Why Confidence Is Everything in Snowboarding
I wouldn’t fear the competitor who is the most skilled. Nor the one with the most talent. But a fierce opponent who’s unpredictable. The rider who feels he can’t be stopped. The guy with an overwhelming amount of self-belief. Someone who isn’t overconfident, but delusionally optimistic in his abilities. Radiating a special aura of self-belief. Some would call that arrogance—I would call that having Overwhelming Confidence. That’s an opponent worth fearing.
In snowboarding—or rather any sport for that matter—a lack of confidence and self-belief is one of the most detrimental things you could do to yourself. Confidence is a key pillar for performance, let alone progression, especially in a sport where the stakes are so high. If you can’t visualize yourself landing that new trick, the probability of you trying it is slim to none. And if you do try it, would you rather try it with a backbone of confidence and belief—or with uncertainty and doubt?
Self Doubt vs. Self Belief: Two Riders, Same Skill
Take two riders with equal skill level. One with an overwhelming amount of self-belief in his abilities, and the other doubtful and lacking confidence. One rider knows he can land the trick he’s thinking about—he’s confident he can do it. The other is folding under pressure. He’s unsure. When he visualizes himself trying the trick, he sees failure and defeat.
Who do you think is more likely to land the trick?
I revere the rider who doesn’t have the most skill, but whose mind is free of self-doubt and limiting beliefs.
Confidence Is a Skill, Not a Trait
No one is born stuck with a certain amount of self-belief. It’s a trait that grows with worldly experiences. It’s something you can grow yourself. It’s a skill to eliminate doubt and believe in yourself. A skill you can learn, practice, and master.
Limiting beliefs are poison to the mind.
Self-doubt and lack of confidence is a snowboarder’s Kryptonite. You must get rid of it. There is no room for it in your mind. Eliminate all self-doubt and all self-limiting beliefs. Mindset shift.
Having control over your thoughts is a skill that can be learned and harnessed. It’s essential to anyone who seeks to improve at an incomprehensible rate in snowboarding: ride with overwhelming confidence in your abilities.
Techniques to Build Overwhelming Confidence
Every rider gets fronted with self-doubt. It’s a never-ending battle—you vs. your mind.
You’re preparing to try a trick that gets your blood boiling. You’re scared, nervous, unsure. You hesitate and start to think (thinking usually leads to overthinking)—
“Can I really do this?”
You start to spiral. Doubt. Uncertainty. Fear. Why?
Because your negative thoughts have overcome your self-belief. Your fear was stronger than your faith.
This is a skill issue.
And skills can be practiced, learned, and mastered.
You’re always going to be put into a position where you have to fight self-doubt. That’s when you adopt and program yourself with an unbreakable mindset.
To possess an unwavering—almost delusional—amount of self-belief.
The Cookie Jar (David Goggins)
In David Goggins’ book Can’t Hurt Me, he talks about a technique he used when limiting thoughts crept in. He calls it the Cookie Jar.
Imagine you’ve got a jar in your mind. Every “cookie” inside it is a triumphant experience. A win. A moment you overcame something hard.
When negative thoughts start flooding your mind, stop them on a dime.
Reach into that jar and pull out a memory.
Something that reminds you:
You’ve done hard things before. You’ve overcome. You were victorious. You beat the odds.
Why should this time be any different?
Those times—the rough ones, the wins, the pain you got through—those are fuel.
They remind you that you persevered.
They remind you that you’re not someone who folds.
Remembering those moments will help fortify your mindset and give you that confidence boost you need to try that trick.
Faith Over Fear
“This is nothing compared to then.”
Look back on your progression. How far you’ve come. God has blessed you with yet another opportunity—to overcome adversity.
He gave you this challenge because he believes in you.
There’s no challenge God would give you if he didn’t know you could overcome it.
That’s a philosophy I’ve fused into my soul. A recipe for when those negative thoughts trickle in.
Ask yourself:
What would your better self do?
Would he be quaking in his boots, full of fear and doubt?
Hell no.
He wouldn’t even be nervous—he’d be excited.
There’s a big difference.
Reframing Fear into Excitement (Jon Jones)
Jon Jones (arguably the greatest UFC fighter of all time) summed it up perfectly.
He said you’ll always have butterflies. But that’s when you’re most powerful.
“A big challenge, a big pressure is like a fire… Either you can allow this fire to consume you… or you can gain control of this fire and harness it.”
“There’s nothing wrong with having butterflies. As long as you can get those butterflies to fly in formation.”
Final Thoughts + Book Recommendations
Self-belief. Riding with unshakable confidence. The feeling of being unstoppable is something you can adopt.
It’s a skill you can learn. Read books. Watch videos. Read articles. Learn to grow it.
Harness the power of self-belief and use it when you ride. Your progression will skyrocket.
If you’ve made it this far, I applaud you—
One: for being dedicated and interested.
Two: for having a long enough attention span to make it through this article. 😂
Here are some books that helped me change my mindset in powerful ways and gave me the edge over limiting beliefs and self-doubt. I’ll probably go deeper on these in another blog, but for now, I suggest you do a little research on them yourself if you’re serious:
- Can’t Hurt Me – David Goggins, motivation, mental fortitude/perservance/toughness. Mindset shift
- Relentless – Tim S. Grover, Pursuit of Dreams, what it takes, the grind, work ethic, Mindset shift
- Psyco Cybernetics – Dr. Maxwell Waltz, the power of visualisation, Mental practices to becoming more confidant and have more self belief
- SNOWKAGEONLINE – A blog by Coltan Eckert (myself), #1 insight into how to become a better snowboarder, from one of the fastest progressing boarders on the planet.