This is a big topic in sports psychology: confidence. Since this is a big topic, I have no idea where this discussion might lead, but here are a few questions to start.
- What kind of “confidence” is your “confidence”? What does “confidence” mean to you? How do you know that you have it or don’t have it?
- Which comes first, confidence or results?
- How do you try to cultivate your own confidence? What has worked and, maybe more importantly, what has not worked?
- How do you try to cultivate confidence in others?
- What do you think people do in the name of building confidence that is a bad idea?
- What do you think people fail to do that would help them build confidence?
…and what else about this topic interests you?
I have noticed in the last few months that my sense of my own confidence has shifted. Results haven’t followed yet, but I’m gradually making peace with that. The results will come or they won’t. It’s fine.
I can’t really put my finger on why I abruptly started feeling more confidence related to bowling, but I can speculate about a few ingredients.
- I feel more accepted in the bowling community more generally, so I spend less energy trying to prove myself, so I don’t reinforce as often the notion that I’m missing something or not good enough.
- I have adopted a clearer notion of confidence, which has made it easier for me to recognize when I feel it and when I don’t. The whole concept of confidence has become less nebulous for me, so I waste less energy wondering if I even know what it means, let alone feel it.
- I have had some gradual improvement in the past several months, which has led to a superficial increase in confidence: a greater belief that what I do affects the outcome. I can see cause and effect.
- I have understood better the relationship between what I do and how that affects the outcome, which means that I have more confidence in my feelings of confidence.
It feels less magic when I feel confident, and therefore I can believe in my confidence more when I feel it.
That’s just what immediately comes to mind. You?
Confidence builds from preparation. Its most destructive force is being wrapped up in measuring more by results than personal growth and from waiting for it to happen.
So much to say about preparation but for another day. For example. Comparison can be a motivator but it also provides a slippery slide into frustration. Comparison that is than moved to objective things to improve with some “how to’s” is a good place to be