Anchoring is a way to help build a good, strong sense of self-confidence.
Remember a time when you were confident, revivify that feeling, and anchor it. Even if that feeling of confidence was being that kid in the candy store who knew what he or she wanted and knew how to get it.
What do we mean by anchoring?
Anchoring is sort of like conditioning and conditioned responses, although they’re technically different.
An anchor can happen with a one time significant emotional experience. And you can reinforce that anchor over time.
Conditioning is like when Pavlov fed the hungry dogs his meat paste and rang the bell. Soon he had them conditioned to salivate at the sound of the bell, even though he wasn’t giving them any meat paste.
But the response wore off over time, if it wasn’t reinforced from time to time with the meat paste AND the bell ringing at the same time.
Well, we all have anchors, and more than likely our level of confidence or lack thereof is due to some sort of significant emotional event or events that either raised our level of confidence or shattered it.
We can correct that sort of thing by remembering a previous experience of confidence, then as you remember, actually step in to that event, and feel what you felt, see what you saw, hear what you heard, notice any body sensations you had at the time, and set a trigger, like squeezing your thumb, or a word or picture you mentally repeat on the inside.
The kinesthetic anchors work really well, so whatever other method you use, make sure you also have that kinesthetic one.
For example, you could tell yourself on the inside “YEAH! GO FOR IT!” at the same time you squeeze your finger.
The anchor needs to be set AS the state is reaching the peak, so you set the anchor while the state is still increasing.
Then you test the anchor by going in to a neutral state and triggering that anchor to make sure you go back in to that feeling again.
You have to make sure the pressure is the same, location is the same, etc. For example, if you squeeze your thumb, do it in EXACTLY the same way you did when you set the anchor.
Setting those anchors up ahead of time is a real good way to wire in what kinds of responses you want to have, and to do mental rehearsal of your wanted behavior, to prepare ahead of time for your intended outcome.
Remember the 5 P’s: Proper, Prior Planning Prevents Pitifully Poor Performance!
Preparation is the key to success with regards to confidence or anything else you want to get good at.
And also recognize that your imagination plays a huge role in this process. Many people with low self confidence are busy talking trash to themselves on the inside or they’re internally worried about what others see or think. They do a good job of the “3 perceptual positions,” but they’re all paranoid about it.
The anchoring exercise we just went over, though, is an example of preparation and using the imagination. You take that anchor and attach the feelings of confidence to your intended outcome – for instance, getting better grades or meeting others in social contexts or confidence at some task at work.
Keep in mind, though, that there are additional ways you can mentally rehearse your success. And as you do that, you condition in the experience of confidence to the particular context you prepare for.
