Perfection is the enemy of the good. It shuts people down and prevents them from accomplishing many goals. It is far better to shoot for a B and succeed than shoot for an A+ and becoome immobilized. 80-85% is more than good enough 95% of the time. Resist the thought that you have to do get an A. See yourself being happy with a B. See youself happy winning the Bronze or placing 6th. Your brain responds to images and thoughts as if they are real. Write down your goals for the day, week, month or year. Take time to visualize them feeling great as if they have already happened. Be your own cheerleader. Give yourself credit at each step of the journey, not just at the end. Remember what Thomas Edison knew: quality comes from quantity.
If you find that either a) you cannot accept the ideas presented here (you MUST get the gold – your first try must be the best) or b) you try to accept the ideas here but the inner critical and demanding chorus overpowers your will, then the next step is to ask yourself, “Where do these ideas come from?” Of course the answer is always somewhere in your past. It is either very demanding perfetionistic authority figures or it is your own ideas ( as a young person) to compensate for something about which you felt ashamed. In either case the goal then is to correct these traumatic experiences that are still controlling you. Often times brief theapeutic interventions that use energy psychology, eft, nlp or emdr can resolve these issues.