TRAIN, 2 MINUTES, DAILY, PRE-PERFORMANCE

Build Self-Belief

Use this exercise before your next moment of performance to imagine only the most positive possible outcomes of your work.

2 min

What You Need

Phone

Like a muscle you train in the gym, optimism training uses different exercises to strengthen different aspects of the same skill. In the “Increase Gratitude” exercise, you learn to focus on what has been good. But here, we’ll focus on what can be good to build your self-belief.

And we’ll do that by preparing our minds to succeed before even stepping out to practice. So just before heading out, you’ll take out your phone.

Choose someone (or yourself) to text before each practice. You’ll be sending them a list of three things that could be epic during that practice.

This will build your optimism about yourself and your future. Texting puts these positive thoughts out into the world and makes them feel more concrete.

When you’re thinking of what to send, focus on actions and outcomes that would feel great and inspire confidence. Think: “We perfectly execute the new play.” “I hit my goal time,” or “I’m first to cross the finish line”.

Then, when you’re ready, send them off and carry the optimism they inspire with you to practice. That’s it. Simple as it seems, repeating this exercise each day will train your mind to build confidence in your own abilities - which in turn makes you more likely to stick to and ultimate achieve your goals. ¹

1. ¹ Carver CS, Scheier MF, Segerstrom SC. Optimism. Clin Psychol Rev. 2010;30(7):879-889. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2010.01.006]

UA PERFORMANCE ACADEMY

Go Under the Armour

Most of us are never taught how to tap into the mental side of performance. That’s why Under Armour is bringing you proven mental strength practices to help you reach your goals on and off the field.