During the 1992 NBA Finals, Michael Jordan hit seven threes in a row against the Portland Trail Blazers, scoring 35 points in the first half alone. By his seventh shot, he could only shrug, a performance so far above expectations that even Jordan seemed stunned by it (Bell, n.d.). Sport psychologists call this a flow state. Most athletes just call it being in the zone.

In 2015, 18-year-old Katie Ledecky broke her own world record in the 1500-meter freestyle at the World Championships in Russia. Afterward, she casually described the race: “To be honest, it felt pretty easy. I was so relaxed” (Duckworth, 2016). That’s what flow state looks like. As Duckworth (2016) put it, “Flow is performing at high levels of challenge and yet feeling ‘effortless,’ like ‘you don’t have to think about it, you’re just doing it.'”

Bill Russell, who won eleven NBA championships with the Celtics, described that same feeling in his memoir: “Almost as if we were playing in slow motion. During those spells I could almost sense how the next play would develop and where the next shot would be taken.”

Csíkszentmihályi (1990) first described the flow state as one where the internal chatter goes quiet, movement feels effortless, and time seems to bend. It’s the experience of losing yourself completely in what you’re doing.

“Flow is being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one…” Csíkszentmihályi, 1996

One of the biggest misconceptions about flow is that it’s random, a stroke of luck that either shows up or doesn’t. In reality, flow has conditions. You can build the circumstances that make it more likely to happen, even if you can’t force it directly.

It’s also easy to read stories about Jordan, Ledecky, and Russell and conclude that a flow state only happens to Olympians or superstars. That’s not true. You don’t need to be an expert in your craft to experience flow. Csíkszentmihályi (1990) found the experience is universal across ages and experience levels. It shows up in sport, music, gaming and gardening.

Understanding the science behind flow, and what makes it more likely, gives you something to train for, not just hope for.

The Nine Characteristics of a Flow State

Flow researchers break the experience down into nine core characteristics: three that set up the conditions for flow, and six that describe what it feels like once you’re in it (van der Linden, Tops, & Bakker, 2021; Jackson & Csíkszentmihályi, 1999). You don’t need all nine present at once to be in flow, but the more that show up together, the deeper the state tends to feel.

What sets up the conditions:

1. A balance between challenge and skill. You’ve evenly matched.
2. Clear goals. You know exactly what you’re aiming for.
3. Immediate feedback. You instantly know whether what you just did worked.

What flow feels like:

4. Total concentration on the task. You are entirely focused on the moment.
5. Actions and awareness merge. You stop judging your performance and just play.
6. A feeling of control. Not control over the outcome, which you can never fully control, but a sense of control over your own ability and performance.
7. Loss of self-conscious rumination. Your self-doubt dissolves away.
8. A transformation of time. Time either speeds up or slows way down, the way Bill Russell described above.
9. The experience is intrinsically rewarding. You’re doing it because it feels good to do, not for the outcome attached to it. In otherwords, it feels good and you enjoy it.

The Flow Channel

Sport psychologists often picture flow as a channel running between two extremes, based on the relationship between the challenge in front of you and your skill level to meet it.

Anxiety. When the challenge outweighs your skill, you tighten up. Your thoughts race ahead to the outcome, your body stays tense, and you play defensively and tentatively instead of aggressively.

Boredom. When your skill outweighs the challenge, your attention drifts. Without enough to engage you, your mind wanders off the task in front of you. You lose focus and motivation wanes.

Flow. When challenge and skill are in balance, something shifts. Action and awareness merge. You stop thinking about what you’re doing and simply do it (Jackson & Csikszentmihalyi, 1999).

It is not a realistic goal to eliminate anxiety or boredom from competition entirely. The goal is to increase awareness of which side of the channel you’re on and adjust: raise the challenge when you’re bored, or narrow your focus when you’re anxious.

What Makes an Environment That Supports a Flow State

Flow doesn’t happen in a vacuum. There are specific conditions make it far more likely occur (Jackson & Csikszentmihalyi, 1999):

Clear and specific goals. Vague goals like “play well” give your mind nothing concrete to lock onto. Flow depends on knowing exactly what you’re trying to do in this specific moment, this next play, this race. Specificity matters.

Immediate feedback. You need to know, in real time, whether what you’re doing is working. That might be as simple as watching the ball land where you want it to, or being mindful of your split times as you race.

A challenge that matches your skill. Not too hard, not too easy. You need to be pushed, but not beyond your capabilities. This is the same balance that defines the flow channel above.

A sense of control. Athletes drop into a flow state more easily when they trust their preparation and feel in control of their performance.

Feeling safe. Athletes who are worried about being watched, judged, or criticized, whether by a coach, a crowd, or their teammates, have a much harder time letting go enough to find flow. You need to believe that you belong.

Coaches and teams should strive to build team environments that support all five of these conditions.

Obstacles to Acheiving a Flow State

Just as certain conditions invite flow, there are also predictable patterns that block it.

Overthinking. The moment you start judging your own performance in your head, overanalyzing your form, or beating yourself up over the last mistake, you pull yourself out of the moment.

Outcome focus. Thinking about whether you’ll win or lose, will look shifts your attention away from the task directly in front of you and onto something you can’t control in the moment.

Fear of judgment. Worrying about how you’re perceived by your coaches and teammates, whether you look confident enough, aggressive enough, or “team oriented” enough, pulls attention inward in exactly the way flow requires you to let go of.

External distraction. Ruminating on your personal statistics, your playing time, sideline noise, and past conversations all compete for the same attention that flow depends on. They are all threats to your attention.

Physical or mental fatigue. It’s hard to lose yourself in a task when your body is depleted or your mind is already exhausted from poor nutrition, a stressful week, or poor sleep.

Recognizing which of these tends to show up for you the most is often the first step toward managing it.

How to Train for Flow

You can’t force flow into existence on command, but you can build the habits that invite it.

1. Set SMART goals you can actually track and obtain. Pick one or two specific, observable targets for a specific competition or performance.
2. Build a short, consistent routine before you compete. A pre game ritual signals to your brain that it’s time to narrow focus and readiness your body for peak performance.
3. Quiet your inner critic during competition. Practice negative thought replacement strategies or mindful awareness in the moment to silence the negative self-talk.
4. Log your flow moments after the fact. So many athletes forget this step. Keep a quick note of games or practices where everything clicked: what led up to it, what you were or weren’t thinking about, what your routine looked like that day. Over time, this becomes a personalized map of the conditions that work for you. You can use this to customize your precompetition routine.

