Tiger Woods was at one time the most successful golfer on the planet, but today seems to be more of a master of spin and denial as he has faded back into the middle of the pack amongst his peers. Woods regularly makes excuses about seemingly everything these days, including swing coaches, caddies, and various injuries. In fact, it appears Woods is even developing a trend where he drops out of tournaments with what some would say are “phantom injuries” that only seem to arise when he is out of contention. Sport psychologists might advise that Woods check his head more than his back, knees, or any of the other body parts he claims are causing his problems.
Tiger Woods regularly talks about being “ready to go,” but when he fails he seems to have every excuse in the world why things didn’t go his way. Unfortunately, this unhealthy mentality is not unique to Woods, as many other athletes (and people) struggle with the inability to accurately face their problems. In other words, they struggle with denial.
As with anything in life, the sooner we honestly appraise the problems we face in life, the sooner we can begin to improve upon them. This applies whether it’s an athlete admitting to a loss of confidence, or an alcoholic admitting to the fact that alcohol has negatively impacted the health and safety of his life.
Denial seemingly “works” in the short run because it postpones reality — when you say “no problem here,” it directs attention away from the problem, which provides a respite from the stressors related to the problem. Unfortunately, when we are in denial the problems we experience do not usually go away, and it is our denial that extends — and often compounds — the original problem.
For Tiger Woods, it would be nice to see him reject all the reasons he has given for his failures the last few years and simply admit that regaining his mental toughness and confidence has been a lot more difficult than he ever expected. Unlike the days before his marital problems, opposing players no longer fear Woods, and instead view him as just another player in the tournament. This, in turn, has decreased Woods’ confidence while increasing his own anxiety. The result has been zero wins since before his marital transgressions made the news in 2009.
When I work with athletes, the first step of objectively “framing” the problem is usually the most important aspect of working to correct the athletic deficiencies. When athletes are honest and own up to what is at the crux of their issues, only then can we begin to identify and construct appropriate techniques and protocols to help improve the situation. Using Tiger Woods as an example, the longer he continues to point outward at everything but himself, the longer this losing streak will likely continue.
If you are a parent or coach of an athlete, then you probably already know how challenging it can be to help a youngster become honest with him- or herself when it comes to athletic shortcomings. Many kids, for example, will attempt to blame their sport slumps on faulty equipment, poor coaching, or even the weather. In most cases, the real reasons for their slumps have little to do with those factors, and instead much more to do with low self-confidence, poor focus, high anxiety, and low resiliency.
When kids learn that denial “works” in sports, it can lead to a recurring pattern of using denial for other life shortcomings, including school grades. This is just one more reason why it’s important to help kids steer clear of denial, and instead learn to accept that we all have bad days, slumps, frustration, and failure in life — and that the real champions are the ones who are honest with themselves and work even harder to be better the next day. There is nothing to be embarrassed about when it comes to failure as it can be the best teaching tool if we learn how to control our emotions and learn from the experience.
We have a growing line of professional products designed to help athletes learn real skills that will help them improve their self-confidence while decreasing negative anxiety – you can learn more by visiting Advanced Human Performance Systems today!
www.drstankovich.com
