Micro Setbacks and Confidence: Trusting the Process and Building Mental Resilience
In life, sports, trading, or poker, we all face a common challenge: panic when success doesn't come for a while.
An athlete experiences a losing streak and starts questioning, "Am I really as good as I thought?" A trader has a bad week and panics, thinking, "Maybe I’ll never make a profit again." Someone running a business sees orders drop for a few weeks and worries, "What if this is the end?"
But here's the thing: this fear doesn’t come from failure itself but from short-term fluctuations that feel out of our control. Why does this happen?
Why Do Short-Term Failures Scare Us?
Because our brain hates uncertainty. It craves clarity. If something is going well, it wants to assume it will continue that way. However, real life is full of short-term ups and downs.
This is where the ability to see the bigger picture comes in. Confident individuals with the Elite Mindset do not see short-term dips as indicators of their true ability but as natural fluctuations. Others, however, perceive every downturn as proof that they are failing.
This ties directly into the concept of confidence I talked about earlier.
Confidence and Micro Changes
Confidence has a very easy definition; it is the ability to predict a positive future. If you trust your process and yourself, you understand that a few bad matches or a bad week do not define your true skill level. If your confidence is weak, you will quickly convince yourself of the worst-case scenario.
This connects to Albert Bandura’s concept of performance accomplishments—your past successes are the strongest proof that you can succeed again.
Yet, people often forget their past wins and instead catastrophize their current struggles.
A confident athlete or trader thinks:
✅ "I’ve been through rough patches before and came out stronger. I can do it again."
Someone with low confidence thinks:
❌ "What if this time is different? What if I can’t recover?"
The difference lies in trusting the process. This leads to the main question:
How Do You Trust the Process?
If your process isn’t currently delivering the results you want, how do you still trust it?
Two key factors determine this:
1️⃣ Recognizing that your process has worked in the past – If you've succeeded with this system before, that is the strongest evidence that it will work again.
2️⃣ Measuring and refining the process – If you consistently fail to get results, maybe the process needs minor adjustments. The key is to analyze and optimize, not abandon it entirely just because of temporary setbacks.
This is why the philosophy of "Focus on the Process, Not the Outcome" is crucial.
Trusting the Process vs. Obsessing Over Results
People who focus on results say:
"I lost three games this week, so I must be a bad player."
"My orders are down this month, so my business is failing."
"My last two trades were losses, so my system is broken."
But those who see the bigger picture say:
"This week was tough, but if I stay consistent, I will win in the long run."
"Orders are down, but my business model is strong, and demand will return."
"Losing trades happen, but my overall system is profitable over time."
This is why you should focus on the macro trend, not the micro fluctuations. Life is full of ups and downs.
Conclusion: Acknowledge Fear, But Don’t Let It Control You
Confidence comes from a choice. If your process has worked in the past, you should not let a temporary decline shake your belief in it. If you are unsure whether your process is working, analyze the data, refine your approach, and optimize—but don’t abandon ship at the first sign of trouble.
Key Takeaways: 1️⃣ If micro changes scare you, zoom out and look at the bigger picture. 2️⃣ Confidence is rooted in belief in your process. 3️⃣ If your process has worked before, it will likely work again. 4️⃣ If results aren’t coming, optimize your process instead of abandoning it.
Mentally strong individuals understand this difference. Which side are you on?
