Unfortunately, many athletes fail to achieve success in their careers and personal life. For some because they are unable to take the urgent and basic steps required to achieve their goals. This sort of ‘self-sabotaging’ has both mental and physical components to it.
Although the idea of success might differ from person to person. They all share some common obstacles that prevent them from achieving success and satisfaction in their careers.
For you to achieve any level of success in your life or career, you must take a very basic first step – the preliminary action that will set you on course to achieving your goals. Success comes in many forms and ways and could differ between people and every person measures success based on their own level of personal satisfaction in life. However, in an athletic context, we can say that success has been achieved when you achieve peak performance in your chosen sport.
Regardless of diverse perspectives on the issue, every person on earth faces some limiting factors that try to keep them from achieving their goals. Limiting factors could include personal, psychological, emotional and spiritual factors but the effects are the same.
In this article, I’ll be sharing with you 3 of the most common obstacles that hinder people from attaining success and how to spot them from a mile away and take active steps to overcome them.
Let’s get right to it.
Obstacle #1: The Fear of Failure
The fear of failure is refusing to try simply because you are afraid that you might not succeed. This is one of the most common types of fear, and it affects millions of people, even athletes. When you’re too scared to do things differently, it affects your ability to realize your truest potential. This is because you will simply not be eager to start anything that could push you out of your normal range of abilities – A place called the comfort zone. I once read a quote somewhere about this place. It read: ‘A comfort zone is a beautiful place but nothing ever grows there.’
So many athletes have an inordinate fear of failing at something they haven’t even tried, or what they have failed at in the past, (and they believe they could never succeed at again) and it may stem from deep-rooted issues like their level of self-confidence and circumstances that were beyond their control.
Common causes of the fear of failure
An athlete may be unwilling to take a crucial penalty for the team because he’s had a history of missing the shot when it matters the most. This would then prevent the player from stepping up to take the shot even though he could actually score if he put in a little more effort. It’s very important for you to recognize when you are being influenced by the fear of failure and take active steps to break free from that fear. Always remember, the fact that you failed yesterday doesn’t mean you’re going to fail today. Every day is a fresh start to try again and succeed this time around.
Another common cause of fear of failure arises due to pressure from having unreasonable expectations for success. The higher an athlete ranks, the more people will expect from that person. This could put unnecessary pressure on the athlete causing fear that can prevent him or her from putting in the very best in a game. The pressure in itself is not a bad thing. It’s the stuff that forges ordinary people into superstar athletes, but when the athlete is unable to manage it properly, it could lead to fear of failure.
Obstacle #2: Fear of Success
Surprised? You’re probably asking yourself right now how a person could be afraid of something often referred to as a dream. Well, it turns out that it happens all the time. To be afraid of success means that you are scared of the changes and developments that may come along with it. Although success often brings about many positive changes that affect the quality of life. Many people are scared of those changes because they simply don’t feel comfortable being put on the spot. Often times, change disrupts a familiar pattern of doing things and replaces it with a totally new one that threatens the existence of the comfort zone.
Certainly, when athletes rise to prominence in their careers, they can begin to experience similar symptoms as celebrities with newfound fame. It could be tough to handle for athletes that are not mentally strong enough to handle it. Many athletes at this point begin to mentally sabotage themselves because of that fear. It takes a good coach or colleague to guide the athlete properly and prevent a decline.
Peak success in sports brings new and fresh challenges. They will typically require you an athlete to be fit both physically and mentally to handle the new demands and rigors of playing at the highest levels. So it is up to the player to work on his or her psychological/mental balance to be able to cope.
Obstacle #3: No Motivation
There are many factors that are responsible for a lack of motivation in athletes including personal background and life experiences. There’s nothing as important to an athlete as maintaining a healthy level of motivation. The reason why it influences how a player performs both during training and on the court.
Motivation in the sports context is simply the ability to feel enthusiastic at performing in a particular sport. It’s that inner desire or attitude and expectation about excelling at the game pushes you to keep going. Workout after workout. Game after game. Motivation is critical for an athlete to have because it forms the basis for all sports.
Although you may currently have a high level of motivation and passion for what you do now. You may occasionally lose the zeal for performance. That powerful inner drive to achieve all your set goals may elude you. This is perfectly normal and happens to the best of us. However, a problem arises when you simply can’t find the mental strength anymore to give your best at sports.
Last Words
These three major obstacles to success are both psychological in physical and are faced by even the best of athletes. But identifying them is the crucial first step to overcoming them. Are there any obstacles to success that we missed?
