Confidence Over Doubt

This post and the next post discuss confidence. Today, read about confidence vs doubt, and how doubt holds us back from our best. Next week, we will discuss the areas that I consider paramount for healthy self-confidence in any endeavor.

Confidence is a huge component of determining our success in sports and in life. Everyone has the ability to be confident, and everyone knows what it feels like to have doubt and struggle with confidence. The biggest pitfall with a lack of confidence is that it hurts our performance and lessens our enjoyment of the activity. In sport, this can be the difference in an athlete pushing themselves, learning life lessons, and having a great experience over many years, or not getting much out of sport and burning out early.

So how can we nourish this mindset and build confidence in ourselves and others? How do we quiet the doubt? First we have to have self awareness and understand where our doubts come from. Are we scared of not being as good as the competition (comparison)? Are we scared to let people down (playing for someone else)? Do we fear rejection (value placed in outcomes)? Are we expecting perfection (perfectionist attitude)? Are we negative from the onset (pessimistic)? Once we identify the reasons we doubt, we can change our preparation or our self talk to battle against that doubt.

Confidence is self-trust. Doubt erodes that trust because we fear not being what we want to be or what we think is required. Our belief to be able to execute a skill or perform in a game must become strong enough to remove this doubt. Everyone struggles with doubts. The most confident people have doubts. But it’s the courage to push through this doubt with belief in oneself that allows us to build confidence.

​#getbetter