ATHLETE SERIES: Why Self-Doubt Is Not Your Enemy In High Performance

Dwayne: Welcome to the Sporting Mindset Show. I'm your host, Dwayne Nestor. And today I'm turning the spotlight back on myself. Now, not in a look at me kind of way, but in a wow, starting a podcast is way harder than I thought kind of way. I want to share the psychological principles I've had to lean on just to get this show off the ground and how those same principles show up everywhere in sport. When I started this podcast, I genuinely felt like a rookie walking in into a new team's locker room. I know the mental side of sport inside out. That's part of my home turf. But podcasting, whole different ball game. New skills, new environment, new expectations. It's exactly like trying a new sport or stepping into a rep team for the first time. You're confident, but you're also not. You're excited, but you're also nervous. You're ready. But also wondering, what if I'm not good enough? And that's self-doubt doing its thing. And here's the kicker: self-doubt isn't a flaw, it's a survival instinct. It's your brain trying to protect you from embarrassment, failure, judgment, all the stuff humans hate. And my version of that was, will I sound good enough? Will my questions be any good? Will anyone actually get value from this? Athletes feel the same way before a big game. Will I perform? Will I meet expectations? Will I let people down? To push through that doubt, I had to build a new internal conversation. One that sounded more like a coach I'd actually want to play for. I reminded myself, you're new to this, you're supposed to be learning. You're supposed to be making mistakes. you're supposed to be on a steep learning curve. And honestly, that mindset has kept me moving. I'm excited to learn the tech side, excited to improve my interviewing, excited to find great guests. And that excitement has become fuel, and fuel beats fear every single time. And it's easy to see why people give in to doubt. It's sneaky. It sits quietly in the background and pops up the moment pressure increases. And quitting feels safe. If you don't try, you can't fail, right? But the safe option is rarely the one that leads to growth. The hard choice, the scary one. That's usually the right one. Choosing to keep going, choosing to accept mistakes, choosing to be judged, choosing to feel uncomfortable. That's how people become pros. Not because they never doubted themselves, but because they didn't let doubt make their decisions for them. One of the best things you can do is create a personal contract with yourself when you're in a good headspace. A contract that says, I accept my flaws, I accept mistakes, I accept criticism, but I won't quit because of them. Practice that internal conversation. Doubt will always show up. But you get to decide whether it gets a seat at the table or just stands awkwardly at the door. Now let's talk about perfectionism. And that's doubt's best friend. They go hand in hand. When I recorded my first few episodes, I edited them like I was trying to win an Oscar for most perfect podcast ever. I cut out every every R, every tiny stumble. And guess what? The episodes sounded worse. They weren't smooth. They weren't natural. They weren't me or my guests. As I tell my kids, smooth is fast. And perfectionism is anything but smooth. Perfectionism tricks you into thinking that perfect is the goal. But perfect isn't real. Perfect isn't human. It's it's not even helpful. over-analysis is the same. It feels productive, like you're doing extra work, but most of the time it's just mental clutter. It's watching your game footage ten times when one viewing would have been enough. It's rewriting your journal entry because the first version didn't sound smart enough. It's obsessing over tiny mistakes. That don't really matter. Learning to analyze effectively is an art. sometimes you need to dig deep into a performance because there's gold in there. Other times, you need to close the laptop, put the pen down, and walk away because you're just feeding perfectionism. High performance athletes struggle with this constantly. The tension between Striving for excellence and chasing perfection. Excellence is achievable. Perfection isn't. I've had to redefine what a perfect podcast is. It's not flawless grammar or robotic delivery. It's thoughtful questions, authentic conversations, and genuine insight, even if the words come out messy. When I look back in a year or two I hope I see mistakes because that means I've grown. I hope I see moments where doubt tried to take over, but didn't. I hope I see episodes where I edited too much, then learned to edit less. Only time will tell. Thanks for joining me on the Sporting Mindset Show today. And I hope I've triggered some deep thought for you about how you relate to doubt and whether you are overanalyzing in pursuit of perfection in your sport. Now, one thing we do know for certain is that mindset matters. So as you progress through your week, reflect on what mindset you're bringing into your sport or your life in general. Please share this with someone you think might benefit from it. and continue being part of a community who value learning and development and appreciate high performance done the right way. I'm Dwayne Nestor and this has been the Sporting Mindset Show.