After years of hard work, Dave becomes a member of the U.S. ski team. He has always set outcome goals for himself: becoming the fastest skier in his local club, winning regional races, beating arch-rivals, and placing at nationals. Unfortunately, he gets off to a rocky start on the World Cup circuit. He had wanted to be the fastest American downhiller and to place in the top three at each World Cup race, but with so many good racers competing it has become impossible to beat them consistently. To make matters worse, because of his lowered world ranking, Dave skis far back in the pack (after the course has been chopped up by the previous competitors), which makes it virtually impossible to place in the top three. As Dave becomes more frustrated by his failures, his motivation declines. He no longer looks forward to competitions; he either skis out of control, focused entirely on finishing first, or skis such a safe line through the course that he finishes well back in the field. Dave blames his poor finishes on the wrong ski wax and equipment. He does not realize that his outcome goal orientation, which had served him well at the lower levels of competition where he could more easily win, is now leading to lower confidence, self-doubts, and less motivation.
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