Everybody Makes Mistakes, but Not Us
It has been just over a year since the last Power Soccer World Cup, and I have been re-watching a lot of the footage lately. The level of play was incredible, and it was truly like nothing our sport had ever seen before. I can only dream of being as good as many of the players who competed.
That being said, as I watch the film, it is obvious that no one is perfect. Just like in any other sport, even the best players in the world make mistakes every now and then. Michael Jordan didn’t make every shot, and Tom Brady did not complete every pass. Not only that but sometimes they even made terrible decisions, not just little mistakes, that cost their teams games.
It is really easy for me, watching on YouTube, to be the armchair quarterback (I’m not sure of the power soccer equivalent to that term). Seeing how a particular play turned out makes it easy for me to say, “Well, that was obviously the wrong decision. I wouldn’t have done that.” I was watching a game last night where there was a relatively significant defensive error, at least in my opinion. However, it came later in the contest, and the team had made great decisions up until that point. While it is easy for me to say they made the wrong decision in that context, given the percentage of correct choices they were making, if I had been in charge of the decisions for the remainder of the match, I might have given up many more goals before that moment. It was only a significant moment in that contest because they made so many right decisions leading up to that moment.
I mentioned this because it relates to what I wrote a few days ago about understanding and accepting your role. We tend to minimize our own mistakes and maximize the mistakes of others. You would find plenty of mistakes if you watched me playing power soccer. However, even a few weeks ago, I left practice feeling really pumped up because I thought we played really well. Granted, I still believe that is true, and I was delighted with how we performed. My mistakes were undoubtedly there, but I didn’t remember them because of my tendency to minimize them. I have read a decent amount of sports psychology books about the competitive mindset, and it is certainly good not to dwell on your own mistakes. You do not want to defeat yourself, and negative thinking tends to be correlated with decreased performance.
Nevertheless, my judgment of my own ability needs to be put into perspective. I must be self-aware to realize that I always have room to improve. Even if I were the best power soccer player in the world, there would be room to improve. That drive has always motivated the best athletes to remain the best; they are never satisfied. Self-awareness is critical for us to understand our role wherever we are.
This is not just a conversation about athletics, either. Maybe I need to be humble enough to realize that my writing requires revision sometimes, and feedback is both good and necessary. Perhaps I need to realize that I haven’t been doing well at work and must do a better job. Maybe I do not care about the people around me well enough because I overestimate how much I invest in that friendship while being frustrated that they seem to not focus on me as much as I would like. Whatever situation you find yourself in, the critical thing to remember as we look toward 2025 is to try your best to keep a proper perspective on your ability. Know what you are good at, do it as best you can, and would be open to feedback to make sure you are doing it well.