Baseball can be a funny thing. The guys at the top levels are the best at what they do. How many boys grew up wanting to play in the Major Leagues and how many guys actually get to do it? So you would think that their confidence is bulletproof right? ...but it's not.
There is something else interesting that happens when you are pretty good at what you do. The world likes to tell you about it. They want autographs, they want to tell you about how great your are. Weirdly enough the world doesn't actually know you though.
Somewhere along the line I started to realize that some of the performers I worked around that were considered "more confident" were not actually performing better. Yet some guys with "lower confidence" were doing consistently well. But why? Isn't confidence important for performance. Isn't that what I had learned? Isn't confidence important to coaches to trust an athlete?
What if not all confidence is created equal?
What if there is junk food confidence and healthy confidence? Bear with me...
Junk Food Confidence = Easy to find, Quick to eat. Sugary and appealing especially when things are not going well. You don't have to spend time working on it or preparing it....but it burns really fast and doesn't have much nutritional value.
Healthy Confidence = Takes a while to prepare. You have to be thoughtful about how you prepare it. It doesn't always taste great going down but you know it’s good for you...and it stays with you over a long time and helps you get through long days.
Real life:
Junk Food Confidence = TWITTER (these people don't know you, their approval or disapproval is pure sugar). Someone telling you that you were born to do this. The drill you are already good at that you do to feel good about yourself. The person that always tells you that you are amazing even when you are not. Staying away from challenges. The problem = When you do get challenged this confidence burns quick and leaves you fast.
Healthy Confidence = The challenging drill, The coach that pushes you. The workout you are not sure you can complete. The feedback that's hard to hear but real. Choosing to put challenging things into your training and warm up. Finding confidence through being challenged. Discipline in your routines, eating and training. THIS confidence sticks with you when things get rough because part of your confidence is built on overcoming obstacles and challenges.
So is it possible you could perform better with less confidence but the healthy kind? When was your last meal of healthy confidence? Is your support system feeding you healthy food or junk food? What's your training culture? How stable is your diet and your confidence?