Self talk can be defined as a conversation we have with ourselves whether it is audible or not. There are various kinds of self-talks that can be identified: One type gets athletes to direct attention (“focus”); a second type labels self and others (“what a loser”); a third judges performance (“you call that a fastball?” They all contribute or undermine athletic performance. In Part I, we talked about irrational beliefs and cognitive distortions. Inevitably, they are manifested in self-talks – the vehicles for making perceptions and beliefs conscious – therein providing the keys to altering how we think and what we do.

Competitive Sports and Self-Talk

Qualifying divers for competitions used more positive self-instruction self-talk and less praising self-talk during competition than non-qualifiers. Successful Olympic athletes often used positive self-statements as part of a well-developed pre-competition plan. On the other hand, athletes with an ineffective focus of attention were characterized by self-doubts. Also, Olympic wrestlers indicated that self-talk was a common technique for fostering positive expectancies and appropriately focusing attention on the task. Another study showed that junior tennis players found that negative self-talk was associated with losing and no relationship between positive self-talk and better performance. Three types of positive self-talk (task relevant statements, mood words, and positive self-statements) had a positive relationship to performance with cross-country skiers. Golfers and bowlers demonstrated a positive association between performance and positive self-monitoring. In conclusion, both positive self-talk and self-confidence are associated with better or at least “no worse” performances. A positive self-concept, high self-confidence, a task-relevant focus of attention and less self-doubt relate to better performance.

Using Self-Talk

There are a variety of uses of self-talk in exercise and sport: habits can be corrected, attention focused, behaviors modified, improvements in self-confidence occur and participation in sport and exercise encouraged and maintained.

Sometimes an athlete will get into bad habits. Because they have been active for a long time, they are automatic. Self-talk can help consciously override these “knee jerk” behaviors. The content of the self-talk can range from a description of an entire motion (e.g., “bend the knees slightly, take a deep breath, shift the weight slowly to the back leg, lift the club slowly, let the club do the work as I come back and through the ball”). When you use self-talk for changing bad habits, the athlete must focus on desirable movements, and not on unwanted movements. An example is “Shift weight to the front leg!”- not – “Don’t hold back!” This type of self-talk is helpful during the learning stage, but not necessarily during actual competitive performance if the correct actions occur automatically, without prompting.

During practices and competitions athletes can use self-talk to more effectively focus attention. Cue words and self-statements (“right now” or “be here”) can bring us into the here and now. Task-specific cues can aid in the same endeavor (“Track the ball.” Or “Pick the target.”).

Sometimes athletes need to adjust their activation level. Self-statements can help with increasing or decreasing levels of activity. Relaxation (“easy,” “quiet,” “relax”) or energizing (“go,” “get up,” “pumped”) cues will shift energy levels throughout the body. For greater effectiveness, athletes should pick cues that have the best emotional content for them. Optimal activation can be achieved by using these cues throughout practice and competition.

Self-confidence can be affected by self-statements. Self-talk that reflects negative expectancies and excessive self-doubt will decrease self-confidence (e.g., “Once again I am a loser.” or “I have no chance.”). Even if situations warrant negative self-criticism, it should be restricted to performance and behavior, and not directed to the self. There are many sources of self-confidence that are outside of an athlete’s control (e.g., performance outcome, expectations and talent of others). On the other hand, the athlete can control self-talk – which can be a powerful source of self-confidence and motivation. Positive impact self-talk can be taught just as negative self-talk was taught. Even though negative self-talk can be initially motivating, it often leads to a lower level of self-confidence.

Self-efficacy cognitions are a significant factor in predicting adoption and adherence to exercise programs. In addition, these thoughts can serve as mediators in the relationship between social support and exercise adherence. Modifying self-efficacy cognitions toward exercise does contribute to adoption or adherence to exercise routines.

Athletes must be aware of the content of self-statements before they can change them and effect performance. This is as true with negative/self-defeating self-talk as well as positive/ facilitating self-talk. A technique for keeping track of the frequency of self-talk statement is to have the athlete carry a number of paper clips in a pocket. Each time a negative self-talk statement occurs instruct the athlete to move a paper clip from one pocket into another. Motivation to change can occur when an athlete realizes just how many clips have been moved into the new pocket.

Visual imagery can help recall past experiences and related self-talk statements. Some athletes are better at this skill than others. They can connect the impact of these cognitions on emotions and performance.

Another suggestion is to employ a retrospective approach. This involves reflecting upon performances in which the athletes did well or poorly. What thoughts and feelings prior to and during these events can be recalled? This technique is most effective if it occurs immediately after the competition or practice. Cognitions are easily forgotten. Watching a videotape of the activity can trigger memories of thoughts. If an athlete has little or no awareness of self-talk, this technique may not be effective.

