Athletes reaching the top of their respective sporting discipline can often hit a roadblock in performance. This often leads to them adopting an ‘everything to lose’ mindset.
Characterized by the pressure to perform when met with high stakes from previous sporting achievements, athletes can be plagued by overbearing messages that place overwhelming expectations upon their shoulders. This often leads to stress, cautiousness impeding performance, and, in the long run – burnout of the sport they love. Mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety may also develop through this mindset.
Consequently, we must counter this ‘everything to lose’ mindset to help our athletes adequately manage the overbearing nature of being at the top of their game. This article will focus on multiple schools of psychological thought in sports psychology, shedding light on how we can guide athletes away from harmful psychological messages and toward a more open, safe, and relaxed growth mindset that aids sporting performance and positive mental health.
The ‘Everything to Lose’ Mindset
When athletes adopt a mindset of ‘everything to lose,’ they feel a burden of expectation and high stakes derived from an intrinsic fear of failure. This thought pattern is often associated with competitors at the highest level who have achieved and fear ‘losing it all.’
Pressure to uphold titles, fear of disappointing others, and maintaining a sense of inner self-confidence are all factors that drive this common psychological message for accomplished athletes across diverse sporting disciplines.
