By: Jacob Daheim, MA

For the past several years, Lindsey has been one of the best sprinters across the state but has failed to qualify for the State Championship Meet. She is inconsistent, posting very different times at meets. On some days she appears to be relaxed, calm, and in control. While on other days she seems out of control both mentally and physically. When she runs a slow time during qualifying, she gets angry at herself and runs poorly for the rest of the meet. When questioned, Lindsey reveals that when she gets upset, not only does she get down on herself (“you suck”) which hurts her confidence, but she gets lost in her thoughts and cannot focus on what she needs to do next.

What is Self-Talk?

Lindsey’s story shows the impact your “self-talk” can have on your performance. But what is self-talk? Self-talk includes all things that you say to yourself both silently and out loud. Self-talk can be very useful and help your performance. It can:

• Be positive (“Yes! That’s what I’m talking about!”)

• Tell you what you need to do next (“Make sure hit it to her backhand”)

• Tell you where you need to focus (“I need to concentrate on the next pitch”)

• Motivate you (“You can do this”)

When left untrained, self-talk can become negative and critical. “You suck, so just give it up,” “Why do you even try,” “You missed the last free through so you’re going to miss this one too.” Negative self-talk can make performance worse and can result in a downward spiral like Lindsey, where one mistake or slow race leads to more mistakes and poor race times.

Training your Self-Talk

Just as you train your body to do a certain skill or maintain a certain pace, you need to train your self-talk. In other words, you need to train your mind to think positive or neutral thoughts and focus on things that will help your performance. Providers at Tackett and Bradstreet can help you train and control your self-talk to improve your performance. Here are a few specific strategies that we could help you with:

1. Becoming aware of your self-talk: One of the first steps to gaining control of your self-talk is understanding what you tend to say to yourself. Once, you know what you are saying to yourself, then you can learn to change this self-talk.

2. Focusing on the present: A common self-talk error is focusing on the past or future. “I can’t believe I missed that shot.” Not letting go of bad performances or mistakes takes your thoughts away from where they should be – on the present. All you have control over is the present, the right now, so that is where your thoughts should be.

3. Focusing on strengths during competition: “My start sucks” or “I hope she doesn’t hit it to my backhand”. During competition, focusing on weaknesses can diminish your confidence. It can also make it more likely to come true. Preferably, during competition you want to think about your strengths and positive and neutral thoughts. Now during practice, you can focus on improving your weaknesses.

4. Developing a competition self-talk plan: Preparing what you want to say to yourself during competition in advance can help you feel prepared and use the right self-talk to help your performance. Panning your thoughts for when things go wrong can help you be ready for the unexpected and bounce back from a mistake.

Quote of the Day: "You are what you say to yourself most of the time.”

– William James –

Joke of the Day: Why can’t your nose be 12 inches long? Because then it would be a foot.