What is All or Nothing Thinking?
I spend a lot of time with my dance students and Dance Strong Challengers talking about something called “All or Nothing Thinking.”
In short, All or Nothing thinking is when we think that if something can’t be done perfectly, it isn’t worth doing.
Read on to learn more about All or Nothing Thinking and how I combat it in dance (and life).
Wanna learn more? Check out my latest podcast episode here!
How do I identify All or Nothing Thinking?
You might be thinking “Well, I’m not a perfectionist.” (Or perhaps you are!). But All or Nothing thinking can be sneaky.
All or Nothing Thinking in Dance Can Look like:
- Not choosing to do your dance practice because you’ve “only” got 10 minutes and that doesn’t feel “worth it”
- Focusing on the one, single mistake you made during a performance, rather than all of the audience cheers and compliments you received after
- Not placing on the podium during a dance competition, so determining your performance and preparation a failure
- Deciding not to watch a pre-recorded class because it’s 60 minutes long and you’ve only got 30 minutes to practice
Do you recognise any of these in yourself?
Combatting All or Nothing Thinking
I’ve been keenly aware of all or nothing thinking in the past 7 or so years, and I’ve worked hard to combat it. But it still sneaks up on me sometimes – which is why I need these reminders too!
The most recent occurrence I remember was when I’d had a super busy work week. I was working until 9pm at night, but I’d planned to go for a 10 kilometre run that evening. I caught myself thinking “well, now I can’t go for that run.” Because I’ve gotten quite good at catching this style of thinking, I realised what was happening! And I went for a 3 kilometre run instead.
Was it what I’d planned in my training schedule? Nope!
Did it still do me good, both physically and mentally? You betcha!
Did it mean that I was closer to my weekly training goals, and therefore better prepared for the next training session than if I hadn’t run at all? Absolutely!
If you’d like to learn a little bit more about my approach to combatting all or nothing thinking, check out my new podcast episode which launched today!
Listen to the episode here or click the button below.
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Enjoy the episode. And leave me a comment if you take a listen and you’ve got any questions for me!