What are ‘super derailers’ and how do they ruin performance?
Based on Dialed In, super derailers are the specific psychological barriers or distractions that cause the most significant angst and actively damage your ability to perform,. While a performer may list twenty or more “hot spots” (distractions) ranging from minor annoyances to major worries, super derailers are the “top three” obstacles that must be addressed because they are the root cause of performance breakdown,.
Super derailers ruin performance in the following ways:
- They cause mental “drift”: Super derailers force your mind to wander away from the task at hand. Instead of focusing on execution (the specific actions needed to succeed), the mind drifts toward results, fears, or external judgments,.
- They trigger physical and behavioral breakdown: When a performer focuses on a super derailer, their physical execution suffers. For example, a surgical resident whose super derailer was “being observed” reacted by rushing her equipment setup, which directly interfered with her comfort and surgical skill,. Similarly, a hockey player worried about ice time (his super derailer) began “squeezing his stick too hard” and playing passively to avoid mistakes, rather than skating with power,.
- They provoke emotional unavailability: For some, a super derailer like “criticism” triggers immediate defensiveness or anger, causing them to withdraw or lash out rather than engaging with the work or team.
By isolating these specific derailers, a performer can distinguish between what is merely a nuisance and what is actually destroying their results, allowing them to build a plan to neutralize the specific threat,.