Athletes who are not aware of content and frequency of verbalizations during practices and performances could use daily record keeping in a self-talk log. This log should include the situation in which the self-talk occurred, the content of the self-statements, and the consequences of the self-talk written in terms of performance and emotional consequences. The advantages of this log include accuracy and thorough identification of self-talk, best identification of the situations initiating self-talk and consequences of the self-talk. If the athlete can carry around a tape recorder during practice to provide immediate documentation, it would provide more reliable information.

Techniques for Altering Self-Talk

Once the identification of self-talk has been raised to a level of noticeable significance and sufficient motivation is achieved, changing negative thoughts to positive ones can be accomplished. There must be commitment to change by an athlete for all this to take place. And even then, there might not be success in self-talk change. Why? The athlete might be lacking in self-esteem and self-confidence caused by negative self-concepts that are deep routed. Fundamentally, the athlete may not believe he/she deserves to have good things happen. In this case, a referral to a professional might be helpful.

For maximum effectiveness, it is important to not only stop negative self-statements, but it must be followed by the introduction of positive statements that encourage and direct attention. There are several advantages to this addition step. Some athletes doubt their ability to stop negative thoughts, but may accept that they can at least make constructive ones. If they can experience success with positive thoughts, it might cause retroactive encouragement about faulty thinking. Positive cognitions can reduce the impact of negative thoughts.

Here’s a suggestion! Take a piece of paper and list typically used negative self-statements on one side of a sheet of a paper. On the other side write a countering positive statement that can be immediately substituted. Negative thoughts often occur when an athlete in under stress and over-activated physiologically. So, take a deep breath and say the positive self-statement.

Countering is a useful technique for challenging the athlete’s belief in the negative statement, thereby facilitating the acceptance of constructive self-statements. Countering is a process of internal debate – using facts, reason, and rational thinking to counter self-defeating thoughts. It’s like having a jury and you are the defense attorney who needs to build a case against the negative charges. Let’s say the charge is “My heart is pounding and I’m going to choke.” The defense might sound like “My heart is pounding hard, but that’s natural. It happens to everyone. It is a sign that something important and exciting is about to occur. Also, I have been in these situations before and come through it just fine.”

Athletes and people tend to view the world in very narrow, rigid and restricted manner. “If we change our thoughts, we can change the world.” Reframing is a method of changing our ways of viewing the world. It is easier to change our self-statements from negative to positive ones once we change our perspectives. If a team loses a number of games in succession, the coach may emphasize the value of the learning experience. If an important game is won, the coach can point out that “The game is behind us and we have to focus on the next one.”

Optimal cognitions for enhancement of endurance performance have been investigated. Associative cognitions direct attention toward task-related cues and physical sensations that result from exercise. Dissociative cognitions refer to thoughts that have nothing to do with exercise. Experienced endurance athletes use associative strategies as their dominant attentional focus and most effective strategy for improving performance. The opposite result occurred with inexperienced athletes.

Conclusion

Thinking is intrinsically linked to emotions and performance. This is as true in sport and exercise as it is in any other area of life. Thought patterns frequently resist change, especially negative ones. Prior to implementation of any cognitive changes, awareness of ineffective thoughts needs to be created, their consequences pointed out, and underlying beliefs that motivate, support and contribute to the thoughts recognized. Cognitive techniques such as those described in this article require skill, practice and patience by coaches and players. Remember that if we learned something we can unlearn it. Of course, the earlier we address cognitive problems, the easier they can be rectified.

Irrational and Distorted Thinking

Four general irrational beliefs may interfere with athletes reaching their potential. These four beliefs are: I must do well in sport and if I don’t I am an incompetent, worthless person; I must do well to gain the love and approval of others and if I don’t it is horrible; Everyone must treat me with respect and fairness of all times; and The conditions of my life must be arranged so that I get what I want easily and quickly. These general beliefs can contribute to emotional distress for athletes and contribute to the pressure already present in achievement situations.

