Confidence destroyers:
Unfair comparisons
Feeling jealous or intimidated by the talents of others
Globalized thinking patterns
Often you’ll compare yourself to athletes who you think are better, stronger, faster, more agile or capable than you. This puts your competitors on a pedestal and makes you feel inferior. And this leads to reduced confidence and discouragement.
Sometimes you’ll destroy your own confidence because of a workout or a competition by globalizing. This is a thinking pattern where you take one incident and expand it to all future circumstances. This week, I spoke to a runner that didn’t hit a time goal in a workout. The belief that she began to formulate was that she would not reach her marathon goal in two months from now.
Some athletes do try to intimidate their competition intentionally because they think it gives them a mental edge or feel they need to this to win.
Although, most intimidation comes from athletes who psych themselves out - all on their own. However, if you allow another person to intimidate you, you chose to allow this to affect your thinking and feelings. The great news is since you allowed this to occur in the first place, you can now make a different choice. You can choose to believe differently, confidently.
Over thinking or worrying too much about the competition is another main confidence thief. Focus on what you cannot control-- yourself. When you worry, you tense up your body. When you are tense, you do not move as confidently, fluidly, relaxed, flexibly or optimally in order to perform your best. Learn to relax, take a risk to be your best and believe in yourself.
When you make comparisons to other athletes or performers, you're focusing on what makes your competitors better and what you are missing or not yet mastering. You're thinking of what's wrong with you--which is not good for your confidence.
Ten tips for better confidence:
1. Build awareness. Catch yourself starting to make unfair comparisons.
2. Make a reminder clue (like a sticky note or phone alert) to switch to positive thinking only. Do not allow negativity to rent a room in your head.
3. Focus on your own realistic talents and strengths exclusively.
4. Write a list of your athletic strengths and talents, put it where you will see it often.
5. Think of your best past performances, forgetting anything less than ideal
(Unless you still need to learn something from it, in order to move on).
6. Note your progress and how far you have come as an athlete.
7. Surround yourself with other positive people who support your strengths.
8. Develop a positive refute to replace an unfair comparison.
9. When you do not reach a goal, learn from it, allow the experience to make you stronger, rather than globalize to your entire athletic future.
10. Remember what you LOVE about what you do!
Enjoy, relax and have fun out there!
Interested in a consultation email Karen@TrueFormCoaching.com
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