How can anyone, regardless of their background, develop lasting confidence?

Confidence isn’t something you’re born with—it’s a skill you build, and Dr. Nate Zinsser has spent his career helping elite athletes, military leaders, and business professionals master it. In this episode, he shares lessons from his work with NFL star Eli Manning, Olympic athletes, and West Point cadets, revealing how anyone can develop unshakable self-belief.

Dr. Nate Zinsser is a mental performance coach, author The Confident Mind, and a longtime director at West Point’s Performance Psychology Program.

Topics explored in this episode:

(02:00) The Foundation of Confidence

- Why some people embrace coaching while others resist it.

(10:30) The Making of a Performance Psychologist

- How wrestling and martial arts shaped Nate’s approach to confidence.

(20:45) Training the Mind

- How the military and top athletes develop mental resilience.

- The story of Olympic bobsledder Jill Bakken and her confidence breakthrough.

(30:20) The Eli Manning Mindset Shift

- How Eli Manning transformed from an uncertain quarterback to a Super Bowl MVP.

- The specific mental habits that made him a clutch performer.

- Why reframing struggles can lead to a breakthrough.

- The bus driver lesson: Changing your mind to change your day.

Thanks to Dr. Nate Zinsser for being on the show!

Learn more about Nate on https://www.natezinsser.com and https://www.linkedin.com/in/nate-zinsser-35349010/

Get Nate’s book, The Confident Mind: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1847942946/

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the Scaling Up Business podcast, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Join Bill in the Growth Navigator Coaching Program: https://ScalingCoach.com/workshop

Bill on LinkedIn: https://www.LinkedIn.com/in/BillGall

Bill on YouTube: https://www.YouTube.com/@BillGallagherScalingCoach

Visit https://ScalingUp.com to learn more about Verne Harnish, our team of Scaling Up Coaches, and the Scaling Up Performance Platform, which includes coaching, learning, software, and summit. We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail. We help leadership teams with the biggest decisions around people, strategy, execution, and cash so that they can scale up successfully and beat the odds of business growth.

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This episode was produced by Story On Media & Marketing: https://www.successwithstories.com

Episode 2997 CWSA 10/23/25

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