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Today’s pressure tip is about eliminating destructive thinking and the critical voice inside your head to reduce pressure.
It’s called negative self talk and it is a significant contributing factor to experiencing stress, anxiety and ultimately, that pressure we are working on getting rid of because it’s part of that “Interference” that gets in the way of your best performances.
Thoughts like, “I can’t do this”, “I’m not big enough, fast enough or strong enough” or worse “I’m not good enough” are only going to INCREASE the amount of pressure an athlete feels when they need to perform their best the most. The thing about this tip is it’s also the EASIEST to fix.
In the time in between the action, our minds can often default into destructive thinking.
The solution is to keep that intelligent mind of yours busy with the “right” thoughts that crowd out the negative thoughts.
Telling yourself to “stop thinking so much” will just get you frustrated.
I give you a powerful idea for how to eliminate negative self talk in this Pressure Tip 2 video.
Click the graphic to learn more about the Mental Toughness Training.
How To Motivate Kids In Youth Sports
Negative self talk in sport performance is one of the biggest issues for youth athletes. “I can’t do this” “I’m not good enough”.
I remember working with a 14 year old golfer, Lisa, who would always fold under pressure as she got closer to the back nine, because of her negative self talk.
With too much time in between shots, her mind would often default into destructive thinking.
The solution..I told her she needed to keep that intelligent mind of hers busy with mundane details of the game, so that it crowded out her negative thoughts.
She did this by focusing on the mechanics of the strokes she had practiced so often they had became automatic. If she wanted to give her mind a break, she would think about being on her favorite vacation or her dog.
This simple tip dramatically changed her game!
Telling kids to “stop thinking so much” just gets them frustrated. You will have more success, when you tell them to think about things that put them in a good mood or get them to focus on the basics. This allows no room in their brains for negative thoughts to even show up.
Building mental toughness this way creates confidence and great performances will start showing up, especially under pressure.
Do you ever wonder how you can be a mentally tough athlete? The first step is to know strengths and weaknesses as an athlete. Take our mental toughness quiz to find out your weaknesses and how you can strengthen them to become a mentally tough athlete! Take the quiz for free here: sportsmentaltoughness.com