The True Reason to Compete As Disguised By Winning

Does your burning desire to win drive you? Many highly competitive athletes believe winning is their primary motivator. It may be true for some, but not necessarily for everybody. Examine your real driving force and you may find out the actual core reason is to evade losing.

What does it mean for you? Well, winning is an optimistic objective while avoiding losing has a negative focus. Winning is a positive goal.
Do you desire to win, or do you actually want to avoid losing? What is the difference between these two?

Either you are working toward reward or trying to avoid pain.
The possible outcome will be the same - to win. However, there are a lot of different fundamental motivating forces. It may seem to be connotative, just a play on words; however it is really much deeper than that.
The reason you want to win is the biggest clue about your motivation. The truth is embedded in your psyche.
The vision is to be a victor but the idea is not about losing. Avoiding losing is associated with avoiding pain. The significance attached to losing is distinctive to each individual.

Although the truth has been hidden, it does not need to remain that way any longer. You are then empowered once the reason has been made known to you. Determine if it works for you, or against you.
It could be characterized as:
* Disappointing others
* Acceptance
* Love
* Worthiness
Determining a goal because your subconscious wants to avoid pain creates a struggle. Trying to avoid pain requires a lot of energy, is draining and for the amount of effort you are exerting there is minimal progress. The frequent struggles athletes experience are slumps, choking and yips.
On the other hand if you are confident in your abilities to reach your goal, you have a considerably unusual experience. The experience is invigorating and enjoyable. Progress goes smoothly, almost effortlessly, with each step achieving milestones with ease.

It is time to relate this insight to your performance. The competition is solely between you and your opponents instead of within your head. The desire to win is positively motivated; not a trace of any inner struggle.
The best thing to do is to keep your focus throughout the extremely stressful moments of a competition no matter how difficult it is. You will feel synchronicity when everything flows together easily. The zone is something every athlete strives to achieve.

Similarly, if the objective is to avoid losing then you are going against the flow. Inner struggles will affect your performance. The critical thoughts, doubt and fears are the source of your distractions. To be distracted and focused at the same time is not viable.