Distorted thinking styles interfere with performance by providing the athlete with faulty information about the competitive environment, resulting in misdirected attention, emotional distress such as excessive anxiety and lowered self-concept. The following is a list of distorted thinking styles have been employed by athletes:

1. Perfectionism. This unrealistic expectation leads to excessive pressure, unavoidable failure, and undermining of effective coping. Perfectionist desires may lead to successful performance. But, perfectionist demands and commands destroy athletic careers. It also leads to negative self-concepts and a fear-of-failure syndrome supported by extreme negative consequences tied to less than perfect performance.
2. Catastrophizing. Exaggerating potential consequences of imagined or real negative events comes along with perfectionism. Those suffering with this distortion expect the worst in every situation – most often worse than reality or previous experience suggest. This can contribute to actual negative outcomes.
3. Self-worth Depends Upon Achievement. Athletes see their self-worth as directly related to their performance and success. This idea is particularly concerning to the young athlete who looks to their parents, coaches and peers for their sense of self. The result is even more stress related to performance, low and unstable self-worth, and interference with fun while participating in sports.
4. Personalization. When this distortion is employed by an athlete, there is a tendency to overestimate their personal responsibility for every failure and mistake. “If I only made that last free throw, we would have won the game.” Repeated usage of this type of thinking can result in low self-esteem, high performance anxiety and decrease in desire to participate and take chances.
5. Fallacy of Fairness. The concept of fairness often translates into “wanting one’s own way versus what someone else thinks is fair or best for the group.” Unfairness often results in interpersonal problems, inappropriate focus of attention, and coping with adversity.
6. Blaming. Some athletes excessively attribute failure externally. They get to not experience any responsibility. This gets in the way of improving performance.
7. Polarized Thinking. Athletes are tempted to view things in black and white terms. Labels are employed that simplify self and others into unidimensional terms (i.e., losers, cheaters, unbeatable opponents). They provide a weak mental perspective to learn from and improve performance.
8. One-trial Generalizations. Athletes often use a single event to define expectancies for future performances. After the first few games of this season, a New York Knick basketball player was heard to say, “We are a three quarters basketball team.” The result of such thinking can be self-defeating prophecy, lack of focus and preparation for the first three quarters of a game, and lack of attention.

Identifying and Modifying Irrational & Distorted Thinking

Identifying these cognitive distortions is the first step toward modifying disturbed thinking styles and enjoying the benefits of rational thinking. Athletes are most available to learn immediately following a competition. Coaches should review with the player, the performance and related thinking, especially when there has been a negative result. Memory fades with time passed. Distorted thinking styles are often learned from coaches. Therefore, coaches should become aware of their own irrational beliefs and the way they model distorted thinking for the athletes.

Three phases for implementing cognitive restructuring interventions with athletes have been identified. In the Identification phase, the boundaries of the effected behavior and the irrational beliefs or self-defeating verbalization present in the situation are defined. The identifications can be helped by journal writing and conversations. During the Restructuring phase, the athlete is convinced of the inappropriateness of the thoughts and more effective replacements of new thinking patterns are created. The effectiveness of the intervention depends on getting an athlete to recognize the need to change, In the Pairing Stage, the athlete uses self-instructional imagery and verbal cues to facilitate the application of new thinking patterns into actual performance. The athletes should practice the imagery several times a day to make the new thoughts automatic.

It is important to emphasize the importance of underlying beliefs in maintaining automatic thoughts. Challenging underlying beliefs is a vehicle for long-term change in thinking patterns. Purposefully acting counter to identified, irrational beliefs is a way of experiencing new thinking and feeling. For example, an athlete who employs excessive criticism and self-abuse after every mistake may try to smile and be overly complementary after a few mistakes to experience the positive consequences (thoughts, feelings and performances) associated with the new behavior.

Athletes and their coaches must make an effort to substitute rational for irrational thinking during all phases of training and competition. If athletes have a particular difficult irrational belief to rid themselves of, they may benefit from daily affirmation statements counter to the belief. Physically relaxing may also increase the effectiveness of attempts to counter irrational beliefs. Most irrational beliefs create anxiety and tension, thus decreasing receptivity to more effective, rational thoughts. If doubts exist whether a belief is irrational or ineffective, the following questions can be employed to make the assessment of the belief: Is the belief based on objective reality? Are they helpful to you? Are they useful in reducing interpersonal conflicts? Do they help you reach your goals? Do they reduce emotional conflict? If the athlete answers “no” to any of the questions, the belief is likely to irrational or counterproductive, and the individual will benefit from modification.

Conclusion

Irrational beliefs are well entrenched in our culture and sports in particular. Examples include “No pain, no gain.” And “Practice makes perfect.” And “Winning Isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.” Many important figures (coaches, parents, athletes) believe that modify some of the thinking can lead to less competitiveness or drive to win. It is more likely that the modification in thinking styles recommended in this article would lead to better performance because athletes would be more relaxed, more focused and motivated during competition and training. In our next article, we will turn our attention to “self-talk” as another approach to cognitive change in the service of improved athletic performance.

