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Why You Beat Yourself Up Over Mistakes (And How to Stop)

David Webb (Founder and Editor of All-About-Psychology.com)

Introduction

I’m incredibly lucky to live in Spain, where padel, a fast, addictive mix of tennis and squash, is almost a national obsession. Even luckier, I get to play twice a week with the same group of amazing friends for most of the year. One of those friends, Chris, is a wonderful human being and great company both on and off the court. But in all my years of playing sport, I’ve never met anyone who beats themselves up mentally as much as Chris does during a game.

This article is, in many ways, for him. It’s an exploration of what psychology has to say about how to stop beating yourself up after mistakes, especially in the middle of competition when your mindset matters most. Chris has admitted that his self-criticism is destructive, both to his confidence and his performance, and I suspect he’s not alone.

My hope is that what follows will not only help Chris but also anyone who struggles with the same inner voice of frustration and self-doubt. The resetting techniques we’ll look at come from sport psychology, but their value extends far beyond the court. Whether in sport, work, or everyday life, most of us could benefit from learning how to go a little easier on ourselves.

Why We Beat Ourselves Up After Mistakes

Even the most skilled athletes can unravel after a single mistake. One poor shot or missed point and the mind instantly turns on itself: “I can’t believe I did that,” “I always mess up,” “I’m letting everyone down.” This inner voice can feel impossible to silence once it starts.

Sport psychology research shows that this reaction is not simply a lack of mental toughness; it’s biological. Under pressure, the brain’s emotional system activates what’s known as the fight-or-flight response. This raises heart rate, increases cortisol, and shifts control from the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for calm decision-making, to the limbic system, which drives emotional reaction.

In that moment, your body is preparing to fight a threat, not play a game. As a result, focus narrows, self-talk becomes harsh, and performance suffers. Sport psychologists refer to this cascade as cognitive interference. It helps to explain why frustration feels physical as well as mental; your brain is literally hijacking your ability to think clearly.

The key to regaining control is recognising that the problem isn’t the mistake itself, but the spiral that follows it. Mental resilience is not about suppressing emotion; it’s about interrupting that spiral before it turns into self-destruction.

This is where the idea of a reset comes in. Resetting is a deliberate, in-the-moment technique drawn from Psychological Skills Training (PST), a research-based approach used with athletes at every level. The reset provides a structured way to pause, regulate your body, and return to the present point instead of being pulled into the last one.

How a Reset Works: The Psychology Behind It

A reset is not about pretending a mistake did not happen. It is about giving your mind and body a way to recover control after stress has taken over. In sport psychology, this process is often described as self-regulation, the ability to monitor and manage your thoughts, emotions, and physiological responses in real time.

Research on Psychological Skills Training (PST) consistently shows that athletes who can self-regulate perform better under pressure. They recover more quickly from errors, maintain focus longer, and experience less emotional exhaustion. This is because they are able to shift from automatic, emotionally driven reactions to deliberate, goal-directed behaviour.

At its core, resetting is a practical form of self-regulation. It teaches athletes to do three things in sequence:

1. Recognise when their focus has drifted or their emotions are escalating.
2. Release the tension or frustration through a physical or mental action.
3. Refocus attention on the immediate task.

These three actions work together to interrupt the biological stress cycle that fuels harsh self-talk. The first step, recognition, activates the prefrontal cortex, shifting control back from the emotional brain. The second, release, calms the body by lowering heart rate and reducing muscle tension. The third, refocus, redirects attention to the next controllable action.

Resetting also draws on two well-established sport psychology principles: mindfulness and attentional control. Both are based on the idea that optimal performance happens in the present moment, not in regret over the last point or worry about the next one. As studies in mindfulness-based sport performance show, athletes who can stay present experience less cognitive interference and report higher confidence and enjoyment.

A reset works because it’s a bridge back to the present. It helps the athlete pause long enough to break the loop of frustration and re-engage with the next moment on purpose.

In the following section, we’ll look at how to put this into practice with a simple, research-backed routine that can help you stop beating yourself up during a game.

The Three-Part Reset Routine

A reset is most effective when it becomes a habit. To make that happen, sport psychologists recommend a clear structure that can be practiced until it feels automatic. The most widely used model is built around three linked steps: Release, Reset, and Refocus. Each stage plays a specific role in helping you recover from mistakes and regain composure.

Step 1: Release the Mistake

The first step is to let go of the emotional and physical tension that follows an error. Holding on to frustration keeps your body in a state of stress and your mind stuck in the past. A quick physical action can interrupt this cycle and signal that the mistake is finished.

Several techniques are supported by sport psychology research:

• Hand Claps or Shake-Out: A brief, physical cue can interrupt rumination. Small, decisive gestures can serve as “pattern interrupts,” helping to break repetitive negative thoughts.
• The Breath Release: Take one deep diaphragmatic breath, exhaling longer than you inhale. This activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which slows your heart rate and restores calm.
• The “Flush” Technique: Popularised by sport psychologist Ken Ravizza, this symbolic action, imagining flushing away the mistake, helps athletes detach emotionally from what just happened.

The aim is not to deny the mistake but to acknowledge it, release it, and move on.

Step 2: Reset the Body and MindStep

Once the tension has been released, the goal is to bring your focus back to the present. This stage centres on grounding yourself physically and mentally so that your attention is on what you can control now.

