Peak Performer Human Performance

In this podcast episode, I'm reading Chapter 3 of Stewart Cotterill's The Psychology of Performance and discussing the difference between self-confidence and self-efficacy. Throughout this reading, I interrupt the narrative to offer my input, clarity on certain aspects, and tips and advice on building up your sense of efficacy.
Cotterill defines confidence as a belief in one's abilities to achieve specific outcomes. This belief is crucial as it impacts several psychological processes essential for high performance, such as motivation, effort, and persistence (Bandura, 1997). The chapter differentiates between self-confidence and self-efficacy. Self-confidence is a broader belief in one's general capabilities, while self-efficacy is more specific, relating to the belief in one's ability to succeed in particular tasks (Bandura, 1986).
Sources of Confidence
Cotterill identifies several key sources of confidence, drawing on extensive psychological research:
Past Performance Accomplishments: Success in previous tasks enhances self-efficacy by reinforcing the belief in one’s ability to achieve similar outcomes in the future (Feltz, 2007). This is the most influential source of self-efficacy because it provides direct evidence of one’s capability.
Vicarious Experiences: Observing others, especially those perceived as similar to oneself, successfully performing tasks can boost an individual's confidence. This process, known as modelling, is powerful because it provides a comparative benchmark and inspires belief in one's own abilities (Schunk, 1987).
Verbal Persuasion: Encouragement and positive feedback from coaches, peers, and mentors can enhance an individual's belief in their capabilities. This source of confidence is effective because it can help individuals overcome self-doubt and focus on their strengths (Bandura, 1997).
Physiological and Emotional States: Positive physical states, such as feeling energetic and healthy, and positive emotional states, such as feeling calm and focused, can enhance self-confidence. Conversely, negative states can undermine confidence (Cotterill, 2018).
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In this week's episode of The Mental Game, I'm talking with Rob O'Donohue from Gartner Consulting on how to create positive workplace culture for small organisations. You'll learn in this episode that even if you are a solo business owner, you can begin to create the right workplace culture for the future. The seeds planted now while you build your business will be vital for positive workplace culture and growth later.

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Why do airline manufacturers hide potentially catastrophic faults from their customers? Why does big tech use behavioural psychology to take advantage of young developing brains? And why do car makers hide vehicle emission data from the public? At the core of these breeches, is unethical decision-making by business leaders with concern for profit at all costs. Unethical Leadership results from a skewed sense of priority, a heightened sense of self-importance, and

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Self-determination is an important concept when considering the human motivation to work and perform. Self-determination theory (SDT)1 explains human motivation, and according to Edward Deci, it is “the energy for action. It gets us up in the morning and moves us through the day”. Motivation allows us to make personal choices based on survival, integration, and work with others and allows us to feel we have control over the direction of our lives.

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In the pursuit of success, we can lead ourselves astray. Caught up in how we might be perceived or in anticipation of the prize, we lose our focus. The work itself becomes less important than the material results. This is detrimental to high performance. High performance can only ever be seen in retrospect. In other words, it's only when the job is done that we get to see the fruit of our work. It's a paradox; we've got to forget about making it happen and get into the work for its own sake. Rewards will be a reflection of our degree of focus, and focus is self-activating - we can't force or coerce it. It is a case of the self becoming absorbed in the work rather than being an observer of it. All thought about our performance takes us out of the work. It is a consequence of the absence of the thinking self that success comes about.

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In this episode, we will explore the autotelic personality and the aspects of the self essential for peak experience in work, sport and indeed, life. We will also explore the nine optimal conditions for Flow according to psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. High performance in all domains of work and play requires it, and the degree to which we may cultivate these aspects of personality will almost certainly influence our performance results. Want to become a better actor, writer, craftsperson, athlete or businessperson? Consider these 9 aspects of the autotelic personality and work consistently to build them in yourself.

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