You’re on the 18th green and playing the best round of golf that you have ever played. It looks like you are about to break the magical mark of 80 for the first time ever. It is not uncommon to have a thought like “I’m going to miss this putt.” Usually, when you have thoughts similar to this, the wish comes true and you end up missing the putt. This is a fairly typical problem not just in golf but in all sports. Basketball players go through it at the free-throw line; and, so do baseball players at the plate. It might even happen for a period of time prior to a big tournament or match. “I know I can beat John but he always seems to come through in the crunch and beats me.”

It is fair to say that human beings have a tendency to have repetitive thoughts and that this is specially true about events or situations that provoke anxiety such as athletic competition. These thoughts can become so repetitive that they interfere with our ability to complete certain tasks. This in turn causes us more anxiety which further interferes with our ability to perform at optimal levels. It becomes a vicious cycle that an individual can find difficult to break. Fortunately, human beings have a great deal of control over the thoughts that they have and these repetitive thoughts can be stopped through a technique that is called thought stopping.

The basic premise behind thought stopping is that if anxiety provoking thoughts are paired with relaxation, their repetitiveness can be reduced exponentially which results in anxiety reduction. In other words, if the thoughts that make you nervous become associated with relaxation, they will be reduced. While initially you may have a repetitive thought that interferes with your athletic performance 600 times a day, using this technique you can usually cut it in half on a daily basis. This means that you can reduce these recurrent thoughts to just 5 times a day in seven days’ time. The method by which thought stopping is achieved is quite simple.

1. When experiencing a recurring thought that causes anxiety, you should first say “Stop.” This introduces the idea to yourself to stop having these thoughts. You can say it out loud or to yourself but this is a necessary first step.
2. Negate the thought that you are having on a recurrent basis. “I will not . . .” or “I can not . . .” is how this statement usually starts.
3. Make a positive self statement about a feeling which instills confidence should be made. “I will . . .” or “I can . . .” is how this statement usually starts.
4. Take a cleansing, relaxing breath. For more information on this see the article on diaphragmatic breathing. It is important to note that thought stopping will work best if you have mastered the breathing technique since this is a key in pairing the anxiety provoking thought with relaxation.
5. In order to achieve maximum benefit from this technique in the shortest time period possible, you should do steps 1 to 4 EVERY time you have the recurrent thought. Failure to do this is likely to result in thought stopping not being effective.

Confused? The example below of a patient treated with thought stopping should help to clarify how to incorporate this technique into your athletic training.

Bill played basketball in an over forty basketball league at his local community center. Although he had initially joined just to get some exercise, he had been fortunate to get teamed up with a group of individuals that worked very well together and was in second place just before the playoffs. On the last game of the regular season, he came to the foul line with his team down by one point. He needed to make both shots but was unable to do so. Despite encouragement from his team, he began having thoughts that he had let his team down. As the first playoff game approached, he began having the recurrent thought “I am unable to hit the clutch shot when it counts” with increasing frequency. It got to the point that it was all he could think about it. He was able to reduce the frequency of these thoughts by using thought stopping. Every time he had the thought he would say to himself, “Stop. I will not miss the clutch shot. I can make the shot with the game on the line just like I have when I practiced so many other times,” and he would then take a deep breath in through his nose and out through his mouth. As the end of the first playoff game approached and his team huddled trying to come up with a plan, the thought popped into his head again. He went through his routine just like he had every time the thought came into his head in the days leading up to the game and felt surprisingly calm. He knew that he was capable of hitting the shot just like he had all season long.

While initially these thoughts can be quite intrusive with practice, the frequency of these thoughts will be reduced by incorporating this technique into your daily routine. Again, practice makes perfect. However, in this case, it is important that you use this technique each and every time that you are having an intrusive thought that you would like to get rid of. Failure to do this will reduce the effectiveness of the technique.

One characteristic that connects us humans is the desire to assign meaning and causality to events that occur in our lives. These are called attributions. Only those who have reached some extreme level of spiritual development have “given up these quests.” Let me save you some time! We are not one of them. We, mere mortals, keep creating stories (attributions). I do not use this word (stories) critically. The word is meant to imply that we have no way of being completely assured that our stories represent the truth. Regardless, the stories are very powerful and effect what we do and how well we do it. This is as true in sports as in any other area.

