“You need to play with supreme confidence, or else you’ll lose again, and then losing becomes a habit.” Joe Paterno

All athletes face self-doubt at some point in their career.

It’s part of human nature that doubt will creep in from time to time for even the most confident players. In football, mistakes can happen due to self-doubt which merely, in other words, is the lack of self-confidence.

What is self-doubt?

One way to think about doubt is as a haziness in the path ahead of you. Self-doubt occurs when you lack confidence or feeling incapable of doing things you need and want to do.

Doubts both large and small have the potential to torpedo peak performance and success.

Below are some useful tips that can be helpful in tackling self-doubt.

Take Action Against Self-Doubt

Usually, players who are bothered by self-doubt lose their football confidence, focus, and intrinsic motivation, resulting in unsatisfactory performance. As a result, they indulge in self-pity and blame. This will cause your football mental toughness deteriorates further.

The important thing is to know the root cause of your self-doubt and take action by increasing self-awareness.

Review Your Self-Awareness Action Plan

Tune into your feelings and emotions on a daily basis.

Ask yourself ‘’Where am I? How am I doing? How am I feeling?

Pay attention to the negative feelings and emotions like defensiveness and insecurity.

Trace any hurt to its source.

Identify your emotional needs.

Hold onto Something Familiar

Another method to find clarity in the haze is to seek out an element of familiarity to help push aside the doubt.

Using something familiar that you have done in the past is helpful in tackling self-doubt and dealing with fear. As you experience doubt heading into a tough competition, look for something familiar (like slogans, positive self-talk) to help stabilize your football confidence and squelch the uncertainty that exists.

Believing in yourself starts with positive self-talk. What do you say to yourself during the day? You have control over your self-talk, and you have the power to remain positive. It all starts with you.

If you say I can’t do this, then you won’t. It’s important to believe in yourself and talk positively about yourself.

Negative thoughts and doubts will inevitably inhabit the football minds of even the mentally toughest of athletes.

If your goal is to block out all such thoughts completely, you will end up feeling frustrated and inadequate.

Football mental training may alter the athlete’s relationship to those thoughts, helping him or her to control them; through awareness, acceptance, and self-compassion, rather than the other way around.

If you are committed to bringing your best performance as an athlete, doubt is likely to creep in along the way. When it does, try some of the tips above to erase the doubt and get back on the path to success.

*Download the free mental game assessment and get started on Improving your Mental Game in Football.