Building Confidence Through Previous Success

Confidence is not something you either have or don’t have—it’s something you build. One of the most powerful ways to develop confidence is by remembering your previous successful experiences. This technique helps you recognize and reinforce your ability to perform under pressure.

I like to call this building your mental highlight reel. By replaying your best moments in your mind, you remind yourself that you’ve been here before and you’ve succeeded before. This practice isn’t just motivational—it rewires your brain to believe in yourself when it matters most.

The Mental Highlight Reel: A Tool for Confidence

A mental highlight reel is a collection of your most successful moments—the big plays, game-winning shots, or personal bests that made you feel unstoppable.

By revisiting these experiences regularly, you strengthen the neural pathways associated with confidence and positive thinking. When new challenges arise, you won’t feel overwhelmed because your brain has a database of proof that you can handle the moment.

However, the opposite is also true. Replaying negative experiences—missed shots, failures, or mistakes—can do the exact opposite, reinforcing doubt and hesitation. While learning from mistakes is important, dwelling on them can make confidence harder to access when you need it most.

Michael Chandler’s Mental Highlight Reel

One athlete who has mastered this technique is Michael Chandler, a world-class mixed martial artist and former Bellator lightweight champion.

Chandler actively creates and uses his own mental highlight reel to boost confidence before big fights. He explains:

"A mental highlight reel is a written list of times you performed at a high level... Times when you gave yourself permission to be the best and performed with complete disregard to others’ opinions, your own doubts, and free from anything holding you back."

By intentionally recalling past successes, Chandler enters the cage with a mental advantage. Instead of focusing on doubts or pressure, he taps into a reservoir of proof that he can handle the moment.

This is exactly what great athletes do. They remind themselves of what they have already accomplished so they can step into new challenges with unshakable belief.

How to Build Your Own Mental Highlight Reel

To develop this skill, start by recalling your best moments in sports:

• The perfect pass you made in a crucial game.

• The game-winning goal you scored.

• The walk-off home run.

• The personal best time you crushed.

Write these experiences down. Describe them in detail—what you saw, how you felt, and the energy of the moment. If you have actual video clips, even better—put them together with music and watch them before competitions.

The more you review your past successes, the easier it will be to enter high-pressure situations knowing you’ve done it before.

Practical Applications: For Players, Parents, and Coaches

For Players:

• What to Do: Create a written or visual highlight reel of your best performances. Watch or read it before big games to remind yourself what you’re capable of.

• What to Avoid: Don’t let one mistake define you. If you replay failures over and over, you reinforce self-doubt instead of confidence.

For Parents:

• What to Do: When your athlete struggles, remind them of times they’ve succeeded before. Say things like, “Remember when you made that shot last season? You’ve done this before.”

• What to Avoid: Avoid focusing too much on past mistakes. Instead of saying, “Don’t do what you did last time,” reframe it as, “Trust your skills like you did in that last great game.”

For Coaches:

• What to Do: Encourage athletes to keep a confidence journal where they track their best moments. Before big games, remind them, “You’ve already proven you can do this.”

• What to Avoid: Don’t reinforce negative memories by constantly bringing up past failures. Instead, focus on what they’ve done well and how they can replicate it.

Confidence is Built, Not Given

The best athletes don’t hope they’ll be confident when the moment comes. They train their minds to believe in themselves by recalling past successes.

Michael Chandler doesn’t walk into a fight unsure of himself—he enters with a highlight reel of proof that he can win. The same applies to every athlete. When pressure builds, lean on what you’ve already done to remind yourself that you are prepared.

This is how you build mental strength.