How Confident Athletes Set Themselves Apart: Part II

In Part I, we discussed three things confident athletes do to set themselves apart. In Part II, we’ll look at three more of their behaviors.

Three More Behaviors of Confident Athletes

Confident athletes focus on the process. If you focus on the process, the rest will take care of itself. Too often athletes focus on the outcome, like winning the tournament or the gold medal. That’s all fine and good to want to achieve these outcomes, but confident athletes know they must let go of expectations and focus on the process. The process allows you to stay in the moment and attend to all the important cues necessary for successful execution. Confident athletes know their best performances are when they are focused on the moment. It starts with paying attention to what is in front of you, being where your feet are, and responding to the demands of the moment. Process, process, process!
Confident athletes control the controllables. Everyone has a finite amount of mental energy. You must decide how best to use and direct that energy. Focusing on things beyond your control (e.g., the weather, your competitors, the judges, the referee, and what other people will say) wastes precious energy. There is nothing you can do about any of those situations. But you can control your preparation, attitude, effort, confidence, and focus. Direct your energy toward things you can control. Dominate the controllables.
Confident athletes have patience. Impatience may rear its ugly head when you are not playing or performing up to your expectations, when skills are taking too long to develop, or when you don’t reach the outcome you desire. Peyton Manning took almost a decade to make it to the Super Bowl. In his rookie season, his team went 3-13, but that didn’t deter him; he stayed in the fight. Confident athletes commit to the long-haul, knowing if they stick with it and push forward they will find ways to work through the adversity. Patience is a valued virtue for confident athletes.

In our third and final part of this series, we’ll talk about a few more ways confident athletes rise above the pack.