posted on: November 15, 2016
author: Brian Lomax, Ed.D.
We all know that Confidence is a key component of good performance and the notion that “confidence is a choice” should be obvious. However, many athletes choose not to be confident and therefore make the road to good performance more difficult. Knowing that Confidence and Mental Toughness is first driven by your actions – which then create the feelings/thoughts – I teach athletes to use their bodies to express power and confidence through their posture and their walk. This very simple intervention works. And there is another simple action you can take to get a confidence boost – your voice and your words.
Your tone of voice and the language you use reflects your state of mind. Athletes who lack confidence tend to speak more softly during competition or not at all. The words come from their throat rather than their abdomen. This is easily seen with young tennis players when calling out the score. For various reasons, some players don’t call out the score before a point and that’s a mistake. It could be due to a lack of confidence or it might be peer pressure driving this behavior as many players don’t say the score. Whatever it is, it’s an opportunity lost. The moment in which you call out the score is an opportunity to establish your presence and assertiveness on the court, and boost your confidence. So when you call out the score, do it loudly and definitively. Speak from your abdomen (diaphragm). This kind of communication will not only show your opponent that you are confident, but also that you are in control.
Recently, I saw a great example of how communication and voice functions in competition. I work with a Division 1 volleyball program and this season we have talked about using our voices as one of our competitive tools to establish presence, confidence and assertiveness. During the final weekend of their season, the team noticed that they were louder than their opponents especially as the game went along. They also noticed that when their team got a little quiet, they didn’t play as well. For them, communication and voice were a key ingredient in performing well. When the opponents got quiet, they knew they were starting to break mentally.
No matter what was going on in the game, our team stayed loud, which kept them engaged and focused. Their final two performances this season were great displays of mental toughness and their voices made it happen. They broke their opponents mentally and the best part is that the team saw it. That is the pinnacle of mental toughness.
Look to use your voice to establish presence and confidence before you compete and during the game. You will feel better and more confident, and your opponents will know that they can’t break you. You can choose to be confident by choosing to use your voice as a tool in your mental toughness toolbox.
Dr. Brian Lomax founded PerformanceXtra™ in 2009 with a mission of helping athletes achieve their goals and their top performances more consistently through a progression of mental skills that enables them to focus on what is truly important.
Learn more about the author: https://performancextra.com/brian-lomax/