Melbourne Endurance Sport Hypnosis

In 1954 Roger Bannister became the first person to break 4-minute for the mile. This had been seen as a physiological impossibility. Bannister however proved that this was more of a psychological barrier, as with the next 12 months over 30 other athletes managed to achieve this mark. This suggests that a large number of our limitations are in our mind and that confidence is about our perceived limitations.

Sport psychology literature distinguishes between self-confidence (the belief that you can successfully perform desired behaviours) and self-efficacy (a situation specific self-confidence). If self-confidence is a general trait i.e. good feelings you bring to a situation, self-efficacy is the belief in your ability to do specific things. The benefits of high levels of self-confidence include:

• Positive emotions - Confident people are more calm & relaxed under pressure; more able to assert themselves when the time comes
• More concentration - More confidence = no worries; therefore more capacity for performance related issues
• Better goals - Confident people set more challenging goals and achieve them
• More effort - If you think you can achieve you will keep on trying
• Better strategies - Play to win rather than for a draw, or to avoid losing; use better more adventurous game play or tactics
• More momentum - Confidence breeds confidence and transfers from one performance to another both within and between sports (and life events)

So the big question is how can we develop these? The main ideas haven’t changed from the initial work into self-efficacy be Albert Bandura (1977; 1982). He suggests that there are four key components:

1. Performance accomplishment – mastery experiences (actually doing it) are the most powerful. This does depend on the frequency of success, perceived difficulty of the task, effort exerted, and guidance received. There is a need to succeed on a regular basis.
2. Vicarious experience – seeing others doing it can be useful, especially when the performer has little or no experience of the task. There is an important role for modelling here, and following another’s example can be very motivating.
3. Verbal persuasion – being talked into it. Receiving some encouragement and instructional feedback aids the development of self-efficacy. Coaches, teachers and significant others can play an influential role.
4. Emotional arousal – the least powerful, but can be highly effective. Quite simply how one perceives oneself in terms of mood and state of body as separate from physiological arousal i.e. recognizing the butterflies in your stomach as a symbol that you are ready to perform rather than a sign of anxiety.

Using a range of psychological strategies, like routines, goal setting and positive self-talk, can assist with the development of self-confidence and self-efficacy. We obviously use hypnosis to speed up the process, but as a general rule having high expectations does lead to higher levels of confidence. Try to keep all interactions positive and use each challenge as a learning and development opportunity.