The Confidence Game

By Dr. Michele Mitchell

You're just about to start your athletic event and you're very nervous. Your hands are sweating and your knees are shaking.

From behind the stands you hear a voice calling from a dark corner. From the shadows you hear, "Hey you, yeah you, come over here." You approach slowly,nervously, trying to make out a face. The stranger seems to sense your fears. As you finally see him, he wryly smiles and asks, "You wanna buy some confidence?"

Confidence is extremely valuable to an athlete but, unfortunately, it can't be bought. So put your money away and let's explore some blue chip approaches for building your confidence.There's no guarantee that they'll work though, that's up to you. But trust us, if you didn't already have a certain amount of confidence, you would not have stayed in athletics.

Confidence is heard in that little voice inside your head that says, "I can do it. I can accomplish my goal in this situation." This self-assurance is derived from reinforcements, either instantaneous or long term. The more positive reinforcements you acquire, the stronger your confidence becomes in that given situation. And, like a high-yield bank account, the larger your Store of confidence, the greater the amount of interest or continued self-assurance that will accrue.

Instantaneous reinforcement occurs most frequently in sports; the gymnast sees her score after her routine; the swimmer hears her time a@ she touches the wall; the basketball player hears the audience's cheers after she scores two points.  However, over time, instantaneous reinforcement can also serve as a long term reinforcer.

The instant results for the gymnast, the swimmer and the basketball player are the rewards for all of their long hours spent training and preparing for that moment. Thus, their internal confidence stems from their perceived external reality: the score, the time and the cheers. Once a foundation of positive feedback is established, more confidence can be built by achieving harder or higher goals. This self-assurance is then translated into external actions which exude the internal state-of-affairs.

However we're neither 100% fully, nor completely void of confidence. It is a "gray" area in our existence and is often specific to each situation. Practiced activities yield a higher self-assurance due to previous positive feedback. This feedback then allows the athlete to continue setting and reaching higher goals.

Although, if an activity is a new one which has never been practiced, the confidence level will obviously be lower as there is no foundation. Yet, at the same time, it can be built quicker as expectations for success are low and easily achievable. An ice skater may feel safe and at home on the ice, but, if she were to attempt to dive off a diving board, her "safety zone" of confidence would be much lower. Yet, once she did go off the diving board for the first time, she would feel a little more sure of herself and thus, have a base on which to build up her confidence while diving.

Now that we have a rudimentary understanding of confidence, the following are some methods that will help you strengthen your own confidence in whatever areas you feel you need to improve: