Your Mental Game: Building Confidence!

by Ashley Samson, PhD, CMPC
University of Kentucky Kinesiology & Health Promotion

One mistake most runners make is waiting to seek out or even think about any sort of mental training until after they've lost confidence. However, just like physical skills such as speed and strength, confidence can be developed and increased over time. 

First things First: Walk the Walk

Something I've noticed while working with top-performing athletes is that they carry themselves a certain way; they move and walk with confidence. A first step in developing confidence is to learn to "walk the walk."

How you carry yourself, move, and walk affects what you think and how you feel. If your body is down, your thoughts and feelings will be negative. If your body is up, your thoughts and feelings will be positive. Walking the walk involves moving with your head high, chin up, eyes forward, shoulders back, arms swinging, and a bounce in your step.

You look and move like someone who knows they are awesome.

In contrast, not walking the walk involves your head, eyes, and shoulders staying down, your feet dragging, and having no energy in your step. You look and move like someone who is not awesome.

To test this out, try walking the “I’m awesome” walk and saying negative things about yourself. As you will find, it's difficult to do because your thoughts are inconsistent with what your body is signaling to you. 

How do I know I’m awesome? Here’s the evidence …

On our most primitive level, we are primed to seek out and focus on the negative things in our environments (what went wrong, what mistakes did we made, etc). While this may have helped us escape from the Saber-toothed Tiger back in the day, it can get us in the habit of only focusing on the negative and not acknowledging what DID go right, what was GOOD about that situation.

A challenge that I have for you in order to break this habit is to take 1 week (next week!) and at the end of each day, write down five things that provide evidence of your awesomeness. It can be something like “I helped fix an issue at work,” “I was a good friend to someone today, “I got my run in before work and even though I wanted to cut it short, I did the whole thing.”

While all this talk of awesomeness may sound silly, you will find that if you get into the habit of seeking out the positive things you’re doing, it can change your whole perspective and you may even start to find yourself seeking out challenges because you want another chance to “show your awesomeness.”

Try it for seven days and see!