Will fear of people’s opinions affect your skiing performance this season?
Have you ever heard of FOPO?
Fear of people’s opinions is a very real and debilitating fear, and it can not only affect your performance negatively, but it is a massive inhibitor to finding flow state and really enjoying your skiing experiences.
I am not suggesting for a moment that you should not value other people’s opinions especially your instructor if you are taking ski lessons, but the problem is that oftentimes we spend a good deal of time ‘worrying’ about what others think and this is not only wasted time, but it takes us away from the present moment which is so important when we are learning and developing our skiing skills.
FOPO is the subject of Michael Gervais’s new book, “The First Rule of Mastery: Stop worrying about what other people think of you”. Dr. Gervais is a high-performance psychologist and host of the Finding Mastery podcast. In his book he talks about the FOPO loop a psychological and behavioural cycle that includes before, during and after a performance or interaction with others. Do you recognise any of the following:
Before (anticipation)
Will I be a good enough level for my group lesson today and what will the other participants think of my ability?
What if I am the slowest in the group? Will the others get frustrated with me?
If I fall and my ski comes off others will think I am not very good.
During (checking)
I don’t want to go first as everyone will be looking at me and may be critical of my performance.
Does the instructor think I am not very good?
I can see form other’s expressions and body language that they think I am not good enough.
After (responding)
Am I good enough for this group?
Am I accepted by the other people in the group?
Do they like me?
Some of the above may resonate with you when you have taken lessons before? However, the reality is that in most cases people are more preoccupied with themselves and their own performance and are not thinking about you at all. And we are not as good as we think at reading what other people are thinking! But the key point here is that by creating such narratives and trains of thought we are taking ourselves away from the present moment and from the experience itself and this includes your interaction with others, listening and taking on board new information and the sheer enjoyment of the skiing itself. Michael Gervais sums it up beautifully when he says, ‘attention is a zero-sum game. The time you spend checking is time diverted away from the actual experience”.
One of the joys of participating in our BASS performance courses is the social interaction and team spirit that we create, and our instructors are brilliant in making sure that you do not catch a bad case of FOPO. Rather we will help you to immerse yourself in the joy of the experience of skiing with others and developing your performances together.
If you would like to know more about Michael Gervais’s new book and order your own copy, then read my book review by clicking here.
And if you would like to sign up to one of our FOPO free performance courses then click here.
We look forward to skiing with you this winter.
Derek with Michael Gervais’s new book