Flow, focus, and confidence are all intertwined with each other. Athletes who trust their preparation, who’ve done the work of building genuine confidence, have an easier time letting go of outcome and dropping into the task in front of them. You can’t think your way into flow and it’s not about luck. You can try to create or re-create the conditions to maximize your chances.

If you’re ready to build a mental training plan that helps you find your zone more consistently, reach out about mental coaching for athletes. I love helping athletes figure out how to reach their potentional and achieve their goals.

Further reading:

• Find Your Zone, Association for Applied Sport Psychology
• Finding Flow: The 9 Dimensions, Dr. Susan Jackson
• Go with the Flow: A Neuroscientific View on Being Fully Engaged, European Journal of Neuroscience
• Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, Angela Duckworth (affiliate link)

References

Bell, R. (n.d.). Find your zone. Association for Applied Sport Psychology. https://appliedsportpsych.org/resources/resources-for-athletes/find-your-zone/

Csíkszentmihályi, M. (1990). Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. Harper & Row.

Csíkszentmihályi, M. (1996). Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention. HarperCollins.

Duckworth, A. (2016). Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance. Scribner.

Jackson, S. A., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1999). Flow in Sports: The Keys to Optimal Experiences and Performances. Human Kinetics.

Russell, B., & Branch, T. (1979). Second Wind: The Memoirs of an Opinionated Man. Random House.

Van der Linden, D., Tops, M., & Bakker, A. B. (2021). Go with the flow: A neuroscientific view on being fully engaged. European Journal of Neuroscience. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7983950/

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Sport & performance psychology combines evidence-based mental health care with mental performance training for athletes and performers. It’s the field that sits at the intersection of how you think and how you compete. As a sports therapist and Certified Mental Performance Consultant in Denver, CO, I work with athletes on both sides of that intersection every week, and I want to give you a clear, direct answer to what this work actually involves.

This article will walk you through what sport and performance psychology is, who provides it, and what to expect during sessions. It will also cover who this kind of support helps and the misconceptions that keep people from reaching out.

What is Sport & Performance Psychology?

Sport and performance psychology has two main areas of focus, and most practitioners work in one or both. Mental performance skills are the tools that help you compete at your best. This includes imagery, confidence building, focus techniques, communication strategies, and competition routines.

Mental health support addresses the psychological challenges that show up in and around sport. This includes anxiety, depression, disordered eating, sports trauma, and identity concerns tied to your athletic career. Both matter. Your ability to execute under pressure and your overall mental well-being are deeply connected, which is exactly why this field exists.

Why Both Areas Matter

Both matter, and they’re more connected than most people realize. An athlete dealing with untreated performance anxiety often can’t fully access the mental skills training that would otherwise help them, because the anxiety itself is the barrier. Likewise, an athlete working through a mental health concern often benefits from performance-specific tools.

A grounding routine before competition, for example, can work alongside their clinical care rather than replacing it. This is why so many practitioners in this field are dually trained to move fluidly between both sides rather than treating them as separate lanes. You can read more about the role sport psychology plays in athletic performance and how the field of performance psychology is defined more broadly.

Who Actually Provides This Care?

If you’re searching for a sports psychologist in Denver, CO, this is where title accuracy matters, and it’s worth being direct about it. Anyone can call themselves a “mental coach,” but the actual scope of what someone is qualified to do depends entirely on their license and certification, not the title on their website.

• Licensed sports psychologists hold a doctorate in psychology and a psychology license, which allows them to diagnose and treat mental illness under that specific license.
• Sports therapists and licensed professional counselors are trained in clinical mental health counseling and can also address mental health symptoms, often alongside specialized sport-specific training.
• Certified Mental Performance Consultants (CMPCs), credentialed through the Association for Applied Sport Psychology, focus primarily on the performance side: mental skills training rather than diagnosis or clinical treatment.

Some practitioners hold more than one of these credentials at once, which adds to the confusion. It’s worth asking directly what someone is licensed and certified to do rather than assuming based on their job title alone. A quick question about credentials at the start of a consultation can save you from starting work with the wrong type of provider for what you need, whether that’s clinical treatment for a mental health concern or performance-specific skills training.

My Own Credentials

I hold an EdD in Sport Performance Psychology, I’m a Licensed Professional Counselor in the state of Colorado, and I’m an AASP Certified Mental Performance Consultant. That combination means I’m trained to support both the mental health and mental performance side of an athlete’s experience, without claiming the specific title of psychologist.

 Whether you’re searching for a sports psychologist, a sports therapist, or a mental performance consultant in Denver, CO, the important thing is finding a provider whose credentials actually match. That match should reflect the specific kind of support you need.

For a deeper look at how this field supports performance, Cune University has a solid overview of the role of sports psychology in athletic performance, and the American Psychological Association outlines the field further in its guide to performance psychology.

What Does This Work Actually Look Like?

A lot of athletes come in expecting something vague, like a Ted Lasso style motivational pep talk or a generic worksheet. That’s not what a sports psychologist in Denver, CO does. Sport and performance psychology is built around specific, teachable mental skills, the same way strength training or footwork drills require technical training and repetition. Instead of talking about your mindset in the abstract, you’re practicing tools you can use the next time you step onto the field, court, or track.

In practical terms, sessions teach specific, learnable skills. Here’s what mental performance consulting sessions look like:

• Imagery and visualization to mentally rehearse performance and prepare for competition
• Confidence and self-talk work to quiet the inner critic and build a supportive internal dialogue
• Team communication and dynamics to strengthen how athletes work with teammates and coaches
• Performance and competition anxiety management to turn nervous energy into focused execution
• Goal setting that goes beyond writing down outcomes and builds an actual roadmap

If you are seeking sports counseling, sessions will also directly address clinical mental health concerns that show up in athletic populations, including depression, anxiety, disordered eating, and sports trauma, which can look like reliving an injury or feeling scared to return to play. This is exactly why sport and performance psychology as a field includes clinically trained providers, not just performance coaches, a distinction Faulkner University breaks down well.

How Do Sessions Work?

Whether you’re working with a sports psychologist in Denver, CO or elsewhere, sessions can happen either in person at an office space, the training environment of the athlete or performer, or virtually. The format feels similar to talk therapy. It’s a confidential, conversational space, not a lecture. You’re not sitting through a presentation. You’re working through the mental barriers you experience in competition, with someone trained to help you build skills and process what’s underneath them. The specific approach is always personalized.

