The Super Confidence of 3 Sporting Legends
How Zlatan Ibrahimović, Mohammad Ali, and LeBron James’s belief can teach us all about how to succeed in life
“I am Zlatan. I can’t help but laugh at how perfect I am”
Zlatan Ibrahimović was a fantastic footballer whose range of skills outshone his large physique but not his big personality.
He exuded confidence. And could write the book on it, but would probably insist that others bow to him and write it on him instead.
And that’s the thing about confidence in sports performance, you must know your value and use it to you and your team’s benefit as much as possible.
In Ibrahimović’s case, he was a Swedish professional footballer who played for Malmo, Juventus, Inter Milan, Barcelona, Barcelona, Milan, Paris Saint Germain, Manchester United, and LA Galaxy. You may think at first glance that he was a journeyman throughout his long career given the number of teams and countries he played in. And you may also think that he was not a loyal player and that he’s not the type of player you’d look to as a real leader.
But you’re wrong if this was the case.
Because Zlatan returned to Milan after leaving them and was made the captain of Manchester United in the winter of his career even though he had only been there a very short time.
And all of this came from his self-confidence.
That is exactly what victory demands.
Performing at the highest level is about fierce competition and split seconds and bounces of balls are inconsistencies that every team and opponent have to deal with. You can’t plan for that. But you can make sure you’re prepared for it.
And the easiest way of doing this is by being fully confident in your performance.
But Zlatan is not the only professional sportsperson who has confidence and performs at the highest level consistently.
Cassius Clay aka Mohammad Ali was voted as the ‘Greatest Athlete of the 20th century’. Although he was successful as a boxer it was his confidence which captured the world’s imagination.
Ali said of himself:
“I am the greatest”
And in doing so, predicted his future. Many saw it as brash and arrogant when he proclaimed this, but guess what? He was right.
Now Ali also said many other things. But he always backed it up. He was not only the master of show business in describing the great athletic ability that he had but he was brave in the prediction of his future performance and proved his words to be correct after he said big things about himself.
This showed his complete confidence in his ability and many more admired him for it.
Because people love winners. But they love winners that are loyal to their word more than those that talk arrogantly and fail to back it up. There’s a difference, and Ali was the one who epitomized it the best.
By putting the wheel before the cart, Ali got people’s attention.
Unlike Zlatan who spoke confidently about himself and played in a team sport, Ali was on his own in the ring with only his words of confidence echoing in his followers’ ears tempting him to push back against boxing opponents who tried to dominate his sport.
In his younger days, basketball’s LeBron James was accused of talking too much and not performing up to the level of his words. But soon after he developed and began to show his worth. Yet many still felt he was a pain in the ass as he was so opinionated.
This was clear in many games he played when he’d often inquire to referees during games about small decisions that were going against his team.
But James did this because he cared about his teammates and this was evident when he spoke so well of the need for teamwork when he said:
“When you have that respect from your teammates, it makes it a lot more comfortable.”
This showed that James knows that his confidence and ability, although pivotal to success in a small team game like basketball (which only has 4 other players on the team) was important but only if it fitted with the winning strategy for the whole team too.
And the main thing about football’s Zlatan Ibrahimović, boxing’s Mohammad Ali, and basketball’s LeBron James is that they all succeeded in their sports. And they were revered and feared by opponents.
Zlatan never won every honor in the football world, Ali lost to opponents on occasion, and James’s teams never won every game, but there was an aura around them when they played.
And even their teammates and cornermen listened when they spoke. Sometimes in fear, but always in respect.
Why? Because they knew that each one of them was committed to performing at their highest level and would back up their words when pushed by others to do so.
And they did and this epitomizes what high performers in sport are.
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