I don’t think there’s anything scarier to an athlete than failure. We spend our days preparing, practicing, working for a certain goal. To not achieve it is certainly disappointing. However, whole point in setting a goal is to push ourselves. Failure is always a possibility. Some athletes, fear of the possibility of failure. They play not to improve themselves, or even to win, but to avoid losing. This type of mindset breeds anxiety, depression, stress, worry and poor performance. Theories such as achievement goal theory and goal orientation can help predict what types of athlete’s may struggle with fear of failure and provide a framework to attenuate it.

Achievement Goal Theory (AGT) proposes that achievement goals are representative of the different ways individuals view and perform tasks. These achievement goals influence behaviors and motivation. According to the theory, there are two types of achievement goals: task oriented and ego oriented. Task oriented goals tend to prioritize mastery of a certain skill and promote learning and skill development. Ego oriented goals are those that concern outperforming competition.

More recent research into AGT has led to even further categorization of goal types that include approach vs avoidance goals. Now, goals can be categorized as Mastery-Approach, Mastery Avoidance, Performance Approach, and Performance Avoidance. Approach goals tend to be closer related to task orientation because they involve achieving success. Whereas, avoidance goals tend to be more ego oriented as they are about avoiding failure. Mastery Approach goals prioritize learning and skill acquisition above all else. Mastery Avoidance orientation is when an individual wants to avoid forgetting old skills and lessons. Performance Approach goals are those where outperforming competition is considered success and Performance Avoidance orientation occurs when an individual wants to avoid being perceived as worse than the competition.

I think it’s pretty simple to see where fear of failure fits in here. Fear is a subjective emotion that causes cognitive changes. It is a reaction to a perceived threat. We can define fear of failure as the psychological motive to avoid being unsuccessful usually due to guilt, shame, or embarrassment. Often this fear occurs when athletes feel they do not possess the competency needed for their sport which will lead to not accomplishing their goals. Fear of failure can lead to maladaptive performance behaviors, decreased intrinsic motivation, increased anxiety, decreased concentration and task focus, pessimism, burnout, and poor performance. Considering AGT and goal orientation we expect fear of failure to be associated with ego orientation, avoidance based goals (Mastery Avoidance, and Performance Avoidance), and performance approach goals. This hypothesis has been upheld by quite a few studies of athletes and non athletes alike. Basically the greater the fear of failure the more likely an athlete is to set mastery Avoidance, performance avoidance, and performance approach goals. In contrast, some studies have shown that those athletes with task orientation tend to have lower levels of fear of failure. It makes sense, ego-oriented, or performance, and mastery avoidance goals are driven by social comparison and avoiding negative outcomes such as embarrassment, shame, anxiety, depression.

There are ways to decrease fear of failure. It is partly based on our previous experiences. So, if we can replace these negative of experiences with positivity we can retrain our brains. One of the most popular ways to do this is through goal setting. Specifically, goal setting that focuses on mastery approach goals. These types of goals call attention to more adaptive learning skills; they promote learning and self growth. Mastery approach goals are not concerned with “proving” ourselves to others or short-term “wins.” Even failure in mastery approach goals is not inherently negative. Instead, it should be approached with a growth mindset and seen as a challenge to yet to be overcome. An example of a mastery approach goals would be, “spending 15 minutes after training on weak foot ball striking to improve your passing percentage from the previous week.” This is goal emphasizes skill acquisition, and focuses on internal comparison rather social comparison. In contrast, performance goals are associated with external factors, some of which an athlete cannot control. For example, a goal of trying like, “having highest passing percentage on the team.” This could be difficult because different positions have different requirements. For example, a center mid touches the ball more than a center back but also can require more difficult types of passes with lower completion rates, so comparison between the two becomes difficult and might not actually speak to the quality of the player or their performance in the match. Further, each game can also differ. The quality of the opponent, tactics, formation all can influence how often a player receives the ball and is able to pass. So, these types of goals have more external, uncontrollable variables that effect their achievement. It’s possible that a player with a high fear of failure would be overwhelmed by these external variables and disappointed, stressed, or depressed when unable to achieve their goal even though these extra variables might not allow for it.

Goal setting interventions have shown a great deal of promise when it comes to addressing the fear of failure problem in athletes of all ages. One intervention involving Danish elite athletes included a seven step goal-setting implementation process: Set Goals, Identify Obstacles, Secure Commitment, Develop Action Plan, Obtain Feedback on Goal Attainment, Evaluate Goal Attainment, Reinforce Goal Attainment. Following the intervention, the goal setting group did show significantly decreased fear of failure. Interestingly after the intervention was over, fear of failure scores actually increased in the goal setting group suggesting that this is a process that must become habit to be successful. One thing that I would stress as an athlete myself is the importance of feedback and reevaluating goals. Like I said before, there are so many unforseen and unpredictable variables in sport. We must be able to adjust. It’s not a bad thing to adjust your goals to make them harder or easier. In fact, I don’t like to think of it in terms of difficulty just in terms of reality. What is realistic to achieve in the amount of time you have given yourself? I also think that a variety of goal types are important. I know that we have been harping on the importance of mastery goals. I maintain that mastery approach goals are important for an athlete’s main, long term goals and most of our goals. However, I also think that, if a performance goal is reasonable and realistic, perhaps it can be helpful in the short term. Something like, “I want to win 70% of my 1v1 battles” or, ” I want to be the most communicative defender on my team.” Is not a bad thing to strive for at all. As long as we are not tying our identity to performance goals and fearing not achieving them. They can be helpful indicators of successes. When setting mastery goals it’s important to keep them skill oriented, self-focused, and realistic. However, there is nothing wrong with performance goals so long as they aren’t your main or only focus and we remain dedicated to the actual process of achieving them not only the final result.

Fear of failure is often a major hindrance in athletes. I get it. We spend days preparing ourselves body and mind for our sport, so failure can often lead to a lot of negativity. Failing is a big part of sport; we can’t have the highs without the lows. However, that doesn’t mean we have to fear failure or even play to avoid it. Often, that has the opposite effect to what we expect. Failure is subjective. If we can structure our goals and train our minds to not automatically interpret failure as a disaster but to view it as opportunity to grow as a player though mastery approach goals we are more likely to have positive performances.

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