How to Maintain a Steady Level of Confidence
Last week, you learned about confidence-booster 1: Managing strict expectations… On tap this week: confidence-killer 2: self-doubt.
For some athletes, confidence is fragile and goes up and down depending on immediate results such as the last play, shot, race, or routine. And this is a big problem for athletes…
One way to keep a steady or stable level of confidence is to address the top confidence killers…
This means you want understand the thoughts, doubts, or beliefs that undermine confidence. Self-doubt is another huge confidence-killer, which can also stop momentum fast.
Doubt is confidence killer number two out of five in this series.
Some athletes start doubting before they even start the competition or make an error. But athletes struggle with doubt the most after making a mistake or performing poorly.
The problem is you don’t want doubt to unchecked in your or your athletes’ mind. Do you even know when your mind is filled with doubts?
The first step is awareness… You want to uncover the top doubts and negative thoughts you might have after mistakes.
And remember, when you are questioning your ability, such as “can I perform well against this team/competitor?” — this is doubt in disguise.
Here eight areas to help you develop your list:
- Self-doubt about ability to beat your competitors.
- Questioning the quality of your practice or training.
- Self-doubt about your physical ability such as size or strength.
- Questioning the quality of your equipment (i.e. skis, motorcycle, bike).
- Doubts about your strategy or game plan.
- Making comparisons to competitors who you think are better than you.
- Feeling that you can never perform up to your potential.
- Doubts about executing a specific skill that’s you can get in practice.
Changing your mental game always starts with awareness. A good exercise to uncover your top doubts is to keep a log of the doubts about your performance–after competition.
Next week, you’ll learn how to shut off doubts to help stabilize your confidence.
Related Sports Psychology Articles
- How to Perform Under Pressure with Confidence
- How to Build Confidence Like the Pros
- How to Grow Competition Confidence
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