Depending on what you need, sessions might draw from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Internal Family Systems, psychodynamic approaches, or somatic techniques. There’s no single formula because no two athletes need the exact same thing. Team sessions work a little differently from individual sessions. Instead of focusing on one athlete’s internal experience, we focus on group communication, role clarity, conflict resolution and the dynamics between athletes and coaching staff.

How Sport & Performance Psychology Helps Athletes

The specific concerns that bring athletes to a sports psychologist in Denver, CO vary widely but they tend to fall into a handful of common categories. Here’s a direct look at how sessions help with each one.

Returning to Sport After Injury or Trauma

Injury recovery isn’t just physical. Imagery helps athletes mentally rehearse their return to play before they’re physically ready for it. Sessions also help process the traumatic experience of the injury itself, not just the rehab protocol, so athletes can prepare themselves mentally before stepping back onto the field or court.

Building Confidence and Self-Esteem

Real confidence gets built from preparation and process, not just from winning. Athletes who tie their confidence solely to results tend to feel great after a win and shaken after a loss, which makes performance unpredictable. Confidence work includes addressing self-doubt and negative self-talk, directly and replacing it with something instructional and grounding. Sessions help athletes build a more stable foundation, one rooted in effort, preparation, and evidence of their own growth over time.

Managing Performance Anxiety and Stress

Competition day anxiety is one of the most common reasons athletes reach out. Sessions teach specific tools to manage the physical and mental symptoms of stress, both in the moment and in the buildup to competition. This can include breathing techniques, grounding exercises, and pre-competition routines designed to create a sense of control before the pressure sets in. The goal isn’t to eliminate nerves entirely, since some activation can improve performance, but to keep anxiety from tipping into something that gets in the way.

Strengthening Team Dynamics

This includes athlete-to-athlete relationships and athlete-to-coach communication. Teams that communicate well and hold each other accountable tend to perform more consistently under pressure. Sessions can address specific conflicts within a roster, help clarify roles that have become a source of tension, or simply give a team the tools to communicate more directly instead of letting frustration build beneath the surface.

Working Through Perfectionism and Outside Expectations

Parental pressure and self-imposed expectations can quietly erode an athlete’s relationship with their sport. Sessions help athletes separate their own values from the expectations placed on them, so they can compete with more freedom. This often means learning to distinguish between healthy high standards and perfectionism that leaves no room for mistakes, since the two get confused easily and require different approaches.

Preventing and Recovering From Burnout

Mental fatigue is a legitimate, trainable concern. It’s not a personal failing, and it’s not something you just push through. Sessions help athletes build sustainable habits and build a balanced athletic identity before burnout takes hold or recover from it if it already has, including finding balance outside of sport and reconnecting with the parts of competing that felt enjoyable before the pressure took over.

Navigating Retirement and Athletic Identity

For many athletes, sport becomes central to their identity. When that ends, whether by choice or circumstance, it can trigger a real identity crisis and stages of grief. Sessions help athletes process that transition and learn how to translate the skills they built in sport, like discipline, focus, and resilience, into their next chapter. American Public University covers more on this in its piece on how sports psychologists help athletes.

Work With a Sports Therapist in Denver, CO

You don’t have to navigate performance anxiety, burnout, or a difficult return from injury on your own. Sports counseling and mental performance consulting can help you build the mental skills to compete with confidence, process what’s been weighing on you, and reconnect with why you love your sport in the first place. Whether you’re facing a specific challenge or simply want to strengthen a mental game that already feels solid, support is available at every level. As a sports therapist and Certified Mental Performance Consultant in Denver, CO, I’m here to help, whether you’re just starting to notice a pattern or have been carrying this for a while.

To start building your mental game, follow these simple steps:

1. Schedule your complimentary 15-minute consultation to talk through what you’re navigating.
2. Meet with me to begin building a personalized plan, whether that’s individual sports counseling, mental coaching for athletes, or team mental performance workshops.
3. Start training your mind the same way you train your body, with tools that help you compete with confidence and stay connected to your sport long term.

You don’t have to figure this out alone. Reach out to Headstrong Mindset today to take the first step toward a stronger mental game.

Other Services at Headstrong Mindset

Sports counseling and mental performance consulting aren’t the only support we offer at my Denver, CO practice. I understand that athletes, coaches, and performers often navigate more than one concern at a time, and I’m here to help with those as well. Other services offered at Headstrong Mindset include mental coaching for athletes, mental coaching for teams, and individual counseling and therapy.

I also provide LGBTQ counseling in Colorado, offering an affirming, trauma-informed space for clients exploring identity alongside their athletic or personal life.

About the Founder

Dr. Brooke Rundle is the founder of Headstrong Mindset, offering sports counseling and mental performance consulting in Denver, CO. A former NCAA Division I All-American and professional volleyball player, she holds an EdD in Sport Performance Psychology, is a Licensed Professional Counselor in Colorado, and is an AASP Certified Mental Performance Consultant. She works with USA Volleyball’s National Team Development Program and NCAA teams across a range of sports, bringing both her clinical training and her own competitive experience into every session. Dr. Rundle lives in Denver with her wife Hannah and their dog, Stevie Budd, and spends her downtime skiing the Rockies, playing guitar, and catching live music at Red Rocks.

References

American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Performance psychology. https://www.apa.org/education-career/guide/subfields/performance

American Public University. (n.d.). How do sports psychologists help athletes? https://www.amu.apus.edu/area-of-study/health-sciences/resources/how-do-sports-psychologists-help-athletes/

Concordia University Nebraska. (n.d.). The role of sports psychology in athletic performance. https://www.cune.edu/news/role-sports-psychology-athletic-performance

Faulkner University. (n.d.). What does a sports psychologist do? Understanding this exciting career field. https://www.faulkner.edu/news/what-does-a-sports-psychologist-do-understanding-this-exciting-career-field/

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What is self-talk?

Self-talk is dialogue that athletes have with themselves in their mind (Lodato, 2022). It is a form of intrapersonal communication that impacts athlete emotions, behavior, actions, and motivation (Lodato, 2022). Self-talk often surfaces within athletes in reaction to the outcome of a play, situation, or event in competition in which the athlete desires change for the future (Weinberg & Gould, 2019). Self-talk can enhance concentration, assist with breaking bad habits, sustain athlete motivation, and increase effort (Weinberg & Gould, 2019). As an athlete, it is critical to develop awareness and control over self-talk in competition.

