The Dark Side of a 3 Peat
With the conclusion of the 2024 - 2025 NFL season, we still have a historic achievement yet to be fulfilled in the Super Bowl era NFL: a 3-peat (winning 3 championships consecutively). Expanding upon this, despite an exceptional outlier in the 1999 - 2002 Lakers, there has not been a 3 peat in any of the male “Big 4” professional leagues (NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB) within the last 25 years. What makes this achievement so difficult to obtain? What can we learn from where the legends have fell short?
3-peating is a uniquely challenging feat that requires immense levels of physical ability, psychological resilience, coaching tenure, discipline, and much more. Kreiner-Phillips & Orlock (1993) in their article “Winning After Winning: The Psychology of Ongoing Excellence,” the authors interviewed world class athletes to dive into the psychological challenges that they face regarding consistent excellence.
The authors talk about several key challenges that elite athletes faced with ongoing excellence.
Maintaining Motivation: Many of the athletes discussed the difficulty of maintaining the same level of motivation or drive after reaching the pinnacle of their sport. After achieving a career goal, the athletes found it hard to find new sources of motivation.
Fighting Complacency: In the same vein, athletes found that past success could lead to a decline in effort or intensity. The consistently excellent found ways to push themselves instead of being satisfied with previous achievements.
External Pressure: After success comes an exponential increase in expectations from people like: coaches, fans, friends, families, sponsors, media, etc… The pressure to keep winning led to stress, making it harder to maintain focus and perform optimally.
Overcoming Injuries: With sustained excellence, injuries and other setbacks are inevitable. Athletes had to learn how to stay mentally strong and return to peak performance after setbacks.
Balancing Sport and Life: Some athletes mentioned the struggle to maintain personal relationships and a sense of identity outside of their sport. A lack of balance can impact mental well-being and performance.
In response to these challenges, the authors depicted a handful of strategies that athletes contributed to ongoing success.
Mental Preparation: Athletes mentioned maintaining a disciplined approach to training, setting new and motivating goals, and visualizing success.
Resilience and Focus: Overcoming setbacks by maintaining confidence and limiting distractions helped athletes get back on track.
Continuous Learning: Consistently striving for self-improvement, refining skills, and honing strategies to stay competitive.
The findings from Kreiner-Phillips & Orlock (1993) emphasize the importance of mental training in long-term athletic success. The athletes describe that success requires more than just physical ability, but a demand for psychological commitment as well. Successfully winning requires an ability to maintain motivation, adapt to challenges, and overcome setbacks consistently over time.
TLDR, what does this mean for you? Consistent excellence is not achieved through physical ability alone and requires a dedication to mental development as well. World class athletes at the pinnacle of their sport identify key challenges that they faced and strategies that they used to overcome those challenges.
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Kreiner-Phillips, K., & Orlick, T. (1993). Winning after Winning: The Psychology of Ongoing Excellence. The Sport Psychologist, 7(1), 31–48. https://doi.org/10.1123/tsp.7.1.31