When a triple world champ tells you it's all about confidence, then you'd better pay attention to how you get confidence and what you are doing to maintain it!

I loved reading Andy Irons recent interview with ASL when he was asked about competitive pressure and where he was at.

For me he drew together the two threads of high performance surfing - having your body and mind right!

Firstly he talked about his body - his surfing skills…

It’s awesome seeing Joel doing so good. I’m not there yet; there’s a certain standard I set for myself and I don’t think I’m at that peak yet, but I’m working on it.

Then he talked about his mind…

I can feel a little spark in me and I know the fire’s there. It’s a matter of harnessing it and getting it to where I feel comfortable and confident. It’s all in the confidence. When I feel confident, I think I do my best surfing. It’s a little way away, but it’s definitely a goal.

Check that quote again…

When I feel confident, I think I do my best surfing.

Now I can tell you that unless you put in the time, both in and out of the water that you can't fake confidence - that's called cocky - and it's not real self-belief.

But if you're like AI and you are doing all that it takes to raise yourself to a high performance standard…

I’ve lost 10 kilograms … I’m not drinking at all anymore, it’s just been healthy living and hanging around here with all this really clean food.  Just doing little things like circuit training and doing little mock heats: that’s all going to help me for next year.

If you are doing all you can, then you are building a basis for genuine confidence.

So you can't put the confidence icing on, until you've baked the hard work cake!

But, assuming you're doing the work, then here's one simple confidence building strategy, as demonstrated by Hawaiian longboarder, Ned Snow when he was surfing to a win over former ASP World Longboard Champion Colin McPhillips, last weekend.

Snow said…

“Being able to surf in the man-on-man format really helped my mindset.  Surfing against guys like McPhillips, I can just go out there and I feel like it’s me against the ocean instead of battling a bunch of other guys.

That's it Ned… You against the ocean!

So many contest surfers think they are competing against each other - but the reality is you are just competing against the ocean, trying to get the best waves in the time allowed, and trying to rip those waves apart!

There just happens to be a few other surfers in the water doing the same thing at the same time!

Bottom line is that you can't control how others surf and if you get worried about trying to "beat" other surfers you'll just end up undermining your confidence.

So, here's the take home message from our two Hawaiian contest surfing stars…

Do the work, lift your standard and build your confidence before you even get in the water…

And once the fireworks start, just stay focused on getting the best two waves and going crazy on them - with this formula you can't go wrong!

I love to hear your thoughts, so please hit me back with a comment below

Take care

Mike

Check out all of Andy's Interview at…

http://www.surfinglife.com.au/news/asl-news/841-andy-irons-interview-ironing-out-the-creases

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