“Being afraid on the court means you’re not confident in your skills.” – Michael Jordan,
Learning to improve your self-confidence can help you to meet your goals and to find the success that you want in your basketball mental game.
Having confidence helps you to take on challenges, to focus on your goals, and to take risks.
Without strong self-esteem, you are more likely to take a passive approach to your life, to make excuses for not going after your goals, and to become apathetic about your future.
There are many ways to improve your self-confidence, some of which are explored on this article.
Exercise, while known for its benefits for health and longevity, is another tool that can be used to help promote basketball confidence.
Exercise can help you Improve Your Self-Confidence in a number of ways:
It Makes You Feel Better – When you feel better physically, you feel better mentally. You are better able to take on challenges. You feel more interested in exploring new opportunities in a basketball game. You have the energy to overcome obstacles.
It Makes You Look Better – When we aren’t happy with the way we look, we develop body image issues and low self-esteem. Therefore, when we aren’t happy with the way we look, we often aren’t happy with the people we are. Negative self-talk can become overwhelming, permeating our thoughts and influencing our actions.
It Makes You Stronger – Physical strength can also improve your basketball mental toughness. When you see what your body is capable of achieving, your self-confidence soars. Exercise shows you what is possible when you put effort into meeting your goals. Every day that you work out, your body grows stronger, giving you nearly immediate results for your hard work. When you are able to lift heavier weights, and achieve harder exercises without as much effort, you start get a feeling like you can do anything!
It Gives You a Sense of Accomplishment – Exercise promotes a sense of accomplishment by helping you to meet small, successive goals. There is always opportunity to set your sights higher and to meet new goals. Each time you succeed, you get a sense of accomplishment and improve your self-confidence.
It Reduces Stress – Exercise releases feel-good chemicals in the brain like dopamine and endorphins, and it helps to regulate stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. Regular exercise helps you to relieve stress and anxiety, helping you to relax and to focus better.
When you feel less stress, you feel better able to manage the challenges that you face on a court. You feel calm and able to concentrate on the tasks that you need to accomplish. All of this helps you to feel more confident — knowing that you are not overwhelmed by stress and anxiety and are fully in charge of your own feelings and actions, guiding your own success.
Are you ready to take your game to the next level? It’s never too late to start improving your basketball mental game and confidence.
*Download the free mental game assessment and get started on Improving your Mental Game in Basketball
