Mental Keys to Stable Confidence
One sure-fire way of killing confidence is to be excessively hard on yourself after a bad game.
Berating yourself or focusing on mistakes hurts your confidence greatly.
Imagine if you had a coach that verbally beat you down after an error, giving up a run or having a hit-less game. That verbal beat-down would cause you to question your ability to perform.
Harsh self-criticism hurts motivation and confidence in future games.
Instead of playing instinctively, harsh self-criticism creates mental interference that further contributes to poor play because now you avoid future mistakes. As this cycle goes on, confidence dwindles.
To maintain confidence, you don’t want to be that negative coach who crushes your confidence after one bad game. A bad game is not a sign that your skills are diminishing… It’s just a bad game.
A throwing error does not signify some inability to make accurate throws… It’s just an error.
If you give up three runs in an inning that does not mean you no longer have stuff to get hitters out. It was just a bad inning.
Even a string of bad games is not evidence indicating an inability to play baseball at a high level. It’s just a rough patch.
After a bad game, instead of a dose of harsh self-criticism, give yourself a break.
It’s normal to be upset. It’s normal for negative thoughts to pop up. But, at some point, you need to objectively evaluate your performance, both the good and the bad.
The better option is to have a growth perspective. Learn from the game and move on. This may sound simplistic but it is essential to maintain confidence.
Harsh self-criticism provides no direction for how to improve in the future.
Case in point… Being unduly harsh has been partly the cause for the slow start to Byron Buxton’s career.
Buxton was drafted No. 2 overall out of high school by the Minnesota Twins in 2012. Buxton made his Major League debut in 2015 playing 46 games with a .209 batting average. Buxton hit .225 the following year and .253 in 2017. Buxton had his most difficult year in 2018 playing in 28 games for the Twins and hitting only .156.
Some had questioned if Buxton was a bust. Buxton knew he needed a different mindset. In 2019, Buxton is off to his best season in the Majors and he attributes his improved play to not engaging in harsh self-criticism when he doesn’t produce on the field.
BUXTON: “Just being myself. That’s what we harp on and what we preach on. Just be yourself, don’t try to overdo it, and just let everything happen.”
Instead of being obsessed with stats which contributed to harsh self-criticism, Buxton has learned to just focus on his approach instead of his numbers.
BUXTON: “It’s a work in progress. I don’t really pay attention to too many stats. I just try to go out and try to have quality at-bats and everything else will take care of itself.”
To maintain a high level of confidence, you need to move on after a bad game and not replay those moments in your mind.
Instead of dwelling on the negative, learn from your mistakes and move onward. With this type of mindset, you can improve your game and maintain the high level of confidence needed to succeed.
Be Your Own Best Coach After Games:
To maintain confidence, implement the “Rule of 3’s” strategy after each game:
- Find 3 positives from your performance in a game.
- Identify 3 aspects of your game that you need to improve.
- Determine 3 practice goals that will lead to improvement.
Developing a more positive post-game routine can help you maintain confidence. Being your “own best coach” will help you stabilize confidence and lead to more efficient objective-driven practices.
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Instilling Confidence in Baseball And Softball Players
Confidence, more than any other mental game attribute, is vital for your team’s success. If your players have it and know how to keep it, they maximize their success. Your team cannot reach their full potential unless each player can harness the power of stable and enduring self-confidence–so your team can perform as a confident team.
Your players might possess a ton of physical talent, have great coaching, and train harder or practice more than anyone else in your league, but if they do not have the self-confidence to match, your team can’t utilize this talent.
“Instilling Confidence in Baseball and Softball Players” program consists of one 72-minute audio CD that includes 7 days of confidence-fueling exercises. You’ll also receive a simple-to-follow 74-page coaches’ manual that guides you through the 7 team session you’ll conduct!