3 Types of Self-talk

Coaches and players often think self-talk as either positive or negative. However, there is actually a third category that often gets missed. Self-talk generally falls into the following three distinct categories: positive and motivational, instructional, and negative (Weinberg & Gould, 2019). Developing an awareness of these three categories is the first step to self-awareness which eventually leads to self-regulation during competition.

1. Positive or Motivational Self-Talk

Positive or motivational self-talk is general, optimistic and supportive. It maintains a positive attitude and is typically directed towards increasing one’s effort (Weinberg & Gould, 2019). Research suggests that positive and motivational self-talk is mostly effective for increasing motivation and psyching up athletes prior to competition (Hatzigeorgiadis et al, 2014).

Here’s a few examples: “I am doing the best I can“, “I’ve got the next one!” or “I am getting better.“

2. Instructional Self-talk

Instructional self-talk directs the athletes mind toward specific and strategic task-oriented aspects of performance (Weinberg & Gould, 2019). In other words, instructional self-talk provides either technical or tactical feedback on a specific skill. If you’re trying to think of an example of instructional self-talk for your specific sport or position, think back to things you’ve heard your coaches yell at you during practice.

In volleyball, hitters often use the cue word “reach” to remind themselves to extend their arm before contact or “snap” to give the ball top spin. Similarly, setters might tell themselves to have “high hands” as a reminder to refrain from dropping their elbows, or “quick release” to speed up the pace. Each of these examples serve as mental coaching cues to improve and execute the desired technique or skill. Instructional self-talk utilizing task-relevant cues is most effective when you are in the process of learning new skills or trying out a new technique.

Here’s a few examples instructional self-talk for volleyball: “high hands”, “reach and snap your wrist“, or “keep your eye on the ball“.

3. Negative Self-talk

Negative self-talk is notoriously self-critical, destructive, and ultimately counter-productive (Weinberg & Gould, 2019). You are most likely to experience negative-self talk after you make an unforced error. We often get stuck over thinking about the negative. Negative self-talk often cultivates anxiety, promotes self-doubt, and can erode confidence (Weinberg & Gould, 2019). Negative self-talk can also deteriorates team cohesion if you are playing a team sport. There are some circumstances in which negative self-talk can help by serving as a wake-up call, adding pressure, or creating tension. However if negative self-talk is used during competition, it should be intentional and productive (Lovato, 2022). Otherwise, negative self-talk is generally something you want to avoid and learn to maintain control over when you are competing.

A few examples of negative self-talk include: “How could you miss that ball?!”, “You don’t belong on this team” or “You’re such a __(fill in the blank)_____!”

Negative Self-Talk Interventions

There are numerous interventions and strategies to improve self-talk habits within athletes. Mikes (1987) outlined the following six guidelines to apply self-talk techniques in sport: (i) keep phrases short and specific, (ii) speak to yourself in the first person and present tense, (iii) construct positive phrases, not negative ones, (iv) state the phrases with intention and attention, (v) be kind to yourself when you speak, and lastly (vi) repeat your phrases often before, during and after competition (Weinberg & Gould, 2019).

As a mental performance coach, teaching negative self-talk interventions and helping athletes manage their internal dialogue is one of the most foundational mental skills that make up sport psychology.

Never forget that how you speak to yourself matters. Personally I love Brené Brown’s mantra, “Talk to yourself like you would to someone you love.” My guess is that most of you would never speak to your teammates or friends, the way you speak to yourself both on or off the court or field. I challenge you to commit to changing the content and tone of your inner voice and learn to speak to yourself with respect and encouragement. Positive self-talk is more than just a mantra, it’s an intentional way of being.

Download a FREE WORKSHEET to improve your internal self-talk by creating a negative thought replacement plan.

Schedule a free 15-minute consultation with Dr. Brooke Rundle to discuss how mindset coaching and mental performance consulting can help you stop negative self-talk in competition.

References

Lodato, Vincent A. (2022). Self-Talk [PowerPoint Slides]. Canvas@UWS. https://canvas.uws.edu/files/386291/download?download_frd=1&verifier=Ibw7RKJi4HCO29zgR3DnBBAg6h5O7XdP32sI9PHu

Weinberg, Robert S. & Gould, Daniel (2019). Foundations of Sport and Exercise Psychology (7^th ed.). Human Kinetics.

Wallace, P. J., McKinlay, B. J., Coletta, N. A., Vlaar, J. I., Taber, M. J., Wilson, P. M., & Cheung, S. S. (2017). Effects of motivational self-talk on endurance and cognitive performance in the heat. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 49(1), 191-199.  

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Superstitions

Superstitions are false beliefs that athletes hold which ultimately have no impact on the outcome (Lodato, 2022). Superstitions are typically created by athletes from happenstance, instilling a belief of “cause and effect” which ultimately has no bearing on the result. Examples of superstitions can include hearing a certain song on the radio prior to competition, wearing a particular color sock, or avoiding stepping on the lines of the court.

Rituals

Rituals are extremely rigid, lack flexibility, and as a result can be counter-productive to the athlete or team (Lodato, 2022). An athlete with strict rituals may find it difficult to play away matches in environments that do not offer their at-home comforts. An example of a ritual in volleyball is a team cheer in between service points regardless of the situation. The insistence on maintaining the cheer between every point may at times increase the players momentum (positive impact) or distract the athletes from strategic conversations about making changes on the court (negative impact).

Routines

Routines are a “sequence of task-relevant thoughts and actions an athlete systematically engages in prior to performance of a self-paced sport skill” such as serving in volleyball (Mesagno & Mullane-Grant, 2010). Routines are repeatable, consistent, comfortable, and purposeful and yet flexible as needed in the face of obstacles based upon the environment or situation (Lodato, 2022).

One of the most effective strategies that an athlete can learn to increase their confidence, improve concentration, and compete consistently is to develop and integrate routines into their preparation and training protocols (Vernacchia, McGuire, & Cook, 1996). Routines have been proven to help athletes achieve a state of performance readiness by increasing feelings of self-efficacy, or a sense of control, in pressure situations (Hazell, Cotterill, & Hill, 2014).

Pre-Performance Routines

Routines can be broken down into three distinct categories, pre-performance routines (PPRs), in-performance routines, and post-performance routines.  Pre-performance, also referred to as pre-competition routines, are actions taken prior to the start of competition to prepare the athlete for psychological readiness for competition. Pre-performance routines should prepare the athlete to expect and overcome adversity in competition, whether it be distributions to their warm-up, weather delays, hostile fans, or negative internal dialogue.

