[Music] i recently read the confident mind by dr nate zinser dr zinser is the director of the performance psychology program at the west point military academy in the us dr zinser helped soldiers athletes and business leaders win their first victory before big performances he helped quarterback eli manning achieve his first victory before super bowl 42 by getting him to believe that he was as good as any other player in his position army officers who trained under zinser achieved their first victory before going into combat the instant they believed that they could handle anything the enemy threw at them before any important test meeting or competition you can win your first victory if you are confident enough in your ability to stop telling yourself what to do and trust your training to carry you through a performance acquiring such confidence starts by building your mental bank account your mind maintains a bank account of memories for the sport craft or profession you want to excel in your mental bank account balance grows when you make esp deposits esps are energizing and encouraging memories of quality effort success and progress when your mental bank account is loaded with esps you feel confident and walk around with swagger but when your account balances low you experience self-doubt and panic when a performance is not going well luckily every day you have an opportunity to make esp deposits into your mental bank account and become rich with confidence a tennis player will deposit esps in her mental bank account each day by closing her eyes at night and asking herself where did i put forth quality effort today she thinks back to when she dug deep to finish that extra bench press rep at the gym she ponders on her for a while trying to feel the same exhilaration she felt and make that moment as colorful as possible to sear the memory into her mind then she thinks what success did i have due to my effort and remembers completing the five set bench press exercise and revisits the pride she felt in that moment finally she thinks what progress did i make as a result of my effort she considers how she increased her strength and how her increased strength will improve her tennis serve if two competitors put in similar effort and have identical success and make the same progress but one competitor chooses not to highlight their effort success or progress each day their mental bank account will feel lower and their performance will be plagued with self-doubt ensure this doesn't happen to you by building up your mental bank account when you go to bed each night when you get in bed close your eyes and reflect on the time you spent in the field you want to excel in and ask where did i put forth quality effort today what success did i have due to my effort and what progress did i make as a result of my effort if you're an aspiring leader working with the team you might reflect on the effort you gave at work listening to an angry teammate the success of finding a win-win solution and the way in which you improved your conflict resolution skills now if you can't come up with anything try going minute by minute through your work or practice time until you find one little thing you did well or one thing you got a little better at the more you reflect the easier it will be to recall energizing and encouraging esp moments as you walk into performance with the sense that your mental bank account is loaded with memories of quality effort success and progress you will be ready to deliver a confident performance now you just need the right pre-performance routine to trigger complete confidence and kill any nervous mental chatter dr nate zinser teaches his elite performers a simple three-step pre-performance routine called cba cue your conviction breathe your body attach your attention cue your conviction come up with a phrase that helps you fall in love with your performance butterflies and convert nervous energy into pure excitement answer the following question what would you think to yourself in the moments before a competition if you were eager to show the world how great you were in the book a quarterback tells himself do it like you know it and a marathoner tells herself time to cruise next breathe your body work your breathing muscles by pushing down and into your belly as you inhale and then up and in through your rib cage as you exhale as you work your breathing muscles you'll feel in control of your mental state and as melissa vranich writes in her book breathing for warriors focusing on my breathing means i can let my body tap into what it knows and is practiced without my brain interrupting lastly attach your attention pick something inside your performance to be deeply curious about like the pace and rhythm of the words coming out of your mouth as you give a presentation or how the guitar strings feel on your fingers as you play or the movement of a tennis ball as your opponent tosses it in the air before serving to you zinser says you want to become fascinated by what is before you what is around you and the action you're performing so that your senses become utterly absorbed by it all if you've ever paused even for the slightest second to take in the colors of a beautiful sunset then you know what i mean by letting yourself become fascinated by something when tiger woods played his best golf between 2000 and 2003 he told the documentary filmmaker that he often became so entrenched and so engrossed on a shot that all background noise and self-conscious thought disappeared he said it's almost as if i get out of the way and my subconscious takes over after attaching your attention to a target inside your performance let your subconscious drive your performance and accept all results dwelling on mistakes and berating yourself for poor results depletes your mental bank account and erases the confidence you built up after weeks and months of accumulating quality effort success and progress so strive for perfection but quickly accept imperfections because you're an imperfect human after all and beating yourself up is counterproductive in the end victorious warriors win first then go to war while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win sun tzu the art of war win the war against pre-performance doubt by frequently depositing memories of quality effort success or progress into your mental bank account then execute your cba routine to quiet any nervous mental chatter and confidently perform that was the core message that i gathered from the confident mind by dr nate zinzer zinser knows a thing or two about confidence and mental toughness i highly recommend this book if you would like a one-page pdf summary of insights that i gather from this book just click the link below and i'll be happy to email it to you if you already subscribed to the free productivity game email newsletter this pdf is sitting in your inbox if you like this video please share it and as always thanks for watching and have yourself a productive week