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Empowered By Ourselves
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Empowerment – “The process of becoming stronger and more confident, especially in controlling one’s life”
Okay. So we have already spoken about what self-talk is. As we can all admit it’s hard to change our thoughts especially when our brains are wired for habit. As mentors, we are real with our athletes. There are going to be times that they will have negative or overwhelming thoughts about their performance, it has happened to the best of us. But there are ways to combat these thoughts to regain control. So how do we change pesky brain messages that create self–doubt, make us believe we are not capable of the performance we deserve? On the other hand, how do we draw power from our thoughts so that we become our source of confidence? We’re going to give you a sneak peek of techniques that we use with our athletes and we would love for you to give them a try.
Becoming self-aware is the first step to practicing how to utilize the power of your mind. The body achieves what the mind believes and when the two work in harmony it is TRULY something amazing. That’s why we like the “AIR” technique.
“AIR” technique–
Aware of the thought- ‘I’m not feelin’ too hot today,
Interrupt the thought ‘You can get through this practice, only an hour left’,
Replace the thought “Even though I’m tired I’m about to get my second wind. I’m ready, let’s do this.’
Oh yes. This one is tough. Countering your thoughts takes cold hard practice. You have to be able to turn around negative self-talk before you run off the tracks and derail your performance You have the tools within you, so believe in yourself – for REAL.
Counter Thoughts– Knock OUT that thought. Toss it. “My opponent has more experience than I do.” TOSS. Replace with: “That is not true, I have 6 years under my belt, I have a strong right hook, I put in more hours of training, I GOT this.”
Do you know that fact that if you smile for 15 seconds, your mood will instantly improve? If you haven’t tried it because it is WEIRDLY true. You are training your body to respond to physical confidence. By speaking aloud the actions you want to come true, confidence builds which makes you MORE LIKELY to achieve a goal. Can you believe that? That’s why we love power affirmations.
POWER Affirmations - Productive statements that athletes can draw energy and power from. “I CAN…” “I AM…” “I WILL….” PHEW! I’m feelin’ the confidence. Are you? As soon as you can train yourself to take control, confidence will rise and so will your performance.
These are just a few, but stay tuned this month as we dive more into self–talk. You will be surprised at how much control that you have and the impact that follows when you learn a little bit about yourself.
A Mindset Development Program for teen athletes, led by Olympic, Professional, and Elite Athlete Mentors.
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