What comes first, confidence or consistency?

A student of mine asked me this question: What comes first, confidence or consistency? Since I know he used to play basketball, I asked him about shooting. I said: "If you are shooting at the basket, is your intention to make it? He said: "Yeah, of course. And when I've made a fair amount of them, I feel confident."
 
If you want to be confident in your golf game, I would recommend that you set an intention when you play and practice. “Where attention goes, energy flows” – and so, whatever you put your intention on, is what you will eventually get. Yes, I know. I know that it is not fool-proof. Life isn't fool-proof either. But if you set an intention, you might surprise yourself on how often you will get it. Intention has a close relative: attention. When you decide to put your attention on the club face for example, you will learn something about it.
 
Here's where I think a lot of us get it wrong: we are not present. We get in our heads. We start to make up stuff. When you play golf, remember this: there are only four things that are real – you (the body), the ball, the club and the target.
 
Confidence and consistency are intertwined. You set an intention; you get consistent with that. You gain confidence. You get more consistent.
 
It pulls you back and forth.
 
The bump in the road is a chasm called expectation. Down in the chasm lives a monkey who wants and will eat all your bananas, if you let him. When you start to expect to shoot a certain score or hit a certain way, you are in your head already.
 
Create every shot anew. Be intentional. Go. Learn. Repeat.
 

Enjoy the weekend!
 
Rebecka