In-Performance Routines

In-performance routines are actions that an athlete does while competing either in-between plays or during timeouts. Athletes should ideally execute during-performance routines during short breaks in competition and before they perform specific skills such as a free-throw in basketball or a serve in tennis or volleyball. During competition athletes have severely limited time, therefore during-competition routines need to happen quickly and effectively. Recalling the athlete’s belief cue, or focus cue, is an example of during-competition routine.

Post-Performance Routines

Post-performance, or post-competition, routines take place after the competition has finished either in the locker-room, on the bus, or at home when the athlete has time to reflect alone. During a post-performance routine, the athlete should attempt to learn lessons from the recent competition (Orlick, 2016). Reflecting upon key plays, player matchups, decision making, connection with teammates, and the effectiveness of game strategies are examples of factors that athletes should consider focusing on during their post-performance routines.

Here’s a free downloadable worksheet to develop competition routines. For more information to distinguish the the difference between superstition, rituals and routines, and ideas on how to integrate routines to improve performance on the road, check out my article on using routines to prepare for competition on the road. Developing systematic competition routines is a primary focus of mental coaching for athletes.

References

Xygalatas, Dimitris (2022, September 14) The Real Magic of Rituals. https://nautil.us/the-real-magic-of-rituals-238960/

Lodato, Vincent A. (2022). Being Prepared: Routines for Readiness [PowerPoint Slides]. Canvas@UWS. https://canvas.uws.edu/courses/2345/assignments/29357?module_item_id=206390

Burton, Damon & Raedeke, Thomas, D. (2008). Sport Psychology for Coaches. Human Kinetics.

Stewart Cotterill, Neil Weston, & Gavin Breslin. (2017). Sport and Exercise Psychology: Practitioner Case Studies. Wiley-Blackwell.

Hazell, J., Cotterill, S. T., & Hill, D. M. (2014) An exploration of pre-performance routines, self-efficacy, anxiety and performance in semi-professional soccer, European Journal of Sport Science, 14:6, 603-610, DOI: 10.1080/17461391.2014.888484

McCann, Sean. (2009) Routines, rituals, and performing under pressure, Soccer Journal, 40-43.

Mesagno, C., & Mullane-Grant, T. (2010). A Comparison of Different Pre-Performance Routines as Possible Choking Interventions. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 22(3), 343–360.

Orlick, T. (2016). In Pursuit of Excellence: How to win in sport and life through mental training. (Fifth Edition). Human Kinetics.

Vernacchia, Ralph, McGuire, Rick, & Cook, David. (1996) Coaching Mental Excellence. Warde Publishers, Inc.

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One of the biggest misconceptions about confidence in sports is that most athletes and coaches think confidence is simply the belief in one’s ability to win or succeed. That definition is too narrow and often leads to a simplified “yes or no”, “you either have it or you don’t” type of thinking, when the reality is that confidence is actually far more complex.

Most athletes experience a spectrum of confidence levels that fluctuate throughout the season based on internal and external factors. When I teach athletes and coaches about confidence, I encourage them to think about this broader concept: a continuum centered on optimal confidence, with underconfidence on one end and overconfidence on the other.

Underconfidence

Underconfidence, also known as low confidence, is marked by an underestimation of one’s ability to perform (APA). Underconfident athletes tend to under estimate their skill level and potential. They’re often overcome with self-doubt and have difficulty recovering from mistakes during practice or competition. They also tend to be underprepared, both physically and mentally, and highly sensitive to feedback from coaches which creates a self-fulfilling prophecy of failing in pressure situations.

Overconfidence

Overconfident athletes believe they are better than their game statistics suggest and carry an inflated sense of their performance history. They also tend to lack physical and mental preparation, and often respond to pressure situations by trying to over perform or hoard the ball. In many cases, overconfident athletes have a history of being pampered by parents, guardians or past coaches.

Optimal Confidence

Athletes with optimal confidence are prepared for pressure situations, both physically and mentally. They set realistic, attainable individual and team goals, and they approach competition with a clear game strategy.

Now that we’ve reframed confidence as a spectrum, how do we help athletes find their way into the zone of optimal confidence?

According to Bandura, high levels of self-efficacy contribute to better performances, or “mastery experiences.” Athletes who receive feedback and assurance that their goals are attainable tend to increase their motivation and effort until they achieve the success they’re after. Here are four strategies I use in mental coaching for athletes to help build confidence in sports before competition, along with free confidence-building worksheets you can use to work through them. I recommend athletes set aside quiet reflection time for each of the four categories: performance accomplishments, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and arousal control (emotion regulation).

1. Past Performance Accomplishments & Experience

According to Bandura’s Theory (1997), the strongest predictor of self-efficacy is the athletes’ previous successful experiences (Williams & Krane, 2015). Taking a moment to reflect on all your past accomplishments in your sport, from the beginning of your career through to today, is one of the most effective ways to build your confidence in sports. Bring to mind a mental highlight reel of yourself playing your absolute best: maybe memories of playing in a flow state, big plays you made in critical moments under pressure, or an opponent you shut down. You can also create an actual highlight reel of video footage from your matches to watch before competition or during breaks. Imagery is a highly effective sport psychology strategy for building confidence in sports.

2. Vicarious Experience

You can also build confidence through vicarious experience: identifying a role model or expert in your sport and learning by watching and modeling their approach (Williams & Krane, 2015). This might mean watching college-level or professional competitions. The FIFA World Cup, Olympics and Paralympics are great opportunies to find and learn from a new role model in your sport.

3. Verbal Persuasion

Verbal persuasion is another effective sport psychology technique for building confidence athlete confidence in sports: it’s the positive feedback you’ve received from the people in your life life, most importantly your teammates and coaches. Spend some time reflecting on positive feedback, affirmations, and compliments you’ve received from them, and trust that they mean it. You may also find it helpful to reflect on what it felt like when your coaches recruited you and remind yourself that you were chosen to play for your team because they believed in your ability, talent, and potential.