Effective reset tools include:

• Focused Breathing: One slow breath in through the nose and a longer exhale through the mouth can shift your body out of stress mode within seconds.
• Grounding Through Senses: Feel your feet on the court, the grip of your racket, or the bounce of the ball. This sensory focus redirects attention from thinking to doing.
• Visual Anchors: Choose one point to look at, such as a mark on the court or the edge of the net. Fixing your gaze on a single, stable target narrows focus and quiets mental noise.

These techniques are supported by mindfulness-based research showing that present-moment awareness improves attention and emotional control during performance.

Step 3: Refocus on What’s Important Now

With the mind calm and attention anchored, it’s time to re-engage. Refocusing means directing your energy toward the next immediate action rather than the last mistake.

A simple and effective method is to ask, “What’s Important Now?” Known as the W.I.N. technique, this approach helps athletes shift from self-criticism to task-oriented thinking. Athletes who focus on specific, controllable actions perform better than those who dwell on outcomes or emotions.

Your refocus cue should be short and concrete. For example:

• “Next point, stay aggressive.”
• “Ready position.”
• “Play smart, stay in the rally.”

These statements re-establish intention and keep you in the present.

The power of this three-step routine lies in its simplicity. Each stage, Release, Reset, and Refocus, targets a specific part of the stress response, helping you recover composure and confidence in seconds.

Next, we’ll look at how to train this skill so that resetting becomes a natural part of your game rather than something you only remember when frustration takes over.

Training Your Reset: Turning Technique into Habit

Knowing how to reset is one thing. Being able to do it automatically in the middle of a match is another. The goal is to train your mind in the same way you train your body, so that resetting becomes a natural response rather than something you have to consciously remember.

This psychological process is known as mental rehearsal, and it is based on the same principles that underpin physical practice. Each time you rehearse a reset, you strengthen the neural pathways that link recognition, regulation, and refocusing. Over time, the process becomes faster and more automatic, even under pressure.

Practice Resets During Low-Stakes Play

The best time to build this skill is during training, coaching drills or friendly games, when the emotional stakes are lower. If you only attempt a reset after a major mistake in a competition, your brain is already flooded with stress hormones. Practice the three steps: Release, Reset, Refocus, during minor errors, such as a missed shot in warm-up or a small lapse in concentration. The more familiar the sequence becomes, the more naturally it will appear when you need it most.

Research on habit formation and self-regulation supports this approach. Studies show that consistent rehearsal of mental skills in low-pressure environments increases the likelihood of automatic use under more stressful conditions. In other words, practicing your reset routine in calm conditions trains your brain to access it instinctively when things start to go wrong.

Pair Physical and Mental Training

Integrating reset techniques into physical drills can make them more realistic. For example:

• Take a deep breath and perform a short cue word such as “focus” before each serve or rally.
• After every error in practice, perform your release gesture and visual anchor before resuming play.
• End each session with a one-minute breathing reset to consolidate the routine.

This approach helps you associate the reset with movement, rhythm, and flow, rather than with frustration or loss of control.

Use Journaling or Reflection

After training, a coaching session or a match, take a moment to reflect on how you handled mistakes. Ask yourself:

• Did I recognise when I started to spiral?
• Did I use my reset routine quickly?
• What worked best for me today?

Self-reflection encourages awareness and accountability, two key components of mental toughness. Athletes who keep short reflection notes often show improved consistency and confidence over time.

Involve Your Teammates

If you play a team sport, discuss reset cues with teammates. A supportive nod, a shared gesture, or even a quick word like “point at a time” can help each other reset faster. Emotional contagion is real in sport; calm and confidence spread just as quickly as frustration. Teams or partners that learn to collectively reset are often more resilient during momentum swings.

The more you integrate resetting into daily play, the more natural it will become. Over time, you train your brain to treat each mistake not as a crisis, but as a cue to refocus on what’s in front of you.

In the final section, we’ll explore why learning to reset is about more than performance. It is also a lesson in self-compassion and a reminder that the way we talk to ourselves on the court often mirrors how we treat ourselves in everyday life.

Beyond the Game: The Power of Self-Compassion

Learning to reset is about much more than improving performance. It is also about changing the relationship you have with yourself when things go wrong. The same habits of self-criticism that appear on the court often show up in everyday life, at work, in relationships, or when facing personal setbacks.

Sport provides a mirror for how we handle failure. When we beat ourselves up, we reinforce the belief that mistakes define us. Over time, that mindset drains confidence, increases anxiety, and makes it harder to take risks or enjoy the process of learning. Research on self-compassion in athletes shows that those who treat themselves with understanding after mistakes recover faster, experience less performance anxiety, and report higher levels of motivation.

Self-compassion is not about going easy on yourself. It is about accountability without hostility. It means recognising that mistakes are inevitable and that frustration is a normal human reaction. The difference lies in how long you stay there. Resetting helps shorten that window between reaction and recovery, so you can return to the mindset that allows progress.

A useful habit for building self-compassion is to replace harsh self-talk with the kind of support you would give a friend in the same situation. For example:

• Instead of “I always mess this up,” try “That shot didn’t work, what can I adjust next time?”
• Instead of “I’m useless today,” try “Everyone has off days. Keep competing.”

This shift is more than positive thinking. It changes the tone of your inner dialogue from threat to support, which reduces stress hormones and helps restore focus and motivation.

Final Thoughts

For Chris, and for anyone who recognises themselves in this pattern, learning to reset is not just about better sports performance. It’s about building emotional control, resilience, and self-kindness. Every time you choose to pause, breathe, and reset, you are practising the skill of letting go, in sport and in life.

And who knows, maybe that next point, game, or day will go a little better precisely because you decided to stop beating yourself up.

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