Ever think like this?

Why don’t I believe in myself?

I don’t think I’ll ever be good enough for ___________?

I’m trying so hard, but it’s not working.

My confidence sucks.

These are negative thoughts, self doubt, and fear taking over you.

We talk about being confident, being mentally tough, having a good mindset all the time, but do we actually do anything about it?

Not really. At least I didn’t when I was playing sports growing up.

So, how the heck are you supposed to get better at this confidence stuff?

How do you create confidence?

I’ve got YOU! This is what I do. I give you the HOW.

Here’s a quick start to start creating confidence for yourself

1 Start writing, telling, and owning confident statements about yourself

Examples: I belong here. I am a powerful asset to my team. I am important.

Write them everyday

Put them in places you’ll see them (water bottle, equipment, door, nightstand, etc.)

Act like you believe them with...

Have you ever wondered why you are going to or paying for lessons, but not feeling like you’re killin’ it out on the field or court?

Like the things from lessons aren’t transitioning to your game-time performance?

This video and conversation is for YOU then!

I have a very special guest today! We have BJ Johnson, founder of SFS Athletics. He is a private “swing” coach for softball players. And he is REALLY GOOD at what he does.

I brought BJ on as a guest speaker so you can get an inside look at why his hitters are c-r-u-s-h-i-n-g out there. Like lots of homeruns people.

Another reason I brought BJ on was because I admire the way he just “gets working with athletes. Especially girl athletes. He builds these girls up. He’s a coach that instills belief in the girls.

BJ shares…

What is different about SFS and his lessons

His coaching style and approach that helps his hitters believe in themselves

Why his athletes are finding more...

I want to preface this with, I love my dad!

But… been there, done that.

Just like in anything, we aren’t perfect. Sometimes we yell.

This is always really tough because underneath all the emotions, yelling, or tough conversations, everyone just cares... A LOT.

Your dad or mom probably yells at you or gets upset with you because they know you are capable of SO MUCH!

But, it still hurts. It’s still so frustrating in the moment.

Here’s what you do in this situation…

1 Be respectful. Ignoring, rolling eyes, being rude doesn’t help in this situation.

2 Listen, but detach the emotions and the message. Try your best to hear the message without the anger, frustration, negativity. Figure out how you can learn from what his/her message is.

3 Know what you can control >> your reaction, your attitude, your interpretation.

4 Afterwards when things have settled down a bit, ask your dad/mom to have a conversation so you can set a boundary for yourself...

You guys…

I had SO MUCH DOUBT as an athlete.

The doubt sounded like this…

What if I don’t get a hit and they take me out?

Am I good enough to be a Division 1 catcher?

What if I let my family down?

Will my batting average be as good as last season?

I don’t think I can get a hit off this girl…

And the list of doubtful thoughts goes on and on and on.

I’m here to tell you today that, IT’S OKAY TO HAVE DOUBT.

It’s normal.

You’re normal! 

You’re okay!

I had to work hard at turning this doubt into confidence. I had to embrace a new mindset.

What the heck does a new mindset even mean?!

It just means to start thinking about something differently.

I started to push back and question these doubtful thoughts I was having.

Thinking differently sounded like this…

What if I do get a hit?!

What if a school chooses me because they love the player and person that I am??!

What if I just play for me? For fun?!

What if...

I’m calling you out today!

You know that moment I’m talking about. When you’ve made a mistake and…

It’s all you can think about.

You’re being super hard on yourself.

Telling yourself you suck.

Feeling like total crap all day.

You’ve got a bad attitude.

Even though… you did a lot of other really great things.

What’s the point of it?! What’s the point of being negative? ‍

Hint, hint… the answer is there is NO POINT!

And I’m sure you’re thinking, “okay, well great Paige, but it’s hard to be positive in these moments.”

I know! I get it. .

I want you to think about pushing back against the negativity.

I want you to think about questioning it right back.

I want you to think about getting curious about your negative thoughts.

Here are some ideas…

What if I just learn from this?

What if I show up even better the next time?

