The Underperformance Trap, and How to Avoid it

Working with world-class athletes and teams you tend to notice routines that work; there are common denominators that deliver success.  Underperforming isn’t one of those. 

Here’s one of my case studies where we flipped inconsistency on its head.

Since beginning our work, Jack* had experiences one of the best runs of his athletic career. He had managed to do every session, test and race for the last nine months. He had no illnesses or injuries. The biggest blip to date was a cold. In that time he simplified his process he progressively got PB’s, and even even from the start of the season, he was winning races using the same simple process. His consistency and results were getting better.

This wasn’t always the case as Jack had burnt himself out a few years ago, struggling to find form with consistency. He was finding it hard to deliver when it was required and would, at times, end up doing too much or too little, going to hard or not hard enough. Occasionally, he’d have horrific days, weeks and even months just due to overwhelming stress. All of which combined to produce underperformance, some days he was stepping up, whilst others felt like huge setbacks. This was, in short, a hugely unhelpful mental model.

He didn’t change what training he was doing; he did, however, change how he was doing it.

Most athletes are looking to deliver a high-end results race-upon-race. Those who succeed in this endeavour have established a simple process that allow them to be ready to deliver on the given day. 

“The things that really build consistency are elements that athletes and teams rarely identify with.”

To emulate the success of these individuals, we need to first conceptualise a few crucial ideas. Namely, what are they focusing on, how does that impact them on a day-to-day basis, and how can they simply repeat the same method over-and-over?

A lot of teams only usually attempt to understand things when it goes wrong. Unfortunately, they are waiting for something to happen to them instead of identifying what they want to happen.   

We can liken this to attempting to drive a rusted truck from Edinburgh to Truro, never stoping and only using items you grab from the road as you speed along to repair your vehicle. This is clearly doomed to fail. The better method is to set off in good shape, having planed your responses to any unforeseen events.

Let’s apply this to Jack:

1. Firstly he needs to identify what is setting him back
2. Next, break things down to a simple process that delivers a consistent outcome he is happy with
3. To reinforce this, he must remain in a constant state of learning, to facilitate the further simplification and strengthening his process
4. Similarly, the conditioning the process must take place every day, irrespective of the session involved
5. Jack now has one simple way of applying himself and performing consistently.

Things you can look at to reduce inconsistencies.

• Look at who you’re focused on in training, testing and competition. If the answer isn’t yourself, you are in for an exhaustive journey
• Focusing on the outcome and result: You will get results, but no one can remain at the top for long

So ask yourself these questions.

1. What processes do you have for delivering the results and performing?
2. Can you use it every session, every day?
3. How complicated and long-winded is your process, and is it as simple as three words?
4. How good would your progress be if you knew how to deliver every session, every day with simplicity? 

This article was written by Stephen Feeney. To find out more about his story, head over to our content partners page, or read more of his work here.

If you’re hungry for more, check out any of our other pieces from The Catch, listen to our latest podcast episode, or flick through our race previews.

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Images by Roesie Percy

*All athletes mentioned in this article have been anonymised.

About The Author

Stephen Feeney

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