What does it take for world class athletes to put up medal-winning performances year after year? What does it take for a salesman to be the star performer month after month or what does it take a young officer to remain calm in the middle of a firefight and come out victorious?

No performer can enter the arena and win without first achieving victory over the internal enemies of self-doubt, fear, and uncertainty. The Confident Mind provides specific techniques and advice for achieving the state of mind you need to perform well when you need it most.

In the book, the readers are introduced to real life examples related to self-belief and performing to the fullest potential and confidence at the highest level. Nate Zinsser, the Director of West Point’s Performance Psychology Program shares the secrets of mental toughness and self-belief in this new and definitive book to mastering confidence, the key to performance in any field. Alongside this work at West Point, Zinsserhas coached world-class athletes and numerous Olympic medalists teaching them to overcome pressure and succeed on the biggest stages.

The key concept to your peak performance is what is called the ‘First Victory’. This concept was first propounded by Sun Tsu in his book The Art of War. He said: “Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.”

As one who has served in the Armed Forces and now leading the human resource function of a business, it has always intrigued me how the same person, otherwise so confident in practice (without pressure) could be completely different when it came to performing on the big stage. It is this concept of winning your internal battle with yourself (the First Victory) and becoming so confident prior to the event that the actual event just flows to perfection is what The Confident Mind intends to show.

Zinsser wants us to understand that one single trait above all others makes peak performance possible: Confidence, or the belief in oneself. Whether your mission involves leading a platoon into combat, returning an opponent’s serve, or delivering a sales pitch, you perform best when you are so certain about your abilities that your fear, doubts, and confusion reduces to the minimum.

The author agrees and quotes extensively from well-established studies which show that mental positivity improves performance. However, the author succeeds in convincing the reader that positivity and confidence is not inherent or something with which we are born. It can be learned. The book revolves around various aspects proving that confidence “can be learned, it is situation specific, it needs to be maintained and recreated”.

The book stresses on the importance of the Success Cycle wherein positive thoughts leads to confidence, peace of mind and trust in oneself which leads to a relaxed physical state wherein the body releases joy chemicals which leads to excellent execution. What makes this book so special, and riveting are the various methods, so simple to execute, to create that sense of confidence, so that at the time when peak performance is called for, the task is executed without any conscious thought.

The USP of this book is, therefore, the simple mental steps and thoughts to become supremely confident. Drawing on extensive research and packed with real life examples of world-class sportsmen, soldiers in action, people working in corporates, this is a practical and inspirational guide to achieve that bulletproof confidence.

The author emphasises on building one’s mental vault with one’s best and most recent memories in our chosen field. Review these positive memories as frequently as once a day or even after an event. Filter out the not-so-good ones from your memory. The author uses the concept of the self-fulfilling prophecy to make it work for you and he emphasises the need for repetition to harness this.

In my career I have come across the concepts of Visualisation and Envisioning. Battle Inoculation training in the Army, conditioning athletes to visualise the race just before their events, envisioning a big presentation before an important meeting are some of the things we have consciously and unconsciously done. In the book, the techniques to harness this concept have been explained vividly. Envisioning provides a sense of certainty and feeling of being in absolute control during big events so that one remains in control, even if there is a glitch in the course of the event.

The author clarifies that negative thoughts will attack every human’s mind and therefore he suggests some important steps to counter these. Often there is a tendency of ours to treat errors and setbacks as long-term acts of shame and self-castigation. This ends up entrapping us in an unending loop of low confidence resulting in low performance. The one step recommended by the author that I particularly liked is that each error and setback be treated as temporary; that happened that one time, and that “I am not like that”. It is important to get out of the “here I go again trap”.

The CBA concept

Once your confidence is built, the author shows you how to enter the arena (meeting room, sports field, battle field) with confidence and how to play the ‘game’ from start to finish. The key to high performance during the actual event revolves around what the author calls the C-B-A concept. Positive Cue (thought) clears the internal negative chatter, Breathe deeply to bring focus into the present moment and Attaching one’s attention to what matters to you right now.

Throughout the book, the author reminds us of the importance of attaining that First Victory before the big event. The concepts elucidated in the book are real and validated by sportsmen and officers who have performed at the highest level. This requires commitment, effort, and ongoing practice. But they really work and will ensure that you attain your First Victory. Nadal’s win at the recent Australian Open resonates with this.

So, whether you are an aspiring CXO, an aspiring athlete or want to become a star salesman, and consistently win at the game of your chosen field, Nate Zinsser’s book is a must-read book for you.

If readers would like to imbibe the simple tips the book offers to inculcate a confident mindset and consistently win at the game, I recommend you own the book. 

(Cyrus A Minwalla heads the HR function of one of the Business Groups of Tata Projects. Prior to joining Tata Projects, he was in the Indian Army. He is an avid reader and enjoys outdoor sports).

Check out the book on Amazon here

About the Book:

The Confident Mind: A Battle Tested Guide to Unshakable Performance

Dr Nate Zinsser

Penguin

₹799; 335 pages

comment COMMENT NOW