The Atlanta Lawyer June/July 2016 | Page 32

WHAT ’ S WRONG WITH BEING CONFIDENT ( OR NOT ): Q & A WITH A SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY CONSULTANT
LIFESTYLE
WHAT ’ S WRONG WITH BEING CONFIDENT ( OR NOT ): Q & A WITH A SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY CONSULTANT
By Kristin Zielmanski Zielmanski Law LLC kristin @ zielmanski . com

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recently had the pleasure of meeting a sport psychology consultant , Abby Keenan , co-owner of Intrepid Performance Consulting . Since 2011 , Abby has been working with middle school , high school , collegiate , and professional athletes , helping them to improve their performance on the field and in their courses . Before starting her own company , Abby worked as a Cognitive Performance Coach at Fort Bragg , where she trained Army Special Operations Soldiers on cognitive enhancement techniques to increase their ability to endure , evolve , and excel during their courses , as well as enable them to become effective operational soldiers .
As Abby described some of the issues that her athleteclients commonly experience , it occurred to me that her expertise and strategies could also be helpful for lawyers . After all , the majority of lawyers I meet describe themselves as being “ very competitive ”, which makes perfect sense . As they made their way through high school , college , and then law school , lawyers were often the overachievers : the honors students who were involved in multiple extracurricular activities and sports , and who ultimately chose to pursue a career requiring them to compete within an adversarial system . Having chosen to practice law , lawyers are involved in arguing and negotiating , as well as winning and losing , on a daily basis . This undoubtedly contributes to the unfortunate statistics about lawyers suffering from depression and addiction , and high rates of suicide . Given this , one could conclude that a little more focus on the psychology of lawyers would be helpful .
With this in mind , I recently sat down with Abby for a Q & A to see if she had any helpful insight from working with her athlete-clients that could apply to those of us in this profession :
KZ : What is one of the biggest issues you commonly see among the athletes you work with ? AK : One of the issues I often see in working with clients is confidence – either a lack thereof , or issues with being overly confident .
KZ : What problems arise when someone lacks confidence ? AK : When someone lacks confidence , you often notice this due to his or her poor body language , negative or degrading self-talk ( what you say to yourself ), and in general , decreased performance . Over time , if confidence is not built , you will also typically see a loss of motivation .
KZ : What is the problem with being overly confident ? AK : When people have too much confidence , there can also be negative effects . With a tremendous belief in their abilities , they may put less effort into their continued development or implementing changes based on feedback . When they do make a mistake or experience failure , they also tend to place the blame on external sources rather than evaluating what they did wrong and how to fix it . As you can imagine , this can impact their relationships with teammates ( or co-workers ) as well .
KZ : Where does confidence come from , or how does one get it ? AK : Great question , because a lot of people believe confidence is something either you have or you don ’ t . The truth is , it is a skill that can be built over time by leveraging four ( 4 ) sources of confidence : 1 . Past experience . This is based on your own personal experience , including success and failure . Ideally ,
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