I recently came across a beautiful thought by athlete Eileen Gu on Farnam Street.

She said something amazing that I have read repeatedly.

She spoke about how sport builds confidence, not through positive affirmations but through evidence.

Not by telling yourself, “I can do this.”

But by proving to yourself, again and again, that you can.

Every early morning…Every difficult training session…Every extra hour when no one was watching…Every time you chose discipline over comfort.

That is how self-belief is built.

It struck me that this has enormous relevance for us as financial professionals.

Many MFDs tell me they want more confidence.

Confidence to speak to larger clients.

Confidence to be compensated for their value.

Confidence to hire people.

Confidence to build a team.

Confidence to grow.

But confidence is not something you think your way into.

It is something you earn.

I have found that one of the best ways to earn it has nothing to do with our profession.

It is sport.

Are you playing one?

If not, I genuinely believe you should.

Because sport teaches lessons that no business book can.

It teaches consistency.

Resilience…Humility…Delayed gratification…Discipline.

It teaches you to lose gracefully and come back stronger.

It teaches you that improvement is rarely dramatic. It is built one practice session at a time.

Most importantly, it gives you evidence.

When you’ve run five kilometers before, you know you can run five again.

When you’ve climbed that hill before, you know you can climb it again.

When you’ve played under pressure before, you know you can perform under pressure again.

That evidence quietly spills over into every other part of your life.

Into your business…Into your relationships…Into your leadership.

I sometimes wonder whether the most successful entrepreneurs aren’t simply better businesspeople.

Perhaps they have spent years building confidence somewhere else first…On a cricket field or a tennis court or a badminton court.

May be a marathon route.

A swimming pool or even inside a gym.

Here’s a simple question.

What sport are you playing?

Because your next breakthrough in business may not come from another sales workshop or another book.

It may come from discovering what it feels like to keep a promise you made to yourself, every single day.

That kind of confidence cannot be borrowed.

It cannot be bought…It cannot be faked…It can only be earned.

Few things earn it better than sport.

What are you waiting for?