4. Arousal Control (aka Emotion Regulation)

Arousal control, or the process of recognizing and managing ones optimal arousal state during competition, can also function to increase self-efficacy in athletes (Williams & Krane, 2015). Think about what it feels like when you first start to feel the pressure of a big game, meet, or competition. What does it feel like in your body? Do your muscles feel tight or heavy? Do you feel tension in your jaw, neck, chest or stomach? Picture that tension: what color is it? What is the texture? Next envision the tension leaving your body. Some athletes find it helpful to picture tension existing their body through an exhale of breath. Notice that you are not your anxiety, your worry, or your stress. That tension is separate from you. Externalize it. Let it go. Picture it leaving your body and notice a quiet sense of calm that follows. Learning to regulate your emotions to reach an optimal performance state is one of the most effective sport psychology techniques for increasing confidence in sports.

Ready to put these strategies into practice? Download the free confidence-building worksheets and start working through each category this week.

References

Bandura, Albert. (1990) Perceived self-efficacy in the exercise of personal agency, Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 2:2, 128-163, DOI: 10.1080/10413209008406426 

Bandura, A., & Cervone, D. (1983) Self-evaluative and self-efficacy mechanisms governing the motivation effects of goal systems. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 45, 1017-1028.

Burton, Damon & Raedeke, Thomas, D. (2008). Sport Psychology for Coaches. Human Kinetics.

Hays, K., Thomas, O., Maynard, I., & Bawden, M. (2009). The role of confidence in world-class sport performance. Journal of Sports Sciences, 27(11), 1185–1199.

Williams, J. M. & Krane, Vikki (2015). Applied sport psychology: personal growth to peak performance. Seventh edition. New York: McGraw-Hill Education. https://www.mheducation.com/highered/product/applied-sport-psychology-personal-growth-peak-performance-williams-krane/M9780078022708.html

Vealey, R. S., Hayashi, S. W., Garner-Holman, M., & Giacobbi, P. (1998). Sources of sport confidence: Conceptualization and instrument development. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 20(1), 54.

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One of the most effective mental performance strategies to help athletes adjust to discomfort and dysregulation that comes with playing away is for athletes to develop a pre-competition routine. A pre-competition routine or systematic ritual serves to increase athlete confidence and improve concentration (Vernacchia, McGuire, & Cook, 1996). To mentally prepare athletes for away competition, it can also be helpful to ask questions such as: What do you miss the most when you are competing away from home (Gardner & Moore, 2004)?

Traveling to compete in environments that athletes are unfamiliar with and have not had the opportunity to train or familiarize themselves with extensively is an integral part of competition in sports. The “home court advantage” offers athletes access to familiar training and competition facilities, pre-game meals, more sleep (depending on the time zone differential of the competition site) and typically increased spectator support. Away games and travel tournaments require traveling outside of an athlete’s comfort zone causing disruption to conscious and unconscious competition routines. The result of these unavoidable travel disruptions often result in disrupted pre-game routines, decreased warm-up times, and competition jitters, all of which ultimately reduce an athlete’s ability to perform optimally.

To combat these distractions and disruption to competition preparation, it is highly recommended that athletes engage pre-competition routines when traveling to compete. Sport specific mindfulness strategies can include controlled breathing techniques, mindfulness of nonathletic task execution, body-scanning, mindful pre-performance stretching, and mindful sport related warm-up drills (Gardner & Moore, 2004).

Other pre-competition routines can be a simple as traveling with your favorite pillow or blanket, consistent pre-game snacks and meals, or warm-up music that you know and love. All the above-mentioned strategies can be executed on the road in nearly any environment that an athlete can expect to play.

I would love to get more ideas on how to help athletes adjust and mentally prepare while playing on the road. What strategies and techniques do you use to help athletes cope with the discomfort of travel and playing away?

How to Use Routines to Mentally Prepare for Competition

Want to learn more about how to use routines to mentally prepare for competition? Check out these two videos from Dr. Kenneth Ravizza, Ph.D – an internationally acclaimed sport psychology consultant and the greatest mental coach for athletes of all time (in my opnion).

The Research

Based upon previous research studies including Gardner and Moore (2004), Lutkenhouse (2007), Wolanin (2005), Hasker (2010), and Schwanhausser (2009), there exists substantial empirical research evidence that mindfulness and acceptance-based interventions improve athlete performance (Gardner & Moore, 2004). The research study performed by Wolanin (2005) indicated a 37% increase athlete performance based upon coach ratings (Gardner & Moore, 2012). The 2007 research study conducted by Lutkenhouse, Gardner, and Moore resulted in a 20% athlete performance improved of at least 32% of the athletes (Gardner & Moore, 2012). And the research study by Schwanhausser (2009) produced findings of increased athlete mindful awareness, attention, flow and competitive drive among athletes (Gardner & Moore, 2012). In addition to improved performance results in athletes, research studies also indicated that mindfulness reduces anxiety and worry (Roemer & Orsillo, 2002), decreases levels of verbal-linguistic activity in the left-hemisphere of the brain (Crews & Landers, 1993), and increased self-awareness (Roemer & Orsillo, 2002), reduces depression (Hoffmann, Sawyer, Witt, & Oh, 2020), enhances well-being (Chiesa & Serretti, 2009).

References

Burton, Damon & Raedeke, Thomas, D. (2008). Sport Psychology for Coaches. Human Kinetics.

Gardner, F. L., & Moore, Z. E. (2004). A Mindfulness-Acceptance-Commitment-Based Approach to Athletic Performance Enhancement: Theoretical Considerations. Behavior Therapy, 35(4), 707–723.

Gardner, F. L., & Moore, Z. E. (2012). Mindfulness and acceptance models in sport psychology: A decade of basic and applied scientific advancements. Canadian Psychology/Psychologie Canadienne, 53(4), 309–318. https://doi-org.uws.idm.oclc.org/10.1037/a0030220

Stewart Cotterill, Neil Weston, & Gavin Breslin. (2017). Sport and Exercise Psychology: Practitioner Case Studies. Wiley-Blackwell.

Vernacchia, Ralph, McGuire, Rick, & Cook, David. (1996) Coaching Mental Excellence. Warde Publishers, Inc.

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What exactly is positive psychology?

Positive psychology is a framework based in scientific research that contains formal strength assessments to help athletes reach their optimal potential. Martin Seligman is considered the father of positive psychology because his research on resilience, happiness, wellbeing, and strengths laid the foundation for a shift from focusing on mental illness, trauma, suffering, and pain to focusing on happiness, wellbeing, flourishing, flow, and strengths. Positive psychology ultimately asks what’s right with athletes, instead of what’s wrong with them. Using positive psychology, a mental performance coach or consultant can help athletes understand their greatest strengths and use them to elevate their performance and even navigate their athletic careers.

