Confidence in Sports 

If there's one thing I hear most often in requests from athletes, it's wanting more confidence. Tommy Lasorda, Hall of Fame coach of the LA Dodgers said that confidence is the absolute "key to performance."

Every hear of Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith, St. Louis Cardinals All-star shortstop? At the height of his career, he came to see a hypnotist friend of mine... for confidence.

Confidence generally comes from having past successful performances. That comes about through competitive drive and persistence. You CAN create confidence from scratch and you CAN increase what you have very easily.

When I was in High School, I was the smallest boy in the entire school for 2 years. At 16, I was 5' tall, barely able to see over the dashboard while I drove and hadn't gone through puberty. I was seriously lacking in confidence. In order to survive, I used my mind and helped some bigger kids with their homework and understanding the subjects in class.  They were my bodyguards but that didn't stop comments like: "How's the weather down there?"

Kids are so mean to each other and I regularly soaked up such negativity about my stature. This imprinting which started way before high school, carried over into adulthood. Here I am managing a $30 million operation with 40 employees lives in my hands and I still felt like that little kid who got picked on.

This lack of true confidence hurt my managing skills and personal life for many years until I discovered how to erase it from my mind and body.

Confidence in sports obviously happens right after a big win. It's always easier to do something that you've done before.  But what do you do when you've never actually won anything before?

You teach your unconscious (subconscious) mind how to be it using it's communication modes to bypass the blockages.  First you must remove the blockages and then formulate a rationale that is acceptable to the unconscious mind.

One thing I hear often from athletes who want confidence in sport is that the athlete is a humble, gentle person and they are afraid that they might somehow lose that if they become agressive or too confident.  

That could be called "arrogant" and there is no reason unstoppable confidence can't go with being a good person...so let go of that fear.

I am always working on increasing my confidence and so should you...

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How you live is how you play