“Confidence comes from being prepared” John Wooden
Self-doubts cause you to play from a position of fear.
It generates a tremendous amount of anxiety, lowers your self-confidence, erodes your motivation, and ruins your performance the more it lingers around.
You might be playing in a game, or entering a significant competition or returning from a long break and self-doubt creeps in.
Almost all athletes have serious moments of self-doubt at some point in their career. The goal is not to let it linger around.
Recognize When Self-doubt is Affecting Confidence
Self-awareness is a needed to counter self-doubt. During the competition, you may notice how talented your opposition is. Your anxiety steadily increases throughout the match. You can’t find your rhythm. You feel sluggish as if you are playing the game in the mud. As your opponent rack up points, and your confidence bottom out. Instead of fighting, you give up before the end of the game.
When you are playing in a game and find yourself in a similar stressful situation, trust your skills and your abilities. When you are prepared, you can relax and play better. There is no need to doubt your abilities. You are ready! Self-doubt makes you nervous and stops you from believing in yourself. It affects your mind which in turn affects your performance.
Develop Your Confidence Boosting Slogan
Life regularly presents you with difficulties and challenges.
Self-confidence isn’t developed by escaping these difficulties, but instead, it’s nurtured and strengthened by the way you respond to these circumstances and how you view yourself in spite of the challenges.
Affirmations are positive and uplifting statements that you say to yourself. These usually are more effective if repeated on a regular base on and off the court.
In a world of constant judgment, self-doubt can creep in quickly. Tapping into these tips will help you overcome that doubt and be confident in the decisions you are making.
You have to believe you can perform better to perform better. To believe you can perform better, you have to draw your motivation from the right source. That is “your right source.” It means focusing on your inner voice that will get you the results and motivates you to achieve your goal.
Getting out from under self-doubt depends on finding the right slogan and using it at the right time to get the action you need to succeed.
When you do that, you become unstoppable.
*Download the free mental game assessment and get started on Improving your Mental Game in Basketball.