Prep Baseball Report Minnesota is excited to team up with- The Mindstrong Project. Our goal in this endeavor is to continue to provide the most up-to-date pertinent information and resources to the baseball community in the state of Minnesota.

Periodically, The Mindstrong Project will be providing content for the Prep Baseball Report Minnesota website; as they continue to work to build human performance through education while building an awareness of how the mind and body work together to sustain a consistent confident approach to game performance.

In this month's installment; The MindStrong Project talks about CONFIDENCE......

 

Hey everybody,

We’re now nearing two months of quarantine and it seems that a new “normal” is setting in.  I hope that all of you reading this find yourself and those around you physically and mentally healthy.  Most of us have had to pivot our lifestyles tremendously in the last 6-8 weeks.  We’ve lost many of the privileges and comforts that we may have previously considered rites of passage.  The outpour of support, resiliency, optimism, and cooperation have made this nationwide shift a whole lot easier.  To all those who have made personal sacrifices for the benefit of the collective whole, thank you on behalf of The Mindstrong Project.  While we are still unsure of when all of this will come to an end, hopefully we have all begun to realize that this new “normal” is more possible than previously thought, and maybe even… not so bad.  

Amazing and empowering lessons are emerging from coronavirus.  First and foremost, our planet is thriving.  If you haven’t yet, do an internet search on the environmental impact of this quarantine.  Skylines are usually accompanied by dense smog now glowing with clear blue sky and stars visible for the first time in recent memory.  Dirty rivers now crystal clear.  Earth is getting some much needed recovery.  

Second, we are once again learning that health matters.  Numbers continue to show those with underlying conditions suffer greatly compared to those who are healthy.  Those with strong immune systems tend to be just fine.  Sunlight exposure kills the virus in less than a minute.  Powerful stuff.

Finally, people continue to show that the human condition is far more resilient than it gets credit for.  For a quick couple days in late March, the overwhelming sentiment through the lens of social media was this: “You expect us to do WHAT?”  Yet, here we are.  To that, I’m reminded of arguably my favorite Stoic quote: “We suffer more in imagination than reality.”  I think about this notion often.  While COVID-19 presents us with some tough challenges, most of them are minor inconveniences rather than major problems (for those of us stuck at home).  Collectively, we’ve done an exceptional job at understanding that.  Within that perception has come a great deal of confidence in our ability to endure this quarantine.  This experience has given us confidence in our ability to adapt.  Which segues beautifully into the question, “Where does confidence come from?”

Confidence

The Question

The world of academia often debates what confidence is, what it looks like, and how to develop it.  Myself included, we can easily get caught going down the rabbit hole of terminology – which, let’s be honest, just leads to even more rabbit holes and differentiating opinions.  I think we can simplify the process with one single question: “Can it be done?”  If we can answer this question with a “Yes”, we’ve established the ground floor for confidence.  We can build from there.  Can I get on base here?  Yes?  Well alright, let’s figure out a way to make it happen.  Of course, that’s not the end of the story.  There’s a lot of teams that end the season 10-36 that could answer that question with “Yes” at the beginning of the season.  So where do we go from here?  Well, we have a baseline foundation for confidence, which is a start.  How do we build on that?  The key word is “build”.  Confidence is built.  Whether that be genetically or through experience, confidence is built.  

So many of us get bogged down by past experiences when it matters most.  Why?  Because we ultimately fall to the level of what we have built.  If we have put in the work, laid the foundation, and simply understand that it can be done (whatever “it” is), then by golly, we’ve got a chance!

When we’re confident, we believe in ourselves.  This makes a ton of sense from a mental standpoint.  However, it actually makes a huge difference from a physical standpoint too.  If we have belief, our body is releasing the right chemicals we need to promote focus, energy, agility, and even motor skills.  Put simply, belief actually unlocks physical ability.  A lack of belief will thwart physical ability.  Which is a huge bummer that we’d actually waste our ability because of our negative beliefs about something that hasn’t even happened yet.  Our body’s negativity bias, which helps keep us “safe”, aims to keep bad things from happening before they even happen.  However, it isn’t great for building a confident performer.  Confidence is one of the factors that quiets down our negativity bias.  So ask yourself, “Can it be done?”  If it can, then we’re on to something.  Let’s build.

