it as an opportunity to learn and explore. It becomes a moment in time that we can reflect upon.

Encourage your athlete to go through this exercise below when “negative” emotions arise after a performance. 

Attack it head on with these 4 questions: 

What are those emotions communicating to you? 

What are those emotions illuminating? 

What are those emotions motivating you to do about it? 

Did you do everything you could within your control to do your absolute best, if not what can you change/adapt/work on?

Instead of avoiding the emotions that come with losing, redefine losing for athlete and encourage them to be curious. This negativity might very well be a moment of clarity.

We need to be able to see wins and “good” performances in a similar way. Giving value and polarity to emotions and wins/loses interferes with our ability to continuously learn and improve. Win or lose – direct your athletes towards learning and consistent growth.

I look forward to working with your athlete so that we can help him/her lean into failure and growth. 

Be well,

Jon Gold

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