The Connection Between Self Confidence And Courage

I speak to so many athletes who tell me that they would like to be more confident but they are scared to break through their fears. 

When it comes to improving your performance in sports, it is important to understand the connection between courage and self-confidence.

Take a moment to think back on a time when you were scared to do something but you gathered up your courage and did it anyway.

Maybe it was trying to perform a new skill or overcoming a mental block that has been annoying you. Maybe it was overcoming a fear of yours, facing it, and coming through the other side better off. Maybe it was overcoming big physical or mental challenges like competing in your first competition or taking part in a trial or exam. It doesn’t matter what it was, as long as you think of something that took courage to do.

Think about how you felt after you did whatever that courageous thing or act was. It felt pretty amazing, didn’t it?

Maybe you were a bit exhausted from the effort or relieved that you did make it through to the other side. Mostly though, that adrenaline started pumping through your system and you felt incredibly proud of what you’d achieved. That in turn made you feel elated and good about yourself and your own ability to do other courageous things.

In other words, you gave yourself a big boost of self-confidence. That right there, is one of the connections between self-confidence and courage.

We can boost our confidence and feeling of self-worth by getting into the habit of doing courageous things. Establishing that habit is something we’ll need to work on if we want to improve our performance. There’s also a second connection. Once you’ve gotten that boost of self-confidence, you start to feel more courageous and are ready to tackle the next hard thing on your list. 

In other words, self-confidence and courage work in a self-propelling cycle or spiral. Do something courageous and your self-confidence increases. As your confidence goes up, it will be easier to do something courageous. And on and on it spirals.

This is an important concept to grasp and it’s something that you can use to your advantage. What it means is that by simply getting in the habit of doing something that scares you or that seems hard at first glance and having the courage to give it a try anyway, you can put this self-propelling spiral of increased self-confidence into motion.

From there on out, every little thing you do that’s either courageous or increases your confidence in yourself will make it easier to keep going and keep improving on both counts. The only hard part is getting started, and frankly, that isn’t all that hard or scary, is it?

What 1 thing can you do today that takes a little courage?