The Importance of Proactive Confidence
Confidence is how strongly you believe in your ability to complete a skill. Confidence certainly is built on your past success in sports…
For a gymnast, that may mean performing a solid routine or getting a personal best score.
For a baseball pitcher, it means locating your pitches for strikes over the course of several innings or games.
For a tennis player, it might be hitting a high percentage of first serves or beating someone you lost to.
For a golfer, it may be sinking short putts consistently or lowering your handicap.
What adds to the belief that you can succeed in your sport and execute your role on the team?
But sometimes confidence can be fragile when you don’t have that immediate success.
In sports, and in life for that matter, athletes look for evidence to support that they can succeed or that they will fail.
For example, a hitter that faces a pitcher who has held him to no hits over the course of several games views those failed at-bats as “proof” that he cannot get a hit off that pitcher, “I strike out every time I go up against this pitcher. There is no way I can get a hit this time.”
Or a tennis player who had a string of lost matches may view those instances as “proof” that he is not a good tennis player, “I always lose. I cannot seem to win even one set. I’m a horrible tennis player.”
Athletes look for evidence to support their belief or not support their belief.
Therefore, if you look for evidence that you can succeed in certain circumstances, your confidence will increase dramatically.
In the previous examples, the hitter can focus on things, such as solid contact against the pitcher and better technique at the plate as evidence that he can successfully get a base hit off of that pitcher…
The tennis player can find evidence such as better play against higher-ranked opponents to gain the necessary confidence to win future matches.
Positive evidence helps PGA golfer Kevin Chappell maintain a high level of confidence.
Chappell was sidelined by back surgery and it caused him to question his future success, but Chappell continues to find the evidence necessary to succeed. The result was a historic round of golf becoming the 11th golfer to shoot a sub-60 round in his first PGA Tour event since surgery.
CHAPPELL: “I’d like to say I never stopped believing, but it’s always nice to see you can do it and have the evidence to move forward.”
The historic round gave Chappell further evidence of his abilities to produce positive results.
CHAPPELL: “Take 10 months off and win your first time back. There is a long way to go before I can realize that dream, but it’s there and it’s obtainable.”
Having past success starts the foundation for confidence, but you want to look for ways you can proactively build confidence and not wait for success.
Which comes first confidence or success? The chicken or the egg?
How to Grow your Confidence Proactively:
What evidence supports the fact that you deserve to feel confident about your performance and obtain success?
What can you say about your practice, training, and work ethic that gives you confidence? What can you say about your physical abilities and mental game that gives you confidence?
What are your unique talents that can help you have proactive confidence instead of waiting for success to feel confident?
And avoid focusing on the reasons you can’t succeed or do not deserve to feel confident, such as “I’m too slow,” or “I’m not big enough” or “I’ve never beat this person or team.”
Related Sports Psychology Articles
- How to Evaluate Losses for More Confidence
- How to Grow Competition Confidence
- How Preparation Boosts Confidence
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