 1. Write down your top 5 strengths
This gives you instant confidence boost and reminds you of what you are great at. If you focus on your strengths, you will play more free and your body will feel more loose and natural. 2. Write down 3 reasons you deserve to make the team This will remind you of all of the hard work you have put in and how far you have come in the past year. This too will give you a boost of confidence heading into tryouts. 3. Visualize yourself performing well on tryout day When you visualize your tryout going the way you want, you begin to think with optimism and confidence. The more you visualize, the stronger your mind will be on tryout day. 4. Breathe! Fear is excitement without the breath. When you breathe, it is the first step to turning your fear (or nervousness) into excitement and clarity. Try to breathe in and out through your belly (not your chest) and it will help your body relax even more. 5. Stay focused on the task at hand, not on your surroundings It’s easy to get caught up in your surroundings (the coaches watching and evaluating you, the feeling of “all eyes on me” being out there all alone performing in front of everyone). If you can focus instead on executing the one simple task at hand, it will help you avoid noticing the tryout environment. Whether one coach or five or more coaches are watching you, you still have to perform all of the small tasks at hand. Keep your focus simple to keep your mind clear. If want to learn other useful tools to apply to your life on a daily basis to enhance your awareness, confidence and commitment, contact Brett Manning today to set up a local or remote mental training session. “Greatness is not given…It is earned through a purposefully executed daily grind.”
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 Everywhere you look today, professional and college athletes are a spotlight in the media. Sometimes you will see them portrayed in a positive light, sometimes in a negative light. One athlete that comes to mind who stayed in the positive light throughout his career was Derek Jeter. As Jeter notes in his book The Life You Imagine, one of his keys to success was having what he calls 'inner arrogance'. Inner arrogance is being very cocky and confident on the inside (in your own thinking) but remaining humble to the outside world (how you interact with people and talk about yourself). Here is what Derek has to say in The Life You Imagine: Life Lessons For Achieving Your Dreams by Derek Jeter and Jack Curry : You have to feel like you’re the best player on the field, the player that thousands of people will stare at all game. They’ll watch how you wiggle the bat high above your shoulders at the plate, how you position yourself with two strikes on a batter, how you’re the first teammate to greet a player after a homer. Whenever someone tells my father how humble I seem, he’ll chuckle and reveal a secret. He will tell them that I have more inner arrogance than anyone he has ever met. I believe I’m going to get a hit every time up and I’ll let that arrogance drip through in my performance, not in what I say. I believe you have to feel that way, but you don’t have to flaunt your abilities. There’s a difference between having a swagger and being so full of yourself that you’re annoying to be around because every word out of your mouth is about how great you are. How much Inner Arrogance do you have? Are you cocky enough on the inside? Are you over-cocky to the outside world? You decide…
If you are looking for new, creative ways to develop your confidence, contact Brett Manning today to set up a coaching session. “Greatness is not given…It is earned through a purposefully executed daily grind.” |
AUTHORBrett Manning is an Awareness Coach who works with Athletes, Business Professionals and Performing Artists. ARCHIVES
February 2016
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