Conor McGregor, Coach K, and Confidence

Webinar Wednesday, January 6, 2021

Before we get into this week’s article I wanted to invite you to a webinar discussing my new on-line course: Creating Culture. Joe Ferraro host of the 1% Better Podcast will be joining me for a conversation on culture, change and high-performing organizations. Here is the link. I hope to see you there!

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Is there any better environment to test confidence than a UFC fight? 

Can you imagine standing outside of a dressing room waiting for the fight? Then walking down the aisle in front of thousands of live fans and millions watching on TV.  Waiting in the ring is a person highly trained in the art of doing physical damage. 

Did I mention you are doing this while wearing basically your underwear?   

You’d learn pretty quickly whether or not you were confident.  Don’t you think? 

Confidence is an amazing phenomenon.  Most will agree that to perform at a high level confidence is a must.  Recently, I went down a rabbit hole pondering this elusive trait. 

From the Dictionary

To help, I turned to the Merriam-Webster on-line dictionary. Confidence is “having or showing assurance and self-reliance; full of conviction.”  Needing more clarity I looked further into assurance, “freedom from self-doubt or uncertainty” and conviction, “a strong persuasion or belief.”

Get in the Arena

How does one become confident?  It’s important to understand we’ll never know our confidence level until we are in a high stakes environment: a big game, job interview, first date, a performance, standing over a four foot putt, speaking in public….a UFC fight.  It’s easy to believe we have assurance in times of comfort.  It’s when the pressure dials up where our conviction is tested. 

Can it be inherited? 

Earlier this month, I tuned into Duke Basketball’s press conference following their loss against Illinois.  Duke is a national power, but they experienced back-to-back losses.  Coach Krzyzewski’s team is young and struggling with confidence.  “This is a learned experience.  This is not inherited wealth. You have to earn that with a new group.” 

Coach K has made it clear that the past success of their program doesn’t create confidence for the present team.  Confidence is developed with hard work, struggle, perseverance, and ultimately triumph. 

The process cannot be cheated. 

Conor McGregor’s Walkout:

I showed our team this video of Connor McGregor walking into the ring.  Here were the observations:

“He’s calm but alert.”

“He’s using his body: chest is out and eyes forward.”

“He’s weird and unusual”- Joe Rogan

“He owns the ring when he climbs through the ropes.”

 “He’s won the fight in his mind.  There’s no doubt.”

To me, this is a 3:00 minute clip of what confidence looks like.  He’s walking into the ring against a highly skilled fighter.  He’s putting it all on the line.  He’s earned the right to believe. 

Three Confidence To Do’s:

Coach K taught us that confidence can’t be inherited.  So, here are a few things to consider to become confident:

1. Do the Work: Nothing can replace ridiculous hard work.  There’s no way McGregor could enter the ring free of doubt if his training wasn’t thorough.  No amount of showmanship can deliver results.  The plan and process must be there.
2. Do something Hard: We are in the middle of a pandemic.  There are constraints on just about anything we do. For some athletes, training facilities are closed or heavily restricted. It’s easy to throw in the towel. I believe this is an opportunity to do something hard.  Go run a hill.  Dribble in the snow.  Get up early.  Making sacrifices and doing things that make no sense to anyone but you is a pathway to confidence. 
3. Do You: Rogan calls McGregor, “weird and unusual.”  How cool is that!  Being confident requires leaning into our authentic self.  Accepting and welcoming judgement and criticism are ways to combat being self-conscious.  Who cares what others think?

Final Thought

“You need to know you’ve done everything possible for this moment.  You will not quit on yourself.  You’ve been in difficult situations and overcame them.”- Forrest Griffin, UFC Vice President of Athlete Development, on what it takes to have confidence on fight night.

I’ll never be in a UFC bout; I doubt you will either.  We will, however, have moments where confidence is needed.

Reflect on what we know about confidence. It takes assurance- being absent of self-doubt.  It requires the conviction knowing you will get the job done.

Remember that confidence can’t be inherited. It takes work, sacrifice, and understanding that your self-worth will not be defined by an event.

What if the next time we ran a meeting, entered a classroom, made the sales pitch- we visualized standing outside of a dressing room. We imagined there was a crowd and our competition was fierce (you can be fully dressed for this exercise).

What if we decided to do everything in our power to make that event a success?

Would our preparation look different than usual? 

That’s how we gain confidence- through hard work, perseverance and being authentic.  Not some shortcut.   

Question for Coaches/Leaders?

How can you foster environments that breed confidence?