The cart and the horse

It's been said that confidence is needed for consistency.  My consistency has been poor lately despite feeling very confident. And we know confidence can be misplaced so the above statement isn't right.

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Thinking about this and here is what I've come up with. Both confidence and consistency are end products. And they are not related - this cart and horse do not go together. No, what brings consistency is a repeatable shot process. Now that makes sense.

 

If you can repeat your shot process exactly the same way every time, you will be more consistent. Now, you can lack confidence and still see consistency by relying on that repeatable process. You'll be nervous and not having fun, but repeatability can get you through. Ok, so what is the cart behind the confidence horse?

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Work. You have to put in the work. Both on the practice table and then also for each shot during competition. Hard work builds confidence in what you are doing. Hard work alone will not get you a repeatable stroke. You have to know the what and the why to do that. Confidence comes from hard work. And consistency comes from a quality repeatable shot process.

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At least that how I am seeing it at the moment. I've struggled my last three sessions and even started missing shots I was confident I would make. Something was very wrong. BPI sub 20. This afternoon I tried to put the carts behind the proper horses. Started out shaky at first, but then found my confidence as well as consistency returning. I ran 44, 57, 80. Hope that makes sense and help someone.