Doing physical activity increases self-esteem in oneself, this is said, but we have all experienced that this is not always the case, on the contrary, sometimes the comparison with others and / or with ourselves makes us feel worse.
In doing sport a key role is played by what we say to ourselves and the type of reaction to external stimuli. Some examples? We begin to learn a "martial art" and the teacher begins to promptly point out what we are wrong. Our volleyball, basketball or football coach punctually lists our mistakes at every game. We sign up for the gym and after a while we begin to notice and make us weigh the series skipped, the recoveries not respected or the exercise performed. not perfectly. Or, again, we had set ourselves the goal of eliminating excess kilos but despite the weeks spent training we have not yet reached the goal. The most common response to these attitudes, despite their initial and fundamental positive intent , is to start in us and against us a loop made up of criticisms and criticisms of criticism, which little leads us, or worse still, to give up on sports or to live it with less joy.
To fully enjoy physical activity it is important to understand the pitfalls behind the implication sport equals higher self-esteem. First, we must learn to know and always keep in mind the often forgotten or unknown difference between self-esteem and self-efficiency. Second, we need to understand the uselessness of criticism and the usefulness of feedback.
Self-esteem: to be
Self-esteem is often perceived as something that depends on us only in part. Who has not thought that that "friend, that" coach and / or that "exercise is not useful because it only makes me feel bad and" whenever I do feel inadequate ”. The idea is to train ourselves to see self-esteem not as a flag prey to the wind, but as the flagpole that supports the flag while remaining indifferent to the winds. In other words, if we want to experience sport with balance, joy, constancy and happiness we must begin to understand that self-esteem depends only and exclusively on us. This is a revolutionary and fundamental goal.
How to start having an "iron self-esteem? The most important step is to make the" affirmation "ours.we are much more than our actions'. This means that whatever the goal we have set ourselves in terms of kilos to weigh or lift, and seconds or minutes to reach, we are worth it. The distinction between being and acting is of fundamental importance for achieving healthy self-esteem. and for the introduction of another important concept, that of self-efficiency.
Self-efficacy: to act
Self-efficiency is about our actions. We can be more or less good at doing an exercise or training, and in this we measure our self-efficiency, that is our ability to perform an exercise and / or a test in the best way. measure in no way affects who we are and our self-esteem.
In carrying out our physical activity we may be more or less good, as well as our ability to do one exercise rather than another. These changes affect our self-efficiency, but must not in any way affect our self-esteem.
A successful sportsman must have a "high self-esteem, a clear understanding of what" his self-efficiency is and a good ability to learn from the normal ups and downs he will have. Likewise, if he wants to achieve good results. in terms not only physical, but also mental (on "mood, stress ...), anyone who carries out physical activity must be able to distinguish between self-esteem and self-efficiency, and learn to look at their mistakes or missed results in the right way. At this point, the next step is to learn how to use feedback!
Feedback and self-esteem in sport "
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