Examples of How Parts’ Intentions Backfire and Sabotage Performance That part believes it is doing something good for that individual by not letting them experience that feeling of failure, criticism, disappointment, guilt, etc., but at the same time, it might be doing something that holds the athlete back. Once an athlete experiences disappointment, frustration, criticism, feeling like a failure, feeling like they let down their team, their coach, or their parent, or some other distressing event, a part might decide on an unconscious level that it is their job to make sure the athlete never experiences that horrible feeling again. After working with this part and updating its information, the coughing problem went away.Īs you can see in that example, the parts we’re concerned with get these ideas and points of view from experiences. It’s not something her rational brain would have come up with, but it’s not unusual for the unconscious parts to have outdated or misinformed beliefs. This part held on to the belief that by making her cough when she swam fly, it would prevent her from drowning. When we explored the issue with IFS we found a part in her unconscious that remembered the first time she choked during a 200 butterfly race and then panicked, thinking she might drown, which caused her to cough. For example, I worked with a client who choked on water every time she swam butterfly in a race and frequently in practice. Why Would a Part of You Sabotage Your Performance?Ī fundamental principle in IFS is that every part has a good intention even though that may be hard to see at first. Currently, to get into a training course you have to enter a lottery because the demand is so high. While this theory may sound a bit crazy when you first hear about it, IFS is exploding in the psychology world. Once the system settles down, it allows the athlete increased access to confidence, calmness, and courage, which those fearful or anxious parts are often blocking. As a result, the parts that may have been working unintentionally against an athlete are able to change their roles and stop interfering with the athlete’s performance. Through the IFS model, instead of fighting with the parts the athlete may not like, such as anxiety or fear of failure, the athletes learn to work with the parts in specific ways to settle their nervous systems down. Different parts may be in control at different times, which is why some days you may eat the chocolate cake and other days you may pass on it. Each part believes its job is crucial and fights to have you behave in accordance with its beliefs. This same type of conflict between parts can sabotage an athlete’s performance.Īccording to the IFS model, each part has its own beliefs and ideas. They cause conflict because they have different beliefs about what is best for you. Or how one part of you wants to stay cozy in bed on a cold morning, but another part knows you need to go to morning practice if you want to improve.Īll these different aspects of yourself have a good intention for you – whether it’s to enjoy that mouthwatering cake, stay cozy in bed, or to eat healthy and become a better athlete. This is more easily understood when you think about how one part of you wants to eat that delicious chocolate cake, and a different part of you thinks it’s a bad idea. Richard Schwartz, our inner psyche is a multiplicity, i.e., there are different parts inside that all have their own jobs and points of view. According to the evidence-based theory of IFS (Internal Family Systems) developed by Dr. This relay example is an analogy for the parts of an individual athlete’s unconscious inner psyche. What if all four members of the relay are excited and ready to go without any hesitation? Clearly, the likelihood of success goes way up. What’s clear is – it won’t be a great performance. But without that fourth member being onboard, it’s a struggle to even get that. There is a chance that the three excited members may be enough to pull off a decent performance. What would happen if three members of a relay are excited and ready to go fast, but the fourth member is stuck, fearing failure or pain and doesn’t want to be there? Most likely the relay will bomb. Share Is a Part of You Holding You Back? Internal Family Systems (IFS) For Athletes on LinkedIn.Share Is a Part of You Holding You Back? Internal Family Systems (IFS) For Athletes on Pinterest.

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Schwartz no bad parts