Excellence, Not Perfection: A Healthier Path for Endurance Athletes (and All Highflyers)

6 Jan

“I just wanted to be perfect — until it nearly broke me.”

Three years ago, at 17 years old, Maya was a rising star in the junior endurance running scene. She had been racing since primary school and accumulated countless podiums by the time she got her first real pair of spikes at 12. Coaches raved about her discipline and other athletes admired her work ethic. Even her mum joked that Maya had been training for a marathon before she could tie her own shoelaces.

Yet by her final season as an U20, something had quietly shifted.

Training logs that once brimmed with personal bests were now punctuated with missed workouts and blank pages. She felt tired all the time even after a day off. Coaches said she was withdrawn, her friends said she always seemed quiet these days. Race after race, Maya knew she should be faster, stronger, fitter, yet the joy was gone.

Maya wasn’t injured. She wasn’t uncommitted. She was exhausted, physically and emotionally drained. This wasn’t because she “gave up,” but because she had spent year after year chasing perfection that she could never quite touch.

Maya couldn’t just run races; she had to run the perfect race every time.

Whether it was her placing, her pacing, or her training consistency, nothing was ever quite “good enough” by her own standards. Typical mistakes that most if not all athletes encounter (e.g., a mile 20 seconds slower than intended, a race day that felt “off”) didn’t just frustrate her, they defined her. Maya began to view days off guilt-inducing lapses, rather than as productive recovery. She was chasing perfection, and slowly she ran out of fuel.

This is a story familiar to many highly driven current and former athletes. But what if there was another way, a way to chase big goals without unravelling in the process? To pursue excellence instead of perfection?

Perfectionism in Sport: The Double-Edged Sword

When most people think of “perfectionism” in sport, a certain picture comes to mind: a relentless drive toward flawless performances, rigid standards, and zero room for error. Indeed, perfectionistic striving can, in the short term, increase commitment, focus, and effort. Athletes often credit perfectionistic tendencies for pushing them to train harder, pay meticulous attention to detail, and refine skills others overlook.

That drive, however, has a darker side.

Perfectionism in the literal sense of striving for completely flawless outcomes is a rigid and potentially destructive personality trait. It is characterised by setting standards that are excessively high and inflexible, and it intertwines the value of an outcome with the value of the person achieving it. In other words, if the performance isn’t perfect, then the athlete feels imperfect.

This can fuel intense effort, but it also makes disappointment inevitable because no human performance is entirely perfect.

Even elite performances contain imperfections (e.g., “Sure it was a PB and I medalled but my form was off in the last 200m.”). For athletes like Maya, who think in absolutes (i.e., perfect or nothing), each imperfection becomes evidence of failure, not an opportunity to learn and improve.

Perfectionistic striving may give short-term improvements, but it often comes at a cost:

Heightened self-criticism after errors
All-or-nothing thinking that makes mistakes feel catastrophic
Fear of failure that undermines confidence
Increased anxiety and emotional fatigue
Burnout and disengagement over time

In other words: perfectionism can drive performance but often drains wellbeing, because it sets a goal that is, by definition, unattainable.

That’s where the distinction between perfection and excellence becomes important.

Excellence: A Healthier, Smarter Target

Enter Professor Patrick Gaudreau, one of the World’s leading researchers in motivation and achievement psychology at the University of Ottawa. Gaudreau and colleagues’ recent research on Excellencism and Perfectionism helps us unpack why striving for excellence might be a more sustainable and psychologically sound way to chase big goals in sport and life.

If perfectionism is about flawless outcomes and unattainable ideals, excellencism (the deliberate pursuit of excellence) is about:

Setting very high but attainable standards
Striving with effort and intention
Valuing progress and learning
Maintaining flexibility in pursuit
Recognising that imperfection doesn’t negate worth

Gaudreau and colleagues’ research shows that, when you control for excellence, perfectionism on its own does not bring additional benefits to wellbeing. Instead, perfectionism is more often linked with negative outcomes like lower life satisfaction, burnout, or depressive symptoms.

In short: high standards aren’t the problem, but unforgiving, rigid standards are.

So, What’s the Difference, Really?

To the outside observer, perfection and excellence might look similar: both push an athlete to aim high and work hard. But beneath that similarity is a crucial psychological difference rooted in goal nature and emotional interpretation.

