A&H

Trying harder = worse performance

SM

SM

The avuncular one
Over recent weeks I have stumbled upon an oddity in my games. I have noticed I am not refereeing as well as I should be.

First of all, this is a very difficult thing to quantify but I just don't FEEL I am refereeing as well as I could and have. Not enjoying games as much as I was.

I obviously want to get on top of this and have resolved to train harder which has made me feel fitter. I am trying harder in games, but this just seems to be making me performance worse! lol :D The harder I try the worse I feel I perform? Oh dear.

I'm not sure if I have described this very well, I am fulfilling my games, feel like I am where I need to be and doing what needs doing in games, feedback from players and team officials is for the most part unspectacular (normal!) it is just the internal feeling I am getting which is nagging me. In a nutshell I am in a rut.

Anyone else come across this or have some advice as to how I resolve it?
 
The Referee Store
This is the circle of incompetence.

It goes like this.

You start doing something but you're not very good at it. This is unconscious incompetence. You persevere until you either receive feedback or have a blinding moment of self revelation.

At this point you realise, you're not really as good as you thought you were. This is conscious incompetence. So you begin to change what you were doing before. You work at developing your weaknesses while maintaining your strengths.

At this point, you do become better. This is conscious competence. Eventually the habits you had to work at become like second nature. You begin to do things effectively without thinking too hard about it. You have now reached unconscious competence. At the same time however you are operating at unconscious incompetence but at a higher level in another aspect of your role.

You do some additional training or you receive some other feedback and you realise you're not very good at something else and you're back round to conscious incompetence. I suspect this is where you are now. You've developed some skill but you're starting to notice other aspects of your game which aren't good enough in your new enlightened state.

It's a great sign that you've noticed you need to get better at something. Maybe the fitness isn't the problem. Maybe it's some other part of your game?
 
I experienced something very similar towards the back end of the 2012/13 season.

It's a vicious cycle; you feel like you're not reffing as well as you should be, so you try harder but it doesn't make you feel any better and your confidence drops as a result. I felt like I was going through the motions and honestly considered hanging up the whistle. Sounds to me like you may be struggling a little but in terms of confidence.

Maybe there's too much going on in your head during the game? Are you finding that you're questioning every decision that you make?

Keep doing what you do best. For me, something just clicked; I've got no idea what it was or even when it happened but I haven't looked back. I honestly feel like I've refereed better than ever before over the last 12-18 months. There's nothing wrong with wanting to improve, in fact, it's a fantastic mindset to have. Persevere with it and just try to think as clearly as you possibly can. Suddenly, everything will click into gear again.

:)
 
Not the first time you've mentioned this, sm, perhaps you're just overthinking things.....or refchat has simply thrown up too many insurmountable challenges

Bl@@dy h@ll, brian, reading that has given me a migraine

Made me think of the Peter Principle.....another possible answer to monkey's dilemna :)
 
haywain said:
Not the first time you've mentioned this, sm, perhaps you're just overthinking things.....or refchat has simply thrown up too many insurmountable challenges

Bl@@dy h@ll, brian, reading that has given me a migraine

Made me think of the Peter Principle.....another possible answer to monkey's dilemna :)
Click to expand...
Steady on haywain, save some of your brain cells for unconscious motor control. Follow the DB formula, breathe in, breathe out. Let's hope SM doesn't realise you think he's reached his limit for progression ;)
 
Thanks guys a lot of interesting food for thought amongst that lot. Some of it fits my situation.

Looking back, I can see where things came off the rails; I had a threat from a player which led to an abandonment a couple of months back and that was the turning point of the season. Before that I was flying in terms of confidence and how felt I was performing.

Another oddity is that I feel happier doing higher level games. Feels more comfortable to be working harder, I don't have to worry about my concentration levels as I will be fully engaged in the game and not have time to think about anything else.

So, from what you guys have posted and my own thoughts it looks like I have a couple of issues to work on.
 
Maybe take a break from your usual leagues.

You say you enjoy the higher level games, why not try and go a few streps higher and act as AR on some of those higher level games.

Appreciate its not that simple getting appointments on new leagues at this stage of the season though.
 
I already do games to as high a level as I can both as AR or in the middle. The Welsh system is very different to the English system, we don't have so many different levels and leagues! Nowhere near as much choice.

It's one of those things I think. It's a reaction to what happened earlier in the season. Just need to stop second guessing myself and worrying about nonsense. Concentrate on the game, get into my "flow" and get back to enjoying it.
 
Don't beat yourself down SM do your thing let it flow, what ever you do players will moan your the boss.
 
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