The interpretation of errors in the perfectionist personality
Perfectionism can be defined as a personality trait in which the outstanding characteristic is the demand towards oneself as well as towards others. Other particularities of perfectionism are the imposition of unrealistic behavioral patterns and the encouragement to avoid mistakes.
If we feel having a perfectionist tendency, we perceive that the social environment is demanding and critical of our skiing performance, which may lead us to experience a constant need for control. The predominant psychic instance is the Id, which is involved in complying with the correct aspect of our behavior, keeping away everything that is considered erroneous.
The perfectionist trait is based on the absurd belief that self-worth is equated with performance and achievement. Being a meticulous skier, making mistakes is tantamount to perceiving ourselves as a failure and considering that we do not deserve the respect of others. We are convinced that if we stop being a perfectionist, we will be trapped in sloppiness and fall into disinterest.
This approach leads us to a polarized and extremist interpretation: we are either successful or a failure. This type of personality is sustained on the basis of striving to achieve goals that exceed our resources. Being perfectionists, we feel safe acting in this way and generally believe that this will gain the admiration of others. When we make a mistake, instead of talking positively to ourselves and motivating to keep trying, our inner voice uses self-punishment.
If we have a perfectionist tendency, the relationship with mistakes is more complex. We may not even be aware that we are perfectionists or that this is the cause of psycho-affective conflicts. We tend to focus attention on avoiding mistakes, which generates a context of fear of failure and therefore fear of trying. This leads to a dysfunctional circle since these fears provoke anxiety and stress, which generate more mistakes. The ideal would be to be oriented towards functional perfection, reaching a balance between our aspirations and our flexibility in the acceptance of mistakes.
Error as an opportunity
Errors should be taken as opportunities to learn and, although they are related to change, many times we do not try to correct them because of the apprehension that changing our way of skiing generates, because change, in our opinion, implies a risk and an effort that we tend to avoid.
If we have an obsessive personality tendency, we will try to avoid error. It would be healthy to be able to interpret that we have the right to make mistakes, which is not the same as feeling like a failure but considering ourselves as skiers who make mistakes, as Thomas Alva Edison said: “I have not failed; I have found many solutions that do not work”.
The problem with focusing on the negative aspect of mistakes is that it biases toward a similar mood. Worrying too much about our mistakes, we later discover that they are part of the way we ski. If we interpret them as positive it is because we try to profit from them and evolve thanks to them, questioning our own skiing, asking ourselves about our own defects, and discovering our weak elements.
Social expectation and erroneous behavior
The social expectation indicates that the error is something negative and, as such, should be eradicated. We may feel that our Self is threatened by making mistakes, perceiving that we are judged or criticized by others. The false belief that other people (friends, family, instructors, coaches) should ‘approve’ our own skiing generates in us high levels of anxiety and frustration when making errors. In addition, the need for approval and belonging to a group sometimes leads to not openly recognizing our own mistakes, trying not to make them or hiding them due to our self-demand to please others.
Social comparison
In our evolution, we should compare ourselves to ourselves, rather than to other skiers, as this encourages a healthy introspective view of personal growth.
Instead of measuring our skiing against the standards of others, true progress lies in overcoming our own limitations, mistakes, and previous habits. This approach encourages constant self-evaluation, frees us from social pressure, and reinforces the idea that every day is a new opportunity to improve and evolve from our previous version.
The only skier we should compare ourselves to is with the skier we were yesterday. That is the skier we must surpass and look to in order to be better.
Influence of instructors and coaches in managing erroneous behaviors
The ski instructor and the ski coach have an influence on how learners and athletes psychologically deal with mistakes. It is easy to provide confidence when performances are good but it is in demoralizing situations when the effectiveness, or ineffectiveness, of these professionals is observed.
The comments and actions they take influence our attitude toward our failures as well as the development of self-efficacy. The effective facilitators, rather than criticizing mistakes or simply giving encouragement, apply methods to gradually manage technical performance through positive corrective feedback based on the development of self-confidence and resilience.
They insist that we can leave mistakes behind so that they do not interfere with successive performances, and make us believe in ourselves when these do not go as intended. The successful instructor/coach avoids making corrections as soon as we make a mistake or in punctual errors since they can generate behaviors of inhibition, anxiety, or increase the fear of ridicule. They consider the error as a complement of the technical execution, that is to say, an aspect that is part of our execution that serves to determine a way of skiing that is not desired.
