Displaying confidence can be tricky. How many times have you felt like you were so confident, showed that confidence, and someone told you to stop being cocky? What about if you were in a game, passing the ball every chance you got, letting your teammates have some fun on the court, trying to be a team player, and your coach told you that you have to be a little more confident out there? Seems like you can’t win, huh.

It can be hard to differentiate between confidence and cockiness. What is too much or too little? When is it okay to show confidence? When does one know when they are being cocky? Can confidence also be arrogant? How does one remove themselves from being cocky and just show qualities that are confident? Here are the definitions to compare the differences.

Confidence Definition: Knowing you are capable of achieving anything you set your mind too. You think of your goals and no one else’s, you have that predator mindset, you are highly humbled, and you are mentality is strong.

**Examples: “I can get this task done” “I am going to succeed” “With my winning mindset i am capable of anything”

Cockiness Definition: The complete opposite of confidence. This characteristic compares yourself to others. You feel that you are above everyone, nothing will humble you, you have a prey mindset, and you know deep down that you are putting others down to make you seem better.

**Examples: “I am better than you” “You aren’t even worth competing against” “I don’t even need to train because I am already more skilled than everyone else.”

Written by:

Sarah Grippi
Basketball Mindset