Turn on the WFAN radio station anytime of day or night (except when Don Imus is on). For those of you who are not living in the New York City area, this is an all sports call-in radio station. Almost twenty-four seven hosts of the programs get stories from their listeners. The goal is to explain what happened to their favorite sports teams and athletes the day before. This is often followed by predictions of what will happen and why. The hosts, in an authoritarian tone, will either confirm what they are hearing or tell the caller how incredibly wrong headed they are. Each side is very convinced of their stories. The side that wins the argument is not the one who owns the truth but the one who is most wedded to their truth and shouts louder. The ultimate weapon is the hang up. Whoever clicks the other off first seems to think his truth is best.

As athletes, we rely upon stories to make sense of our performance. Those stories that athletes tell themselves and others have dramatic impact on future performances. Coaches and players are remarkable storytellers. It is good for us to know how to create stories that help improve performance. It is important for coaches to ask their players what internal stories are being used to make sense of a performance. Many coaches would be shocked to hear them sometimes.

All attributions are attempts to answer a question or explain a fact. Here’s a list of “facts”. Each item will need a story to explain it.

• I hit so badly last night at Fenway Park.
• I have never won a tiebreaker against her.
• Our team always collapses in the last two minutes.
• I play better on the road.
• I lost tonight with Jorge Pasada behind the plate.
• I am now 2 hits for 21 appearances against Pedro Martinez.

You get the idea. For each one of these items, many stories could be told. Take a few minutes and, as an exercise, let your imaginations go. Create a few stories for each. Let your imagination run wild. It is fun. Share them with a friend or athlete that you know. It’s like a party game. Depending on the story, imagine how it might effect future athletic performance!

I’ll take one of the questions and you will get a sense of the impact these stories have on our behavior and performance outcome. After throwing the options in a hat, I pulled “I hit so badly at Fenway last night.” Possible stories include:

1. Being a left handed hitter the Park was designed to bring out the worst in me. If I was only right handed
2. The crowd is so close to the field that I could hear the crowd yelling the food orders to the attendants.
3. I was a Boston Red Sox fan as a child and I don’t have it in me to make them lose in front of their fans again.
4. My ex-girl friend still lives in the Boston area and loves coming out to a night game. I agined her sitting with her new boyfriend and becoming excited if I hit a home run. So, maybe I was over swinging.
5. There is something about the Boston hotel we stay at. I just can’t get a good nights sleep there.
6. I am not a good enough hit Pedro Martinez.

What, as a coach, do I want to say to my player who comes up with any of these stories? “See a shrink, take medication, go to the wacko ward and your fired!” These stories have different characteristics requiring different interventions.

In the first story, the athlete is employing an external explanation. He feels out of control and powerless to effect his performance. I would want to know what it is about the structure of Fenway that gives him problems. Then, I would think about ways in which we can work to change his mental and physical approach and use the Park to play into his strengths.

The second story also has an external approach. As a coach, you must be careful about putting down your athlete’s problems regardless of how absurd the story sounds. If the athlete can chuckle at the story, it would provide some mental distance from what is bothering him/her and improve focus. Try to teach some techniques for getting into the here and now. Try to foster a sense of personal power!

The third story is an example of taking too much responsibility for his performance. He is thinking too deeply. It has become a “thing” in itself. Not to sound too off color – but if you obsess about a failed sexual performance; it will become a problem that will effect future events. Bad games happen to all of us. Let the athlete know “that the pitcher was really on his game. It happens.” These kinds of ideas will empty his mind and allow him to focus on the here and now when he hits again.

The fourth indicates that the player needs to be a hero. As a coach, you want to take the pressure off. The team doesn’t need one player to save the day – let him know that you want him to just do his job. Trying to impress others results in tightening the muscles and changing his swing. Stay within yourself!

The fifth story may hide other facts. He is concerned about his job security. Let him know that he is not expected to do everything well now. “He is here to learn.” Or, he feels like he ought to be staying at his mother’s house when he is in town. These kinds of stories may not be unconscious. All he needs to do is know you are available as a caring and trust-worthy listener. Something is on your player’s mind and it is always better to talk about it.

The sixth story is a skill-related explanation for events. Pedro Martinez does throw all his pitches with the same motion. Your hitter cannot rely on that information to help his performance. Teach him some other approaches that may help him improve his attitude towards hitting Pedro. Emphasize the ideas of just making contact, trying to keep his feet planted, cut down his stride, learn the pitches he tends to throw in various situations, etc. These may give the athlete a little edge and some hope of doing well. If he is one of your better hitters, remind him of that. It is always helpful to get accurate praise.

Attributions are the means by which we make sense of the world. Most attributions are learned approaches to explaining events in our life. If they are learned, they can be unlearned and new ones put in their place. It is important to be conscious of the attributions being employed. This is especially true when they negatively impact our results. Once we are conscious, we can alter them and substitute others that are more productive and create better performance.