The Finn was closely-matched with teammate Lewis Hamilton in the first part of the 2008 season, but drifted away from the eventual world champion as the year progressed, and ultimately fell to seventh in the championship.
Speaking at the launch of McLaren's new car, Kovalainen admitted he had become overwrought at times in 2008.
"I think I put perhaps too much expectation on myself and sometimes I was too hard on myself if I didn't get pole or didn't win the race," he said.
"Looking back afterwards I had some good races, compared to Lewis there were some positives even though he scored more points.
"I want the year to be more enjoyable and more relaxed and if there is one session where I don't get it right I will not feel so bad about it. That is one of the targets I would like to get this year."
He believes he will be much stronger now he has a year at McLaren behind him.
"I am much better prepared, I know how the team operates and hopefully that will also show in the results," said Kovalainen.
"Certainly I know the team better, I know the key people from every department better, so hopefully I can give better direction to engineers and designers."
Kovalainen said he had no complaints about having often carried more fuel - and consequently qualified slower - than Hamilton in 2008.
"The strategists who are working on that issue over a race weekend find the best solution for the team," he said.
"The best way to improve that situation is to be consistently better and consistently stronger and then the team will make different decisions, but I would say from the first year as a rookie driver for McLaren and with Lewis in a better position to win the championship, it was quite understandable the way we did it.
"This year hopefully we can turn things around and we can have a stronger year. I don't feel it is an issue for us, the main thing is to have focus on driving and focus on performance."
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