How to Keep your Confidence
If self-confidence is the name of the game in sports, it’s critical that you (or your players) learn how to grow – or at the very least – keep your confidence after each competition, the very confidence you have worked so hard to develop.
But, here’s the deal: Keeping your hard-earn confidence is paramount. Too many athletes cripple their confidence with self-critical thinking after they perform.
When doing “confidence coaching” with athletes, I make sure we discuss how to view their performance positively so they can grow confidence…
Are you overly self-critical after your perform or a lose? Often, this comes from holding yourself to high expectations: wanting to perform as well as you can each time you compete.
Sometimes, you adopt the self-critical voice inside your head from coaches, parents, or friends who treated you this way.
Perfectionists, for example, tend to be very self-critical and focus too much on the negatives.
If not dealt with, you can reach a state of learned helplessness. You feel so helpless that you “don’t care anymore” and can lose motivation or desire to train or practice.
What can you do? Here’s a tip from my new e-book for Peaksports Network members, Titled, “How to Assess Your Performance for Greater Confidence.”
Put yourself in the shoes of others. What are two positive things a coach might tell you about your game?
Before you do anything else, think about what you did well in the game or performance. Keep in mind that not everything will go your way–even when you are on fire and playing in the zone!
Above all, I never want my athletes to judge themselves as persons based on how well they performed. Always remember that you are more than a win/lose record or a score. Make sure you separate the “performer” from the “person.”
Peaksports members can download my new e-book here:
How to Assess Your Performance for Greater Confidence
****Peaksports Updates****
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I answer common mental game question in my new video blog titled, “Ask Doc.” Find out if your comfort zone is holding you back, the mental strategies for finding the zone, and how sports kids can overcome frustration in my latest episodes:
Related Sports Psychology Articles
- How to Perform Under Pressure with Confidence
- How to Grow Competition Confidence
- How to Build Confidence Like the Pros
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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.