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What are the best ways to build confidence?

To build confidence, create a log of your workouts and write down one to three positives from each session. Visualize success using all five senses and make it as real as possible. Take something that you feel is a weakness and focus on it until it becomes a strength. Lastly, do brainspotting to strengthen neural networks around confidence.
 
Transcript: "This question in how to build confidence is a great one, and I get asked it by almost every athlete I work with. So I have a few things I recommend you can do to build your confidence. The first one is to create a log. Write down all your workouts, and after each workout, write down one to three positive things from the workout-- things that you did well, things that you succeeded at. And even if you had a bad practice, go ahead and try to find some things you can do well, whether it's staying positive mentally or working on the details. The second thing you can do is to visualize your success and make it as vivid and real as possible. Use all five of your senses and include the aftermath-- the hugs, the high fives, the congratulations you get from teammates and friends. The more you see yourself succeeding, the more real it will feel, because the brain can't tell the difference between a vividly imagined scene and something that actually happened. So the more you see yourself succeeding, the more you'll believe it. Third, take something that you feel is a weakness and really focus on it. Take extra time before or after practice. Get your coach's help and work on it until it becomes a strength. This is a great way to build confidence. So find one or two small weaknesses and work on them throughout the season so that by the time you get to your big competition, it's a strength. The last thing I would recommend is brainspotting. Brainspotting is something I talk about in other videos. But brainspotting works on the neural networks in the brain, and it strengthens those around confidence. It can also connect to different areas of confidence together to build a stronger sense of confidence. So those are my recommendations for building confidence. I hope you found that helpful."
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Expert

Susannah Muller, MA

Sports Psychologist, Certified in Brainspotting
This question in how to build confidence is a great one, and I get asked it by almost every athlete I work with. So I have a few things I recommend you can do to build your confidence. The first one is to create a log. Write down all your workouts, and after each workout, write down one to three positive things from the workout-- things that you did well, things that you succeeded at. And even if you had a bad practice, go ahead and try to find some things you can do well, whether it's staying positive mentally or working on the details. The second thing you can do is to visualize your success and make it as vivid and real as possible. Use all five of your senses and include the aftermath-- the hugs, the high fives, the congratulations you get from teammates and friends. The more you see yourself succeeding, the more real it will feel, because the brain can't tell the difference between a vividly imagined scene and something that actually happened. So the more you see yourself succeeding, the more you'll believe it. Third, take something that you feel is a weakness and really focus on it. Take extra time before or after practice. Get your coach's help and work on it until it becomes a strength. This is a great way to build confidence. So find one or two small weaknesses and work on them throughout the season so that by the time you get to your big competition, it's a strength. The last thing I would recommend is brainspotting. Brainspotting is something I talk about in other videos. But brainspotting works on the neural networks in the brain, and it strengthens those around confidence. It can also connect to different areas of confidence together to build a stronger sense of confidence. So those are my recommendations for building confidence. I hope you found that helpful.