I see so many athletes making mistakes today and they do it without even knowing. I'm talking about bad habits and you might be surprised to find out what they are...... Here's the top one to destroy "Confidence" - Setting High Expectations Now this isn't just limited to the elite players, oh no, many of you out there do this week in, week out. Come on be honest, who sets out to play with thoughts such as
I'm going to shoot under my handicap today
I'm not going to 3 putt
I'm going to win this competition
I'm going to hit every shot perfectly
Having these type of thoughts will kill your game along with your confidence.
Why do expectations limit your performance?
Setting expectations puts you under enormous pressure to live up to them.
When you don't achieve your high expectations, you start questioning your ability, either during or after performance. If its during, you start trying to control the shots, becoming technically minded. This inevitably results in you tinkering with your mechanics making matters worse.
It also forces you to focus on results, such as I need to par this hole, or I need to recover those lost shots on the back 9. If you're worrying about the score or outcome, your attention is not on the shot you are about to make, which is not the best way to perform.
Having high expectations is like setting yourself up for failure, before you even begun - so why do it?
Tip for today
Let go of high expectations and turn your focus on to small objectives you can achieve!
Instead of thinking about the results, focus on setting yourself an objective known as a process goal - such as I need to set my target, or I need to use my pre-shot routine on every shot. That way you will be giving the shot your full attention and the results will follow, guaranteed.
If you would like to learn about the top 6 deadly mistakes athletes make, along with tips on how to resolve click here to get free access.