There’s a term called “self-handicapping” that describes how people purposefully handicap themselves—explicitly or mentally—to have an excuse on hand if things don’t work out. When done explicitly, it might be letting someone get a head start in a race because if you give them a head start and they win, you can say it’s because they started first. If self-handicapping mentally, you may start the race from the same spot, but in your head, you’ll think, “My knee hurts and I’m tired” instead of “I’m going to win this race.”
