Do you feel more likely to perform a new move, or even a well-practised move, if there are other people around? In the moments after completing a move, do you wonder, even fleetingly, what other people who saw the move are thinking? If so, you are not alone. I believe that every traceur (and, indeed, every person) shares this compulsion of thought.
One of the most striking differences between parkour and other so-called ‘extreme’ sports is that it is not concerned solely with the acquisition of physical skills, but also with the improvement of one’s mental and spiritual wellbeing. Ensuring that physical progress is not at the expense of mental progress is one of the main aims of a good traceur. One oft-cited method of achieving this aim is, during the practice of parkour, to focus on one’s own thoughts and desires while blocking out the thoughts and desires of others. But why do we need to do this? And is it even possible?
Though there are several reasons why it might be a good reason to ignore others and concentrate on oneself, one of the most important is that the human desire to impress one’s peers is strong. Because this desire can lead to the making of poor decisions that place us in danger, it is potentially very destructive. But why do we feel the need to impress others? As an evolutionary psychologist, I interpret many human behaviours and drives as being the result of evolution. That is, behaviours and drives persist because they conferred some sort of advantage upon our ancestors. Often that advantage was sexual: behaviours and drives that resulted in the production of more offspring were inevitably expressed more frequently by future generations and eventually became part of human nature. Put simply, people who impressed others tended to have more children while people who didn’t had less; hence the good feelings that come with impressing others and the bad feelings that come with acts that embarrass.
Often we find that the desire to impress others can be stronger if those others are people we don’t know well. Ambady and Rosenthal (1993) showed that accurate judgements can be made about a person’s abilities even after a very short exposure. So first impressions tend to be correct and, therefore, stick in a person’s mind. As we would all prefer others to think well of us than ill, we are driven to perform well; and particularly so in the presence of newer acquaintances.
Desires to impress members of our own sex and of the opposite sex are entwined, particularly for those of us who are male. Women prefer as partners men who are socially dominant, and the only way for men to achieve this social dominance is by exercising their superiority over other men. This explains the findings of Dijikstra and Buunk (2002), who asked people to list the characteristics that, if present in a rival, would make them jealous. Women consistently reported that they would be most jealous of a rival who was physically attractive. However, men most often quoted a rival’s social and physical dominance and social status as factors which would evoke maximum jealousy. Hardly surprising given findings which show that people who are better at sports and are more dominant tend to have a greater number of sexual partners (Egan & Angus, 2004; Faurie, 2004).
So why is this desire to perform well in order to impress others so damaging? Obviously, thinking about anything other than the movement that is required to clear an obstacle is distracting and can therefore bring about a loss of concentration and injury. But also it causes us to undertake parkour for the wrong reasons, which can lead to the setting of improper goals. There must be very few traceurs who have not come into contact with at least one person who, having taken up the sport with a vague idea of becoming a roof-jumper, has ended up with an unnecessary injury. The proper reason for undertaking parkour must be self-improvement. If others are impressed by our actions, then so be it: but let that be a side-effect of free-running and not its direct aim.
The drive to impress others is universal and often unconscious: so how do you combat it? Firstly, you could determine whether you are the sort of person who is likely to harbour strong desires to impress. Davis et al. (2005) found that traits such as anxiety, perfectionism and a focus on fitness predict a man’s drive to acquire a muscular body. Though parkour is not solely about building muscle mass, increasing muscularity is often cited as a benefit of practising parkour. It is also far from conjecture to suggest that a person who wishes to obtain a muscular body will also be a person who prefers to evade the disapproval of, and to seek the admiration of, his peers. A traceur is perhaps more likely to exhibit evidence of anxiety, perfectionism and a focus on fitness than a person with a less physically and philosophically demanding pastime, and it must therefore be recognised that, though these characteristics can in some cases be beneficial, they can also be disadvantageous. As it would be difficult (and, for many reasons, undesirable) to rid oneself entirely of these personality traits, the most prudent course of action is simply to ask yourself from whence they originate. Once again, good feelings can be a positive side-effect of practising parkour, or any other sport for that matter, but those who practise parkour purely in order to feel better about themselves are destined to fail; and on a mental as well as a physical level.
