Open week, favorites stand out, nerves are palpated, and the craving to win is unleashed. Tiger is one of them. He plays his first major of the season after the injury, and a failed cut and plays with an obsession, that of beating Nicklaus.
Same old obsession. Time plays against him, but we all know Tiger’s talent, his effort, and track record, what he pursues is not easy, but his success will depend largely on his confidence and where he focuses his attention.
Today we focus on trust. It is not something you have or not, it simply hides sometimes, and to know how to find it is essential to know its form. Many people base their confidence on the result as the only factor, and this is synonymous with instability, since making something dependent on single support does not make it stable. Trust is very easy to lose and very difficult to recover, so it is essential that it depends on several factors that support it. To describe it, we will use the Pep Marí equation, which divides confidence into three summative factors.
- Result
During the round of golf, it is clear that the strokes you make will greatly influence your feelings of confidence. If you hit the ball well and make good holes, you will increase it; however, if you hit it poorly and do not see results, it may affect you. This is logical, but to the right extent, the result can influence our confidence, but it is not the only thing, we must take into account other factors and also give them importance.
- Work
The time spent practicing before a competition or field trip is also a key factor in our confidence. If you have trained hard, you will surely feel more confident than if you are going to play after a long time without training. Relying on previous work is essential when competing because in case the results do not arrive, you know that you have prepared well and will come out at some point.
- Talent
This factor is the most often forgotten players, instead, it is the most valued by great athletes. It is essential because they start from a high trust based on talent, which added to the training creates a climate of mental strength difficult to diminish with a bad result. They know that winning or losing today does not make them better or worse than yesterday, and as soon as things come out, they will get great confidence.
These three concepts seem very basic, but most were just forgetting the last two (both athletes and non-athletes) and focus only on the result, which creates more pressure and likely to feel frustrated because as we have seen in previous occasions, a good result is not 100% under your control. The message is clear: result + work + Talent = Trust. Share your confidence among these three factors in an equal way and don’t forget to enjoy the challenge.