What is this teaching me?

What if I let it go?

...

It seems like we’ve all been here before, am I right?!

I would let mistakes just absolutely ruin my day, my weekend, my week! I remember so many times just beating myself up over some mistakes.

This is not fun at all. It hurts. It feels crappy. It puts you in a bad mood. It makes you do things you’re not proud of. 

I honestly look back at my time playing and wonder how I kept going at times.

But, mistakes are part of competing. Mistakes are part of being an athlete.

So, what are we going to do about this?! Because I promise you that you don’t want to keep going like this. There is a powerful, amazing, confident version of you inside waiting to shine out on that field or court.

Here are some simple things to help you start getting over your mistakes and play with  confidence!

1 Set an intention for the game or practice!

Think about what you want to focus on for your upcoming game…

Maybe it’s…

Focusing on playing with a ton of energy.

...

As I sat down to write about leadership and how it gets confused with being bossy too often, I’m thinking about my brothers rolling their eyes

Wayyyyy too often, I have girls that tell me they don’t really want to be a leader because that means they are bossy.

This is soooo wrong.

The reason we get this confused is because a girl on a team might have the title “leader” or “captain” but it’s not about the title. It’s about how you treat your teammates.

So, let’s get this straight. You do not have to be bossy to be a great leader.

The greatest leaders I’ve seen and experienced…

Lead by example

Care and empathize 

Empower

Here is one easy way to step into leadership without being bossy…

The power of WE

Start using “we” instead of pointing fingers and telling your teammates what to do.

Let me give you an example from my own experience.

When I played high school softball, it was...

I used to think that life just wasn’t fair. It always felt like the odds were stacked against me. The coaches wouldn’t give me enough opportunities to shine. The ball wouldn’t fall where it was supposed to. I wasn’t performing when I needed to. My dad was too hard on me.

But my lack of success (in my mind because I was actually pretty successful) wasn’t because of all those things.

It was because I was holding myself back. ME! ‍‍

The thing is… it’s not always going to go our way, but it’s what you do with every moment, situation, opportunity, or even STRUGGLE.

If I wanted different results, I had to do something different. I had to get out of my own way.

Before my senior year of college started, I made some commitments to myself.

Fun was important because this was my LAST year!

Give it everything I have because I won’t ever get to play this game at this level again.

Show up as the best version of myself everyday...

Are you that stubborn one that will overthink every little mistake?

Pick apart everything and anything you did wrong?

Beat yourself up about it all?

I was her

It’s okay, a lot of us do this.

But, good news! We don’t have to!!

Instead of allowing these mistakes to bring us down into the fiery flames of frustration…

We are going to use it to fuel our confident fire!!!!

Time to turn mistakes into triumphs girls!!!

Follow this step by step after making a mistake:

1 Take a deep breath 3-5x

2 Ask yourself what went well

3 Ask yourself what didn’t go well (easy part)

4 Ask yourself what you learned and how to improve moving forward

5 Visualize what you want to happen next

6 Let it go (could sing Frozen here)

This is how you stop overthinking after every mistake!

This is how you gain confidence!

Hey, did you know that we are going to be practicing visualization, positive self talk, learning how to not be so hard on yourself, and MORE in the Confident Athlete Mini...

Trying to be perfect is only holding you back from GREATNESS.

Here’s what trying to be perfect did to me.

I tried to be perfect when I was playing softball. If I was perfect, that would mean that I would be the best. That would mean that I would go to my dream school. Break records. The whole thang!

But, I wasn’t the best… (don’t get me wrong, I was definitely up there and doing well).

I didn’t go to my dream school… (again, it all works out how it should and I LOVE Northwestern).

I broke some records… probably could have broken more.

It wasn’t until I let go of being perfect.

You’re probably wondering what the heck that even means or looks like.

I’m going to be 100% honest with you on what this was like for me…

My senior year of college (my best year yet), I decided this…

WHATEVER HAPPENS, HAPPENS!

This kind of sounds like I don’t care. But, it was the opposite.

This meant…

That I...