Have you ever noticed how well you run when you believe in yourself and your abilities? Those hesitations and worries of what pace you can hold or whether you’ve clocked enough miles, are replaced with an unquestionable powerful focus that guides your thoughts to an excellent performance.
That’s self-confidence at work. Some researchers believe self-confidence is the single most important psychological contributor to success in sports because it allows athletes to fully utilize their abilities. Self-confidence is defined as the belief that you can successfully perform a desired behavior or achieve your goals. This may mean completing your first half-marathon, or finishing the marathon within a certain time.
Think about a time when you felt confident going into a run. Chances are, there were no negative thoughts or worries swarming your head, or if there were, you were able to block them out or put them aside. You were able to clearly focus on the task at hand, your goals, and had a resilient, lasting belief that you could overcome any challenges that were to come your way. You looked forward to the challenge.
Now compare that feeling to a time when you did not feel confident, when you did not feel ready or prepared for a run. What were you thinking about? How did you feel? What was the outcome of your run?
Notice the difference??
As you’re training for your next run or race, think about how you confident you feel with the following questions. For each question, rate your confidence on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 is very confident).
What is your belief that you can successfully complete
- the distance?
- the distance in a particular time?
- the distance in a particular placing?
Since confidence is the result of a thinking process, this means self-confidence can be developed through practice. It is a conscious choice regarding a particular way of thinking. Self-confidence is a process with no designated finish.
We’ll take a look at self-confidence in multiple sections throughout the next few weeks including:
- Five Common misconceptions of self-confidence
- Four Prerequisites as a foundation to build self-confidence
- Ways to develop your self-confidence
Until the next post, think about where and when you feel most confident with your running and why those situations lead to confidence – look for the next blog post to learn more about how you can build on those confident moments.