The Path

OK, if it can be done then let’s move on to the next question…  How can it be done?  Asking this question is powerful for multiple reasons.  First, it allows us to visualize success.  Second, it allows us to create a step-by-step path to success.  Third, it suggests we examine what our strengths are and how we can use them to our advantage.  Finally, it allows us to identify barriers that might get in the way, and what we can do to eliminate or work around them.  

By creating a legitimate path for success, envisioning what that will look like, identifying our strengths, and creating a process to defeat barriers, we’ve created a sense of certainty about our goal.  We can say, “Yes it can be done, and here is how!”  One of our main triggers for the negativity bias is uncertainty.  By creating a vision for our success, we don’t have to worry about obstacles getting in the way; we’ve already planned for them!

The Hard Part

One of my favorite quotes I came across recently came from Mike Tyson: “Everybody has a plan until they get hit.”  By this point you all may have heard that success usually isn’t a straight line.  You can plan all night and day, but reality rarely goes according to plan.  Having a plan helps.  Having a plan creates confidence by creating the vision of a positive, poised future.  However, confidence will be identified most when things don’t go according to plan.  Everyone is confident when things are easy and when things are going according to plan.  That confidence may get very fragile as soon we go off script (especially if we are doing it for the wrong reasons).  

So far we’ve developed a foundation for developing confidence by asking “Can it be done?” and “How will it be done?”  So what’s the next magical question?  Look to your Why.  Ask yourself, “Why am I doing it?”  Remembering your Why, or your purpose, brings a sense of freedom in a couple of different ways.  First, it can give you the guts to dig deep.  Whether it be your faith, your pursuit of growth, your passion for the game, your moral compass – we can lean on our Why to keep us moving forward.  Perhaps more importantly, remembering our Why allows us to zoom out and look at the big picture.  Which is that one game, one at-bat, one pitch, or one moment won’t define us.  This can relieve some of the negative pressure that clouds or clutters our mind.  We realize that this game isn’t a huge deal.  In fact, usually it won’t matter it all whether we win or lose.  That simple statement diffuses nerves, anxiety, and pressure of any importance.  If we can understand that, then we can have all the confidence in the world to play big in the “big” moments.  

How quickly we can get ourselves back into this frame of mind after taking a “punch” will determine how far off path we get.  If we get too far off path, it may be hard to find our way back.  Thus, when things get hard we must remember Why.  Our ability to endure failures, adversity, plateaus in progress, and various challenges will make us mentally stronger.  With mental strength, confidence grows.  Each rep creating another reason to be confident.  Refine and repeat for continual personal development.  

The Bottom Line

While many, many factors go into what makes someone confident or not, the need for a simplified recipe becomes that much more valuable.  By no means is this article a comprehensive manuscript on the science of confidence.  However, it does take scientific factors from human biology, physiology, and psychology and hopefully create a digestable and practical understanding of how to build confidence.  Just to recap, confidence comes from asking the right questions:

1. Can it be done?  If so, build from there.  Belief is the beginning.  

2. How can it be done?  Create a path, identify strengths, navigate barriers.

3. Why am I do it?  Lean on your purpose.  Enduring challenges demands growth.

4. Refine and Repeat.  Repetition = experience.  Experience = confidence. 

While confidence may waver moment to moment, the seeds of confidence are always at our disposal.  Just make sure they get water and sunlight daily, you’ll be alright.  

The Mindstrong Project helps athletes, teams, and organizations in leveling up performance in multiple avenues.  Our experience with youth athletes all the way up to professional athletes and organizations in the MLB, NHL, and NFL, as well as corporate America have continually refined our work to provide mentorship, education, and training in tactical, technical, biological, and psychological aspects of sport.  Schedule a call today:

 

Email: [email protected]

Austin Hanson: (218) 770-4907

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