No Excuses!
At the beginning of any season, many athletes are excited about taking their
performance to new levels of efficiency and enjoyment. Rather than unveiling a
fancy new strategy, let's make a commitment to eliminate the typical result of
any unsuccessful start, namely, excuses and justifications. In this article we
explore the nature of excuses in sport and how they affect performance, and
offer solutions for any unresolved glitches in skills and tactics.
The Blame Game
How many times have you left the court offering multiple explanations for why
you performed poorly? Perhaps you have a habit of justifying your losses. This
all too common script involves many elements including weather, shoes, injuries,
lack of practice, poor fitness, court conditions, altitude, line calls, and
luck. Competitors at all levels participate in the blame game. True champions,
however, reject this option and seek even greater responsibility for their
actions and outcomes
Excuses and Justifications
Definitions for excuses and justifications abound. Athletes seek to deflect
social disapproval and negative feelings surrounding poor outcomes by creating
excuses. Excuses act as an explanation to help reduce uneasiness and shift some
of the blame for a negative outcome to extenuating circumstances. This would be
fine if it was adaptive to performance, but it clearly is not.
Excuses reduce apparent responsibility for negative outcomes, leaving the
athlete with less perceived control over events. With extenuating circumstances
in control, the athlete often sets lower goals and gives reduced effort. With
reduced responsibility for actions, practices become less meaningful and
confidence is harder to acquire.
A close cousin to the excuse is the justification. In this case, athletes
downplay the negative meaning of a poor performance and may even suggest that
there are hidden benefits for performing poorly. For example, a volleyball team
may assume that "it can't get any worse than it is" and forget to
correct flaws from the previous match. A volleyball player may justify that they
lost because the other team had a much higher ranking, and reason that losing to
higher ranked teams is a good lesson. A more productive outlook would be for the
volleyball team to responsibly correct mistakes and realize that ranking is
irrelevant.
Own Every Performance
There are few perfect days and many reasons indeed to explain performance. By
taking full responsibility for your actions and the outcome of your actions, you
set yourself up for success. Performance is yours to flash brilliantly or botch
horrifically. Rather than looking for face saving explanations after a loss,
redirect your energies to find a better solution the next time. Here are some
tips to help you eliminate the ifs, ands and buts from your vocabulary:
- Allow your opponent to offer all the excuses and justifications they can,
but do not judge them for it. Bite your own lip following a tough loss, even
if you know that you can perform 100 times better. By concealing your areas of
weakness, you are acting smart and positioning yourself up for a much more
valiant effort the next time.
- Always credit the opponent for their performance after a loss. Allow them
to bask in the temporary glory of their victory until you return with a
renewed vigor to turn the tables. Offering excuses will just fuel their fire
for the rematch.
- Steer clear of offering too many explanations for match outcome. Your
emotions are often high, and it's wise to cool down, reflect on what happened,
and quietly prepare an improved strategy for the next time.
By being fully responsible for your actions and outcomes, and eliminating
excuses and justifications, you are taking the narrow path from which true
improvement and growth emerges. You are in charge.