5 Keys to Building Unstoppable Confidence

Re-define Success & Failure

Many of today's student athletes are making the common mistake of focusing their attention solely on results, what others may think of them and fearing letting down their parents, teammates or coaches.  Redefining our personal definitions of success and failure will allow the athlete to focus more on the process, their performance measures and not worry about the elements that are outside of their control.

Past Performances

Once you have your definitions of success and failure written down the next step is to make a list of your past successes in sports, school and life.  Make sure to list any event that made you feel good inside about accomplishing something, overcoming adversity or simply making big jumps in progression towards your goals.

Other People’s Performances

Drawing parallel connections between your own goals and people who are similar to you that have accomplished the same goals you are chasing can be a very effective method of building self-belief.  Think about the most successful athletes in your sport that use the same strategies, techniques and fundamentals that you possess. The more that you can create similarities between yourself and other high level athletes the more attainable your goal becomes.

For example: Roger Bannister was the first athlete to run a sub 4 minute mile in 1954 and since then hundreds of athletes have been able to accomplish running a sub 4 minute mile.

Personal Confidence Buttons

We have certain movies, songs, quotes or people that either bring out happiness or anger within us. Being aware of our personal buttons and knowing when to press them will result in feeling more confident. Drawing a picture of yourself accomplishing your goal or finding a picture that best describes your goal that you will look at at least once per day can offer a great deal of personal confidence and self-belief through visualization.

Body Language

The fastest and simplest way to change the way you feel is to change the way you move. Your actions change your attitudes, your motions change your emotions and your movements change your moods. Being aware of our own personal body languages when we are feeling high levels of confidence and more importantly living out those actions in all aspects of life will result in you not only acting confident but feeling confident.  

Act as if what you do matters, because it does.

"Act as if it were impossible to fail." - Mohammed Ali