Aiming For Perfection

In 1997, Michael Jordan said in the Nike ads, "I've failed over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."

John Dunn, psychology researcher at the University of Alberta is investigating the construct of perfectionism and how athletes strive towards the high personal standards they set. "There are essentially two types of perfectionist - one strives for perfection and the other demands it," he says. "When one strives for perfection, and can accept that mistakes are part of the process, failure can be quite motivating. On the other hand, we know that perfection is almost unattainable; therefore, a lot of bad things can come from demanding it."

Dunn notes that much of the bad form of perfectionism comes from growing up in an environment in which love was conditional upon meeting parents' standards. In his work, Dunn educates parents and coaches to reinforce effort and personal development as opposed to meeting the personal standards of someone else.

My favourite quote from this article is "Athletes need to convince themselves that they have failed only if they failed to learn."

You can read the full article here http://medicalxpress.com/news/2016-04-athletes-loss.html