Positive psychology is the scientific study of what makes life most worth living.” (Peterson, 2008).

Why is positive psychology often overlooked?

The field of psychology is rooted in a deficit approach that primarily focuses on the diagnosis of symptoms. Diagnosing the root of mental illness, pain and suffering is the very foundation of psychology. The field of psychology at large has ignored positive functioning because oftentimes fixing what is wrong inherently feels more urgent than building upon what is right.  Many coaches in sport also maintain the philosophy that an athlete’s weaknesses represent their greatest area for potential growth (Robert Biswas-Diener, 2010). However, the field of positive psychology suggests an alternative approach that prioritizes athlete mental health and wellness, while building upon their inherent strengths.

What are the benefits of adopting a positive psychology framework?

Positive psychology cannot guarantee the outcome of happy athletes or teams, however it can provide a framework and deliver tools for their athletes to develop skills, cultivate balance, and find their own sense of meaning in their sport (Biswas-Diener, 2010). The evidenced-based research on positive psychology indicates that adopting a framework of positive psychology leads to a reduction in athlete burnout rates, increased internal motivation, and a strengthened sense of purpose on the court or playing field.

The most common myth of positive psychology

The most common myth about positive psychology is that it ignores problems and weaknesses. This is simply not true. Although the positive psychology is largely focused on strength identification, rather a diagnosis of illness or weakness, the framework is founded upon a growth-mindset model that is always seeking to improve, grow, heal, adapt, and learn. Therefore, athlete weaknesses will naturally improve over time as the athlete becomes stronger, more confident, and self-aware as a result of using a positive psychology approach.

Three sample interventions to get you started

Positive psychology is supported by evidence-based research that supports interventions and approaches (Biswas-Diener, 2010). Research studies show that focusing on strengths identification, optimism, and gratitude results in increased happiness, higher rates of recovery, and lower rates of depression (Robert Biswas-Diener, 2010). Strengths-based therapy has been found to produce a higher success rate when compared to therapies that do not focus on strengths (Robert Biswas-Diener, 2010). 

1. Build a strengths vocabulary. The VIA Survey of Character Strengths is a self-assessment of character strengths that can be taken online for free. Coaches can have their players take the strengths tests to learn more about how their teams.
2. Create a culture of positivity by asking to players to talk about their strengths. Start with questions like: What do you like best about yourself on or off the court? Or What aspect of your game are you most proud of? Many athletes, especially female ones, are socialized to be humble and recoil when asked to talk about their strengths for fear of appearing overly confident (Biswas-Diener, 2010). 
3. Conduct a gratitude exercise. Research studies have linked gratitude to higher levels of social support and reduced depression (Steen, Seligman, Peterson, & Park, 2005), in addition to lower rates of social anxiety (Kashdan, Julian, Merritt, & Uswatte, 2006). An easy intervention that anyone can implement is to have players keep a daily journal of three things they are thankful for (Biswas-Diener, 2010). 

References:

Biswas-Diener, Robert. (2010). Practicing Positive Psychology Coaching: Assessment, Activities and Strategies for Success. Wiley.

Ackerman, Courtney E. (2022). What is positive psychology? & Why is it important? https://positivepsychology.com/what-is-positive-psychology-definition/

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What does the Stanford women’s volleyball team do for mindset training? 

We do a lot of stuff that we work on individually. We see what the needs are of the individuals. We talk a lot about confidence. Confidence is where the training and the mindset intersect. If you put the time in, you can develop confidence. The other things that we talk about (are) mindfulness and finding your center. We talk about breathing. We do some meditation training. The thing that we talk directly about as far as competing on the floor is; being aware of where your thoughts in competition, being aware of where your thoughts are in practice and if they are negative thoughts, replacing those thoughts. We talk a lot about thought replacement and being aware of (what) you’re thinking. Replace the thought “I can’t do this” with – “I can do this. I am strong. I am powerful. I got this.” We talk a lot about that thought replacement.

We talk a lot about confidence. Confidence is where the training and the mindset intersect. If you put the time in, you can develop confidence. 

What type of strategies do you use to help players rebound when they have a crisis of confidence?

To me that’s very individualized and it depends on the athlete. For some of them I feel like we try to get ahead of it a little bit. One of our athletes last year was new to us and she was struggling with confidence early on. I think she was trying to decide if she could fit in the team or not. She was struggling to learn our system and all that. One of the things we talked about is how do you earn the confidence first and understand that there’s going to be this learning curve. That’s the 1st piece, giving her perspective. You’re learning a whole new system, you’re playing with new players and you’re trying to figure all this out. Just take a deep breath and be committed to the process.

I feel like my athletes are very pragmatic, they over analyze, and so if we can find the things that are necessary for them to compete and they attack those things in practice or with a little bit of extra time then usually that takes care of a lot of it.  She was a middle blocker, so for her (it looked like) getting extra footwork reps, a few more slide reps, or working on a shot.

And having a conversation – this is how it looks like this team is going to defend you, or this is how they defended you last time. We’ve done that same strategy with passers that have struggled or setters that have struggled. Instead of just saying you should have confidence, get those reps because then they feel like they’re earning the confidence. By mitigating their feelings and just saying what you’re feeling is wrong doesn’t really help them. Let’s try to give them perspective first and then let’s see if we can earn that confidence.

That’s worked out for most of our athletes actually. It’s like if they want to get an A in the class, then they’re going to study and put the time in. That’s how they’re going to have confidence on their tests. We try to draw those parallels. The challenge for all of them is trying to find that perspective. It’s the perspective that it’s okay to make mistakes right now. This is part of the process. We only care about being good in December. 

When you have a team that is very diverse and full of different personalities, how do you approach team building and leadership? 

I do my best to try to recognize leadership. Everyone talks about developing leadership, but I feel like we recognize leadership. We have to recognize who the leaders are first. We don’t have a captain on our team. We have a floor captain. We just say whoever is setting is our captain, but that doesn’t mean they’re necessarily our leader. We try to figure out what things we value as a group and what are our goals as a group. As you start to have those conversations the vocal leadership starts to emerge. I pay attention to that and identify the leaders. Once I identify who the (natural) leaders are, then I try to put as much on those guys to help drive the culture and the cohesiveness as much as possible because I feel like it’s always stronger when it’s coming from the athletes.

