E53: Confidence Series - Players - How to Build Confidence After a Bad Practice

The Focus four for How to build Confidence after a bad practice or competition are:

Hit the RESET Button

Be BETTER THAN YESTERDAY

SET REALISTIC GOALS

FOCUS ON WHAT YOU CAN CONTROL

Transcript

Laura Ratto: Coach asked me what I wanted to work on today. I really like the offseason small group settings where I can focus on a specific skill. I chose defense. I've been having a hard time fielding the ball. The whole practice it's like the ball had eyes over my glove, through my legs, around my glove. Bad hops. I don't think I fielded a ball cleanly the whole practice. If this happens when that's all I'm focusing on, what's going to happen in an actual game? I don't know what to do. Have you experienced this? There are several things that can affect an athlete's confidence. See episode five, and a bad practice is one of them. Last week, we discussed how coaches can build confidence in their athletes. Episode 52. Today we're going to shift back to the perspective of the athlete and talk about some things an athlete should avoid after a bad practice or competition, and what to do instead to improve confidence and performance moving forward. Number one, don't focus on the negative. Do hit the reset button. After a bad performance, there is the tendency to focus on every bad thing that happened during that sequence of events. Don't let one bad performance define you or your entire athletic ability. Instead, reframe your mindset to focus on the positive. One way to do this is to practice positive self talk. See episode three. When we tell ourselves not to do something, the negative doesn't get processed. Instead, we only hear the action. For example, don't miss this next ball. The focus of that thought is on missing the ball and not on what we should be doing. Rephrasing to a positive comment such as I'm going to move my feet and get behind the next ball so I can field it cleanly is one strategy to help hit the reset button. Another strategy is to focus on your strengths and what you did right, as opposed to the errors, which leads us into number two. Don't dwell on the past. Do be better than yesterday. Another common mistake after a bad performance is to dwell on the outcome of previous efforts. While it is important to look at past performance and evaluate what went wrong and what to do better, dwelling on the negative without evaluation is counterproductive. One way to evaluate previous performance effectively is to talk to the coach and get feedback regarding things to change and advice as to what specific components and techniques of the skill need improvement. Another tool you can use is to track progress, both positive and negative, in your notebook and include an evaluation of the practice. What did you do that was good? And what do you need to improve on? As we discussed in the last episode, tracking these changes across time is important for future success. Number three, don't give up. Do set realistic goals. Bad performances can also make us want to give up. Instead, continue to practice regularly and focus on improving the skills and techniques from the feedback that you got from your coach or your own evaluation to limit the feeling of wanting to quit. It is also important to set realistic goals. Realistic goals are challenging yet achievable, and they can help you build confidence. These realistic goals should be broken down into small, short term goals that you can focus on achieving one at a time and track over time. See episode 30 and 31 for more information on setting achievable goals and evaluating goals. Number four don't feel helpless and overwhelmed. Do focus on what you can control. When we focus on what we did wrong and the mistakes that we made, it can leave us feeling helpless and overwhelmed. Instead, focus on what you can control, which are your own actions. See episode four. You cannot control the past. You cannot change how you practiced previously. What you can do is learn from that performance and focus on the changes that you need to make moving forward to be successful. To review the focus, four for how to build confidence after a bad practice or competition are number one hit the reset button. Number two be better than yesterday. Number three set realistic goals. Number four focus on what you can control. Now that you have the how to Build Self Confidence After Bad Practice or competition snippet think about the last time you were in this situation. How did you handle it? Using what you heard today? What would you have done differently? What are you going to do differently next time? Remember, your success will be determined by your own confidence and fortitude -Michelle Obama. For more information on what we discussed today, contact me@rattoconsulting.com. If you or your coaches or organization are interested in hosting a workshop or virtual seminar on this or any other sports psychology or performance optimizing topic, please email me at laura@rattoconsulting.com. That's Laura at R-A-T-T-O-C-O-N-S-U-L-T-I-N-G.com. Have a great weekend. And for more sport and performance psychology topics, be sure to follow the Sports Mastermind where you get your podcast, and I'll see you back here next week.