🏆 Cultivate Confidence

Confidence is a superpower for athletes and teams. How do you earn confidence?

Author

Greg Berge
December 21, 2023

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  • How to Cultivate Confidence 🏆

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💭 ONE THOUGHT
Cultivate Confidence

Confidence is a superpower for athletes and teams. How do you earn confidence?

It’s a process that takes time. Confidence becomes part of your culture. This is why the number one job of a coach is to build their culture.

We’ve all seen or know of teams with an incredible culture and tradition behind them.

There’s a feeling with those teams that gives them a little bit of an edge each and every game. That tradition, or that culture, has given them confidence in knowing that they will win.

How do we develop confidence in teams and players? Because confidence is so important, I have written a lot about it. Here is one such post.

I wholeheartedly believe that we “earn the right to be proud and confident.”

I think confidence must start at the player level. One of the most important jobs of a coach is to build confidence in players and then build confidence in their team.

Confidence is something that needs to be created and cultivated. How do you earn the right to be proud and confident?

Here are 5 Steps to Confidence for Athletes.

1. Put in the Work

There is simply no secret to success. You have to put in the time. You have to commit. Committed teams win, and committed players have earned confidence.

When you put in the time needed, it is harder to give up. It is harder to surrender. You develop a belief that you can do whatever it takes.

The first step is always to do the work.

2. Think Positive Thoughts

Confident people have growth mindsets. Why? Because you will fail in sports. You will have failure in life. And how you respond to this failure will determine your destiny. You will never grow if you have a negative or fixed mindset.

Your response to failure says it all. Kobe Bryant once said failure does not exist. His approach was always that failure is growth. This is how positive people and those with a growth mindset respond. Watch it below.

This is how confidence is earned.

3. Prepare, Prepare, Prepare

One of my favorite quotes has always been, “A failure to plan is a plan for failure.”

It is always up to the individual or team to control the controllable. Watching game film, reading the scouting report, getting enough sleep, putting in the work, etc. These are all things that you can control.

The more prepared you are, the more confident you will be. Ensure you control what you can because you will always revert to your habits and preparation when the game starts.

4. Plan Ahead for Adversity

Adversity will occur. It is guaranteed in sports. The variable is always how you will respond. The best athletes plan ahead to what their response will be. They think ahead.

  • How will I respond when we get a bad call?

  • How will I respond when I miss my first five shots?

  • How will I respond in clutch moments at the end of the game?

  • How will I respond when I don’t get the playing time I think I deserve?

Think ahead to your response. Prepare your mind ahead of time. This will build confidence.

5. Play with No Fear

Finally, the fear of failure holds many athletes back. Accept failure as part of the process. Have a “failure is great” mindset in all you do.

Play free.

Failure is a mindset. It is what you allow it to be. It is controllable. When you accept failure as a natural occurrence and focus on the response to failure, you will become more confident in what you do.

Watch this video from Tom Brady if you want to understand how important confidence and letting go of the fear of failure is for athletes.

Summary:

Confidence is a superpower for athletes. How do some players become so confident? Focus on controlling the controllable.

Remember the five things you can do to build confidence as an athlete.

  1. Put in the work

  2. Think positive thoughts

  3. Prepare

  4. Plan ahead for adversity

  5. Play with no fear

Good Luck!

📜 TWO QUOTES

“There is nothing so uncertain as a sure thing.”

– Scotty Bowman, former NHL coach

“In basketball — as in life — true joy comes from being fully present in each and every moment, not just when things are going your way.”

– Phil Jackson

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