Self talk: Using positivity to trump fear
With Cross Country Nationals and the beginning of indoor track season upon us, GBTC athletes have a lot on our minds. For the cross country folks, months of training and racing will culminate in one final performance. For the track folks, the pulsating pressure of the indoor season awaits us. While we take measures to ensure we are constantly improving our physical fitness, we have a tendency to neglect the role of mental fitness in our performances. Today, we address this role.We have all experienced the sense of dread that accompanies excitement prior to a race. The knowledge that we will be in severe pain and fatigue for the near future can be paralyzing; however, we have ways to counter these negative thoughts. Self- talk, an essential component of cognitive control, can either enhance or inhibit performance. Positive self talk can raise athletes’ self-esteem and encourage us to remain in the present rather than focus on past negative thoughts, feelings, or performances. Negative self-talk can cause us to engage in behavior that reaffirms our negative thoughts, thereby suggesting to us that our original negative thoughts are correct. While research suggests that peak performance usually occurs when athletes are not thinking about their performance, rather we are acting automatically, athletes often do think when we are performing and therefore require tools to change our negative thinking to positive thinking.
Running, a solitary and rather painful activity, provides many opportunities for athletes to engage in negative self-talk. Statements such as “I can’t do this,” “I’m tired,” “I just want to stop” run rampant through runners’ minds during performances. How do we change these thoughts?
By recognizing our negative thoughts and coupling those thoughts with thought stoppage techniques and positive thoughts, we can redirect our attention and, therefore, our behavior to enhance our performance. Negative thoughts can lead to negative feelings that can lead to negative behavior that can lead to poor performances. This pattern suggests the importance of eliminating negative thoughts by consistently using a thought stoppage trigger. We should use a trigger word that works for us. If you are having trouble coming up with a word, try the word “stop”.
As a negative thought enters your mind in training or racing, such as the inevitable common thought during the second mile of a cross country race, “I can’t do this - its too hard - I want to stop,” say out loud “stop.” After you tell yourself to stop, give yourself a short true positive statement to repeat to yourself. For example, after saying “stop,” say to yourself, “hang,” meaning that you know you can hang onto the runner in front of you, you’ve done it in the past, and you can use this knowledge to push through your negative thoughts. Make sure you have selected your thought stoppage trigger word and your short positive statement prior to training or competition, so you don’t have to think while you’re in distress, you can just act automatically.
Let me give you a personal example. In a cross country race two years ago, three minutes into the race, negative self-talk crept into my mind. I told myself “Stop. You always feel better after the first mile. Just make it to the first mile.” Once I crossed the 1-mile mark, I told myself to stay within 2 yards of the woman ahead who was wearing green. When my mind told me I was tired, I reminded myself “2 green, 2 green, 2 green.” This caused me to focus less on my negative thoughts and more on my competition. I pulled myself up to the woman in green and focused my energies on her while chanting the constructive phrase “2 green.” I then beat her by over a minute. As someone who tends to underperform in cross country races, if I can use thought stoppage and positive reframing to enhance my performance, so can all of you.
