Developing Confidence With Consistency

To the Christian, confidence is having faith in God through a proper relationship. To the Catholic, that relationship is rooted in the Catholic anchors of prayer, Mass, confession, the Eucharist, and the Rosary. Trusting in the Lord above rather than trusting in ourselves and our own abilities is tantamount to believing that God assures us victory in our challenges because it is upon His strength that we rely more than on our own strength. That assurance is further met by reading Scripture, meditating on His Word, and believing in God’s promises.

So, how do we become confident in the first place and behave consistently with confidence? Firstly, we need to recognize that it was God who led us to our successful performances. This, in turn, allows us to see ourselves as competent people and certainly capable of continuing that success. We continue to do so by choosing to see our talents and capacity for continued success, allowing for mental positivity.

To further that confidence, we need a vision and goals in order to plan a positive path for ourselves; all the while focusing on our plans for achievement, accomplishments, and gains. Focus  becomes a new crux of the matter. What is it that we focus on? Here it is. Think about what you would ideally like to do when you arrive at your performance site so that you will feel the way you want to feel, both physically and mentally. Prepare it in your mind and evaluate your best performances. In this writer’s mind, performances are in the realms of public speaking, entertainment, and sports. But it could be in business, the military, the professional health fields, or education. Every time you rehearse, practice, or train in your endeavor, you can then glean positive lessons from that behavior to improve focus and consistency toward better performance.

What about the fear of being watched, evaluated, or judged? That can certainly hamper performance. This writer was a former entertainer. Upon his first singing performance before a crowd of over 1000, he got up to the microphone and freaked out. He was to be a Desi Arnaz [Rickey Ricardo] singer. He [me] froze. But I immediately told myself to forget that audience and just stay focused on the rehearsals in front of the mirror in my home studio. In other words, connect fully with the act of performing rather than with the evaluators of the performance. My fears were immediately alleviated. In every subsequent performance, my fears slowly dissipated until I became completely comfortable on stage and free to relax and improvise. With each subsequent performance, I chose to focus on the intent to do the best job I can and make it a great performance. Nothing else mattered!  

Then comes consistency. By reevaluating performance, you can see areas falling a little short of desired behavior, allowing for improvement in that behavior and allowing for a refocus on desired performance. You know you can do it, so think about what you want to do in order to make it happen. Refocus on what you are really capable of.

Consistency of performance requires eliminating the barriers to focus. What are those barriers? Anxiety and the need to relax is one. We can do this through breathing exercise, proper diet, enough sleep, prayer, and reading  scripture as mentioned above. “Peace I leave you, peace I give you.” It all keeps you from dwelling on the negatives and focusing on the positives.

In summary, developing a personal vision of goals and the necessary focus, will keep you on the positive track. Along with that, go watch a baseball game in person [see “Three Ways Baseball Meets Christian Culture”], walk in the park or along the beach in order to breathe, relax and reenergize, embrace the joys of the day, and stay positive. Read the Bible.   

Here are two of my favorite verses:

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.  

Philippians 4:13

We gain confidence knowing that Christ empowers us to face challenges and accomplish our tasks.

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. 

Isaiah 41:10

God’s promise of support and strength reminds us to stand confidently, knowing He is always by our side.