Perfection:

Focuses on impossibly high ideals
Is motivated by fear of imperfection
Often ties self-worth to outcome
Thrives on rigidity and absolutes
Reinforces all-or-nothing thinking

Excellence:

Focuses on high, attainable aspirations
Is motivated by growth and improvement
Separates self-worth from single results
Encourages flexible adaptation
Allows nuance and learning through “imperfect” moments

In the pursuit of excellence, athletes learn to say: “I gave this my best today — I can grow from this tomorrow.” Not: “This wasn’t perfect — therefore I’m a failure.”

This difference may seem subtle in wording, but it changes how athletes interpret effort, setbacks, and success.

Practical Tips: How Athletes Can Pursue Excellence (Not Perfection)

Here are actionable strategies athletes across different sports can start incorporating today.

1. Language Matters: Replace “Perfect” with “Excellence”

Words shape mindset.

Perfection-oriented self-talk might sound like:

“I have to be flawless today.”
“Anything less than perfect is not good enough.”
“I failed if I didn’t hit my target.”

Excellence-oriented self-talk sounds more like:

“I aim to prepare and perform to my best ability.”
“I can learn something even on tough days.”
“This is progress toward excellence.”

Small shifts like replacing “perfect” with “excellent” or “my best” promote self-compassion and realistic persistence.

2. Reframe Catastrophic and All-or-Nothing Thinking

Perfectionism often brings thoughts like:

“If I don’t run a PB, this was pointless.”
“A bogey on the 18th ruins the whole round.”
“A slow training day means I’m falling behind.”

Excellence practice reframes:

“What did I control well today?”
“Where did I improve?”
“What will I focus on next time?”

This helps athletes balance ambition with perspective.

3. Focus on the Process as well as the Outcomes

Excellence is built through meaningful processes of effort, consistency, focus, rather than just results.

In addition to setting outcome goals like: “Run a PB.” “Medal in the race.” “Shoot under par.” etc…

Also set process and behaviour goals:

“I’ll execute my strategy.”
“I’ll maintain a calm mindset on the last few miles.”
“I’ll stick to my pre-shot routine.”

These are more within your control and hitting them enables some success independent of the result.

4. Use Mistakes as Feedback Rather Than Evidence of Failure

When you make an error, don’t ask:
“How far was I from perfect?”

Ask:

“Why did that happen?”
“What helped and what hindered?”
“What will I try differently next time?”

By normalising imperfection, you become more resilient and adaptable, giving you a better chance of long-term progression.

5. Cultivate Self-Compassion Without Softening Standards

Compassion doesn’t mean “low expectations.” It means treating yourself with the same humanity you’d show a teammate.

Self-compassion helps you:

Bounce back from setbacks
Sustain motivation
Protect your mental well-being

And it doesn’t mean you suddenly care less about your sport; you just care more wisely.

Maya Revisited: What Could Have Been Different?

If Maya had learned to value progress as much as outcomes, and to view mistakes as data, rather than judgment, her story would likely have looked different. She would still have worked hard because pursuing excellence encompasses effort; however, her relationship with her sport would likely have been more sustainable and consistent.

Instead of asking, “Was this perfect?” She could have asked, “Did I give my best? What did I learn?”

That one shift could have helped preserve her enjoyment in running, the very reason she started in the first place.

A Pause for Thought

Perfectionism isn’t necessarily all bad. In the short term it can fuel extraordinary effort. But when it becomes the only definition of success, it creates a psychological trap: a finish line that continually moves further away.

Excellence on the other hand isn’t about replacing ambition with mediocrity. It’s about pursuing high, meaningful goals without tethering your worth to temporary outcomes.

So, the next time you feel that inner voice saying, “I have to be perfect,” consider a healthier question:

“Can I aim for excellence instead?”

Your performance, enjoyment, and your ongoing relationship with your sport may just benefit as a result.

Further Info and Support

If this blog resonated with you, whether you’re an athlete, parent, or coach remember you don’t have to figure this out alone. Please check out my website (www.jowettsportpsych.com) for support plans and resources designed to help athletes develop healthy performance mindsets, sharpen focus, and thrive both in and outside their sport.

Resources

Gaudreau, P., Schellenberg, B. J., Gareau, A., Kljajic, K., & Manoni-Millar, S. (2022). Because excellencism is more than good enough: On the need to distinguish the pursuit of excellence from the pursuit of perfection. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 122(6), 1117-1145.

Professor Gaudreau explains the contrast between excellencism and perfectionism in accessible terms in his podcast episode: Excellencism — an alternative to perfectionism: https://podcast.lewishatchett.com/videos/excellencism-an-alternative-to-perfectionism/ (podcast.lewishatchett.com)