The most effective method of eliminating the drive to impress is, however, simply to be aware of its existence. Before you attempt to perform a move, particularly a new one and in the presence of others, ask yourself why you want to complete the move. Ask the question seriously and demand of yourself a deep answer. If you believe that you want to negotiate an obstacle simply “because it is there”, then you are far from a proper solution. Acknowledging that even a small part of you wishes to impress others is, I believe, the first step towards ridding yourself of that desire.
Many Eastern writers acknowledge that success and failure are illusions which are damaging in equal parts. Yasunari Kawabata (1976), a Japanese writer who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1968, describes a Shogi (Japanese chess) player who had a habit of closing his eyes and entering into an apparently meditative state whenever the turn of play passed to his opponent. Questioned later, the player explained that during these moments he was seeking to rid himself of the desire to win. When I practise parkour I attempt to do something similar. Though I still wish to perform my free-running successfully, I concentrate hard on eliminating feelings of success before they begin and, after completing a move, I either repeat it immediately and continue to do so until I am satisfied that a decent level of efficiency has been reached, or else move swiftly on to the next obstacle. If I feel suddenly more inclined to perform a particular move simply because I know another person will see me doing it, I stop immediately and wait until the desire has passed before continuing.
Why not try these techniques yourself? And, the next time you are practising, remember to ask yourself continually, “Who am I trying to impress?”
by D.Edwardes
One thing is triying to impress somebody and another thing is doing a new move because people are expecting you to do it. Once i was with half of my classmates in the park and one said : hey (me) can do parkour! and then another one told me to do the backflip, i never did it but every one was shouting my name and I didnt want to let the down. Impressing people is bad but doing a stunt for them can improve your skill. Now I can do backf
lips!!
backflips anrent parkour, but i get your point. at my school im kinda like the cool nerd because i talk about parkour a lot, so people are expecting me to do the spectacular stuff but sebastien foucan evan says that “big is not important ! ” so it angeres me abit.
that’s a big problem i have. impressing people i mean. like when ever my girlfriend is with me i’m always more tempted to do the reall impressive stuff that i’m not to good at thats really dangerous. i only land those type of stunts like 6 out of every 10 times i do them. but i really try not to because she doesn’t like watching me get hurt. and i don’t like getting hurt either…. heh heh.
one of my friends thinks he can do parkour (he cant even kong properly) and he is always making fake photos eg do ing a handstand on his bed but really his feet are touching the ceiling. antway when we are out he always tries to show off but he just makes a fool of himself. i must admit that i show off alot because i train on the the steps and walls of a small swimming pool in my town. my showing of skills work because i mastered a precision kong with two widely apart walls
I remember i did a a vault, and my friend got impressed and tried to replicate me, and he had no training experience, ended up crashing into the fence scrape his knees, hit his face on the ground, bruised a knuckle, and he managed to mess up his ego. I have learned from his mistake
This article brings up a topic that I believe is at the fundamental levels of all undertakings, especially those in the physical realm. While it can be said that the quest for approval for it approval’s sake leads only to more pronounced feelings of inadequacy when one fails to ’sufficiently’ impress those from who accolades are sought, I believe that a strong drive to impress others with one’s hard earned skills is not only a healthy desire but also an invaluable tool for self improvement. The common view expressed ( at least publicly ) by those in the Parkour/FreeRunning community is that Tracing is it’s own reward and I would agree with that at a basic level. But to simply deny that indulging in more egotistical pursuits takes away from the art/practice is to do the very nature of Parkour a disservice. It is my feeling that through Parkour and it’s prodginy
that the practitioner is shown a higher level of existence. The world seems to change for him/her and allows them to perceive all they encounter in a new and formerly unattainable way. Once the effort and dedication have begun to open this ‘door’ the idea that a bit of pride and arrogance is detrimental to one’s well being, I think, is incorrect. It is up to the practitioner to hold his/her training and future improvement at a premium and not loose sight of the steps taken to achieve this higher consciousnesses and ability. Engaging in activities that are directed at impressing others helps to keep one motivated at this advanced stage in development. It is often a beneficial way of motivating ones self at times when one has become accustomed to this previously unattainable stage and is finding advancing to the next with only improvement for it’s own sake a bit difficult.
That being said I believe that the article has hit it’s mark save for the misinterpretation by some who read it that only those ‘enlightened’ few who see the hard work as it’s own reward can truly excel.
One man’s motivation is another man’s downfall.