I'm excited to announce the publication of three new e-books that ski racers, athletes, coaches, and parents will enjoy and gain real benefit from. These e-books introduce new and different ways of thinking about the psychology of ski racing, sports, and parenting. Most importantly, they are filled with useful information and powerful lessons that racers, athletes, [...]
I just did a video interview on the psychology of running for The Running Summit 2016. I talk about the mental side of running as well as how to get your kids into running.
One of the most frequent comments I hear from the athletes I work with is: “I had a lousy day of training.” This statement was almost always accompanied by a variety of emotions that are neither pleasant nor helpful including frustration, anger, worry, doubt, and disappointment, and, occasionally, despair. Moreover, I saw that this assertion [...]
I was recently interviewed by TrailRunnerNation on the topic of my three-part series on Fear of Failure.
GolfDash blog interviewed me recently with a focus on the power of mental imagery to improve your golf game. You can listen to the podcast here.
To close out my 2015 Prime Sport Alert! e-newsletters, I'm giving you a bonus of an in-depth four-part series on fear of failure among athletes. I recommend that you read them starting with Part 1 and progressing through to this final Part 4. As I noted at the end of Part III, a recent email from a reader asked the obvious question, “I now understand why my child keeps getting in his own way in his racing. He has a fear of failure! So, what can I do about it?” This question led to extending my Fear of Failure series and discussing ways in which athletes can let go of their fear of failure. Let me preface my thoughts by saying that there are entire books devoted to fear of failure and how to overcome it. Also, in severe cases, months of psychotherapy are required. My point is that, as with most things in life, there are no magic pills or quick fixes. At the same time, if you (as an athlete) or one of your children (as a parent) has a fear of failure, there are some things you and they can do to relieve the burden of fear of failure and begin to pursue success rather than avoid failure.
Mitchell Gunn with permission In the Part I in my series, Fear of Failure, I introduced you to the epidemic presence of fear of failure in sports these days. The article describes what fear of failure is and its causes. I also describe three ways that athletes attempt to avoid failure: they quit [...]
In my last post, Fear of Failure: Part I, I discussed the sad epidemic of fear of failure that I found to be rampant in America and that I see frequently in the young athletes with whom I work. I have discovered a new wrinkle to the fear-of-failure phenomenon that brings greater clarity to the problems [...]
Fear of failure is the single most common cause of performance difficulties for the young athletes who come to me for help. Whether they experience low confidence and extreme negativity, pre-competitive anxiety, a preoccupation with results, or severe self-criticism, in most cases, when we dig deep enough, we discover a profound fear of failure at [...]
There is a great article in The New York Times describing how placebos can enable athletes to perform better. The argument is that believing that a pill or shot will boost performance (when it really just saline) causes us to tap into a reserve of energy (mental and physical) that propels us faster and longer. [...]