How to brainwash yourself to become more confident
As a startup founder, I find that confidence is a key ingredient to success. You need confidence in your idea, your team, your product, and most importantly, in yourself. But is confidence innate, or can it be manipulated? To put it another way, are we prisoners to our emotions or can emotions be controlled and regulated just like any other bodily function?
Stanford psychologist James Gross proposed that emotional responses result from the way we appraise our own experiences. Hmm, sounds a lot like frame control. So if we can manipulate our own emotional responses, then confidence should be no different. In fact, Michael Jordan, one of the most confident athletes in history, used a very simple trick to boost his confidence whenever he needed to.
He listened to music that triggered a confident emotional state.
Specifically, he listened to “Giving you the best that I got” by Anita Baker before every game. Many athletes have adopted this trick over the years. In fact, next time you watch a sports broadcast pay special attention to the number of headphones you see during the pre-game locker room footage. Why is music such a powerful emotional regulator? Well, scientists are not entirely sure. But a fun fact is that only humans and hummingbirds have bodies that seem to be designed to react to music. There is something at the core of every person that resonates with song.
The impact of music cuts both ways. If you listen to sad music, you become sadder. If you listen to happy music, you become happier. It sounds obvious, but it’s surprising how many people think it’s a good idea to listen to “break up songs” after a break up. There are tons of ways to improve your mood, such as affirmations and meditation. But listening to songs that increase your confidence is by far the best way to regulate your emotional state.
Here are some practical tips to use music to increase your confidence:
- Create a Spotify playlist filled with songs that get you hyped. This will obviously be different for each person. Here is mine for reference.
- Play the playlist as soon as you wake up in the morning to start your day off on a confident note.
- Anytime you need an extra dose of confidence (such as before a big pitch) queue up the playlist.
- Set the playlist to shuffle. Scientists have found that predictability negatively impacts the amount of dopamine that is released when you hear a song. So randomness will heighten the effect.
I will note that musical tastes vary greatly. The songs I use to in my confidence playlist may not work for you. The key is to create an emotional connection. What songs remind you of an awesome time you had in your past?
What are some songs in your confidence playlist?
This post is part of a multi-part series on psychology for founders. You can read my other posts here:
