Core Confidence
Justin Johnson
Mental Edge Performance Advisor

One of the best feelings an athlete can have is when you stand on the playing field and have no doubt you will be able to achieve your objective. The most consistent finding in athletes who perform at a peak performance level is the direct correlation between their confidence and success. Every year from pre-game chalk talks to post-game interviews you hear about the importance of having the confidence in your ability to succeed. Yet for many athletes regardless of their level or past experiences have a weekly struggle with their confidence. The primary reason this occurs is that athletes tend to place too much importance on external results rather than their inner belief in their abilities.

As an athlete you gain confidence from two segments: external and internal.
External confidence is often the easiest to recognize and what you are most likely familiar with, making a big play, encouragement from a coach, or wining a big game for your team gives you an instant dose of confidence. It is easy to gain confidence from such events and the feeling is often very powerful. However there is a very real danger in staking all or even too much of your confidence on external events. The reason athletes struggle with confidence is because they fail to realize they do not have complete control over external events. Instead, your focus should be on elements you can control in order to influence events in a way that results in your favor. For example as a baseball hitter you don’t have complete control over whether you get a hit, because the pitcher decides where to throw the ball. You can, however, influence the chance of getting a hit by working on your swing technique and by deciding to swing at quality pitches.

So, how do you know if you are an athlete who places too much emphasis on external confidence? Chances are, if you only feel confident when you make a big play, or when coaches are encouraging you, or when you are winning, you tend to place too much emphasis on external confidence.

To avoid the rollercoaster feeling of having your confidence at the mercy of positive or negative outcomes, you must learn to develop your internal or core confidence. Core Confidence is developed from two sources, the movement towards mastery of skills and by engaging in quality thought. If you are a goaltender, for example, developing crisp movement, solid positioning, and smart save selections, these are skills you have complete control over. Core confidence comes from an inner assurance that when needed you can execute these skills to stop the puck. This is why many coaches suggest going back to the basics to reclaim your confidence. By setting aside a portion of time in practice to concentrate on basic skills you allow yourself to focus on the areas you have control over. This results in a higher level of assurance that you are capable of executing the skills of the trade.

The second source of core confidence is having quality thoughts. Much has been said about the importance of positive thought, so much so, that this has become a cliché of sorts to many athletes. What few athletes realize is that quality thinking is a skill, just like any other physical skill in athletics. Because it is a skill, the more you work on it the better you become at it! Core confidence is built by the quality of thoughts you have about what is going on around you. An athlete who engages in quality thought notices their strengths and successes and looks at failures or shortcomings as a skill or opportunity that has not yet been fully developed. Remember thoughts are very powerful, so powerful in fact that they dictate how you feel which in turn tells your body how you should act. So, in order to perform in a confident manner you must have the type of thoughts that produce confident play. As you develop your quality thinking skills less effort will be required and the foundation of your core confidence will be built.

Quality Thoughts = Quality Emotions = Quality Actions

So how do you develop your core confidence? In order to build core confidence you must:

Identify and focus on what you can control
You don’t have control over events; instead focus your energy on the thoughts and actions that will influence events to occur in your favor.

Devote time to the physical basics
Skill refinement allows you to build your assurance that you can do the job.

Train yourself to think quality thoughts
You have control over your thoughts so choose quality thoughts, which will lead to quality performances.

Simply put, you know you have core confidence when you believe you can make the play, instead of, because you made the play.