266: Why Confidence Is Overrated | Braden Brown, Associate Athletic Director for Mental Health at BYU Athletics

Braden Brown is the Associate Athletic Director for Mental Health at BYU Athletics, where he helps student-athletes navigate both the mental and performance demands of athletics. A Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist and Certified Mental Performance Consultant (in training), Braden works with athletes on everything from anxiety and relationships to confidence, focus, and performing under pressure.

Before joining BYU, Braden spent four years as Director of Mental Performance and Counseling Services at IUPUI, supporting athletes across all 18 Division I programs. He holds a Ph.D. in Medical Family Therapy from East Carolina University, along with degrees from Utah State and BYU.

In this episode we discuss the following:

• Confidence is helpful—but it’s not required.
• We tend to believe that success starts with feeling ready, feeling certain, feeling like we belong. But Braden’s story flips that. He didn’t feel like he belonged at BYU. He didn’t feel like he belonged in the NFL. He didn’t even feel like he was “PhD material.” And yet, he showed up anyway. And when he couldn’t believe in himself, he leaned on the belief others had in him.
• Over time, showing up did what confidence couldn’t—it built it.
• There’s also something powerful in how Braden reframes our relationship with emotions. Fear, doubt, anxiety—those aren’t signals to stop. They’re part of being human. And even top performers feel them. The mistake is letting them drive the car.
• Like the athlete he described—who felt great and performed poorly, then felt terrible and went out and set a national record. Feelings don’t determine performance.
• So the better question isn’t, “Do I feel ready?” It’s, “What can I commit to—regardless of how I feel?”
• Who we are today is not who we’ll be in three months—but how we show up today determines who we become.
• Action doesn’t follow confidence. More often, confidence follows action.