My leadership style as a head coach, even with my staff, is to identify what people are really good at. I’m going to give you the freedom to explore those things as a recruiter, as a coach, as the competitive leader, as the task leader or as the social leader. Let’s identify what you are. Let me be a resource to help you be the best version of that leader possible and what this group needs from you. And then empower you and amplify the message. As a teacher I need to teach our athletes what it means to be a leader, empower them to develop into successful leaders and to lead the way that we need them to and in the way the group is looking for them to lead.

How do you teach communication on your team?

The most important part of communication from me and from my athletes is we’ve got to listen. When freshman come in, they don’t listen to anybody unless you scream and yell. They just want to communicate. The first step for us is we have to listen to each other. But also, if you want people to listen to you, you have to know how to communicate concisely so you don’t lose them in the conversation. And so we talk pretty openly about that. We say – be direct, be on point, be on topic and be concise with that communication in every single way. As the person that’s communicated to, let’s make sure we listen and acknowledge. Just that, (learning to) listen and acknowledge, makes us better communicators in every single way. That goes for if it’s a text I send to the group, they all acknowledge it, they all send a little thumbs up emoji or a got it, or whatever. We give them the freedom to create their own language but with these rules, you’re going to communicate concisely and receive the communication. In this world where we communicate so much through text messages, I think the acknowledgement piece and the listening piece are lost.

What type of pre-game routine do you have in your program?

I leave that up to the athletes. I would not say that we have a routine. I would say that finding a routine that works for each individual is absolutely important. You need to figure out how to prepare yourself physically, mentally and emotionally so you can play in the national championship. And then also you need to figure out how to get your head right for each match. It’s going to take practice and you gotta figure that out. And so we’d talk about that as a group. How do you get yourself ready for competition? How do you eliminate everything that’s around you and get yourself in this moment right now?Different teams have had different strategies. One group shut everything down, turned their phones off, and (found) a quiet place to meditate or breathe, but with my team last year it was like dance party. Goofiness got them in the right place because that helped them let go of everything else.

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The Kirsten Bernthal Booth that was hired back in 2003 inherited a team that won three games in a season. How did you convert the culture of your team to adopt a “winning mentality”.

I’ve always been a coach that believes in process. Doing the right things and not being totally locked into outcomes. To me, as an athlete and as a coach, that frees you a little bit. We’d really focus on process and taking risks.  In a small way, if a player tipped, they were probably going to get yelled at. If they had a perfect set and they made a low risk decision, they were going to get in trouble with us.  And if they had a good set and they went for it, regardless of outcome, we were going to cheer for that. It allowed them (the players) to go for it and know that there weren’t going to be ramifications. I know that sounds simple, but it really did switch the mentality. We’re a pretty high risk program. When you get a good ball, we’re going to go for it. It’s paid dividends because at the Division I level, if you give the other team that opportunity, they’re going to throw it down your throat, so we’ve got to seize it.

I think our biggest job as coaches is to make kids believe how great they can be.  I really believe that confidence is key to everything

If you have a player that’s in a rut or experiencing a crisis of confidence, what are some strategies you use to help get that player out of their funk?

I think our biggest job as coaches is to make kids believe how great they can be.  I really believe that confidence is key to everything. It starts with how we talk to them. Every word that we say as coaches is impactful. Everything we’re saying is being heard and we need to be careful with the words that we choose. If I see a kid is struggling, the first thing I’m going to do is talk to them. I’m not going to attack them. Maybe there’s something in their life going on, maybe their parents are struggling, you know it might be bigger things. So the first thing is that I’m going to reach out and see what’s going on. If it’s small stuff then I’m not going to make a big deal out of it. If they’re really struggling, then I’m going to try and give them tactical things to do.

They (players) can always control their demeanor. If I can tell they’re down, then I’m going to challenge them to make sure their teammates don’t know they’re down. They need to make sure they’re holding themselves with confidence. I am a believer that you can fake and your mind will follow you faking things, so “fake it til you make” it is a mantra in our gym. Displaying that confidence is important. 

If they are still struggling at that point, then we’ll talk about tactical things. Let’s make sure your step-close is really explosive, or let’s make sure we’re hitting high hands. Another thing we’ve done is made a highlight clip on the iPad that just sits on the end of the bench. During a time-out or when a player is subbed out, they can watch a 20-second video of themself looking awesome.  You can also spin stats in a positive way and try to give them data of why they’re actually better than they think.

There’s not a perfect solution for each kid. Each kid is different. Some you have success with and some you don’t. The benefit of being a college coach is that we get to pick the players. I believe that every kid on my team has the ability to be great and it’s my job to make them know how great I think they can be.

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To be the best passer, you need to believe that you can become the best passer.  To be the best setter, you need to believe that can become the best setter.  And to win the match, you and your teammates need to believe you can win the match! We all perform differently when we are sure we can win, instead of just hoping that maybe we can win but maybe not.

In sports, and in society, masculinity is often associated with being tough, strong, aggressive, competitive and arrogant. Where as, femininity is often associated with being graceful, thin, goal-oriented or being a perfectionist, and being confident, but not overly confident. Oftentimes women who display these “masculine characteristics are accused of being angry, emotional, out of control, or feminists. Many women also confuse confidence with arrogance and are afraid to be labeled as cocky or arrogant.  Confidence in particular is often rewarded in men and punished in women.

Brenda Major, a social psychologist and professor at UC at Santa Barbara has studied how gender impacts self-perception for decades.  In her social experiments, she consistently found that men overestimate their abilities and subsequent performance, while women regularly underestimate both. Meaning that women, in the workplace and in sports, are better than we think we are. 

This is such a common finding and phenomenon that there’s a term for it.  It’s called the Gender Confidence Gap.

The term Gender Confidence Gap explains why the gender pay gap that exists in the workplace is partially attributed to men having higher confidence than women – and as a result, asking for raises or taking on roles their not necessarily qualified for because they believe in their own ability. 

The confidence gap doesn’t just reflect the amount of confidence that men and women have in themselves.  It reflects how much confidence men and women have in each other.

Here’s the takeaway: if you let your confidence get shaped by the world around you, then you’ll never have enough of it. 

You have the ability to build your confidence up.  And you need to actively, consciously guard your confidence or it will get torn down by your opponents, coaches, teammates, fans, referees, social media, friends, family and the world around you.

I wish somebody had told me this when I was in college.

Here’s 3 questions to reflect upon with your team:

• How can you build your own confidence? 
• How can you build up each other’s confidence?
• How can you, as a team, build a culture of confidence that counter acts what society tells women about confidence?

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