How to Shape and Improve your Athletic Confidence
Confidence is not something that happens to you. Building confidence is an action. If you do nothing, your confidence becomes dependent on results.
When you are not an active participant in growing your confidence, one day, your confidence will be up, and the next, it will be down, as if you are on a confidence roller coaster.
Most athletes think winning a game or tournament builds confidence, but that’s not always the case. Of course, winning can help you believe you can win again.
However, athletes with low confidence may attribute their success to luck.
Those athletes see the victory as a “one-and-done” event. They expect to return to their previous level of performance. In these instances, athletes feel confidence is not within their direct control.
Conversely, athletes with stable confidence spend time actively building self-belief. When these athletes win, they attribute their successes to their preparation, effort, and mental training.
When you understand confidence requires action, you will commit to proactively building it and keeping it.
Even a loss or bad performance won’t deplete your confidence. With stable, high confidence, you will learn from the experience, look for ways to improve for the next competition, then go to practice and get to work.
As you can see, the value of this mental skill is immeasurable to your athletic and personal development.
Let’s take a look at Philadelphia Sixers guard Jaden Springer.
Springer was selected with the 28th pick in the 2021 NBA draft by the Sixers. In his first year, the Sixers assigned Springer to their G League affiliate, the Delaware Blue Coats.
In his second year with Delaware, Springer consciously decided to build his confidence, and his dedication paid off. Springer was the second-leading scorer for Delaware and helped the Blue Coats win the NBA G League title.
After winning the championship game, Springer was named the most valuable player. Springer grew his confidence by utilizing various methods, such as intense training, elite-level preparation, attention to detail, and developing positive body posture.
SPRINGER: “Really details, man — the little things, [such as] my base, my foundation, my posture. Even just moving through (drills), nothing lazy — don’t have any bad posture, hanging over. Just keep your body up straight. Stay focused. And he always coaches the little things — how I carry myself, how I walk in. All that stuff matters.”
You should never underestimate the impact of even the slightest improvement in confidence. As with any technical or mental skill, improvement is within your direct control.
If your goal is to create high confidence, you need an action plan.
What steps will you take to improve your confidence? What strategies will you use? How will you keep confidence each week no matter your results?
Who will you enlist to help you with your goal? How will you measure your progress?
When you design an action plan, you are more likely to stick to your plan and focus your efforts on accomplishing your goal. Contact us if you want help developing the confidence plan.
Related Sports Psychology Articles
- How to Grow Competition Confidence
- How to Evaluate Losses for More Confidence
- How Visualization Helps Boost Confidence
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The Confident Athlete
“The Confident Athlete” consists of 2 audio programs that include 14 days of confidence fueling exercises and a simple to follow workbook that guides you through the 14 days, helps you apply the strategies, and customizes the exercises to your personal needs.
Let me help you put a stop to the confidence leak. You can learn to have greater levels of confidence in competition than you do in practice by identifying the specific ways you undermine your own confidence and how to convert your practice confidence into COMPETITIVE CONFIDENCE.
“The Confident Athlete” is a ground-breaking system to teach you how to think like a champion and have ultimate self-confidence every time you step on the playing field, court, track, or course. The confident athletes was developed for any athlete – junior to professional –that wants to gain confidence. However, coaches and sports parents can learn how to teach others to perform with ultimate confidence. Use my program if you want to bust a slump or just wanting higher or more consistent levels of self-confidence.