maintaining self-belief

Back in the day Huey Lewis and the News sang “The power of love is a curious thing, make a one man weep, make another man sing” and the same could be said of self-belief or confidence.

Take a look at the BBC Sport website today and the football headline is all about a lack of belief at Chelsea. Frank Lampard their captain, is quoted as saying “At the moment, there’s a bit of a feeling that we’re not sure what’s going to happen when we go out there. You lose the feeling of being able to win every week. Once you’ve had that and lose it, it’s hard to get it back.” If you ever want an example of talent alone not being enough, then this is it. Chelsea’s stars have slipped to 5th in the table, whilst only 4 places behind are the minnows of Blackpool who this week beat the once mighty Liverpool.

Maintaining (or regaining) self-belief isn’t necessarily easy but can be done and needn’t be results dependant. Knowing your own recipe and mix can become an essential performance tool, and it’s a recipe often made up of noting and recalling past successes, tapping into other’s belief in you, convincing yourself through what you say to yourself, or by seeing yourself performing well before the event. Clearly sef-belief alone isn’t going to deliver a great performance – it also needs tactical, technical and physical ability, but self-belief and confidence are the glue that can bind those things together.

So how robust can you make your own self-belief? How much is it results dependant or reliant on the latest bit of feedback? How good can you be at keeping it consistent, even if it’s not at an all time high, so that you rarely lose it like the Chelsea team seems to have done? How good are you, and can you become, at recognising when it’s dipping and getting yourself straight back on track, either through your own thinking, or with the support of those around you?