"I always fall on this trick, I'm never going to land it."

"I suck compared to them."

"I'm never going to come back from this injury and be as good as I was before it."

Raise your hand if you have ever dealt wtih negative self-talk like this.

Yeah, us too. 

Negative self-talk is all but impossible to avoid when you are coming up as an athlete.

One minute you are feeling super confident and stoked about your progress, then BOOM after a couple of bad days (or weeks) of trying to land a trick, or dealing with setbacks, that negative voice becomes louder and louder. 

The root cause of negative thoughts many times can be attributed to being a defense mechanism, a fear-based one at that.  It's like we are creating a cushion for our minds from feeling disappointment, because we fear failure, criticism, or even losing, so we are almost trying to beat ourselves (and other people) to the punch before it happens. 

But let's be real, where does this really get us? NOWHERE. 

So how do we stop these negative thoughts in their tracks before they have the chance to make us feel so lousy?

The first step to overcoming negative self-talk as an athlete is to identify if what you are berating yourself over is a FACT or if it is a THOUGHT.

A fact is something that is indisputable, there is zero way to argue it, whereas a thought is simply an opinion and be interpreted in various ways.  And most time than not our negative self-talk is based on thoughts, not facts. 

The second step in overcoming negative thinking patterns is to reframe your negative thought. So instead of creating a reframe that is uber positive and woo woo it's better to create a reframed thought that is realistic and believable to you and accurately reflects your situation.

An example would be reframing your thought from, "My amplitude is so small," to " I know if I land higher on the transition, keep my knees bent and body weight forward I can build more speed and momentum to go bigger."  

By using evidence that you know to be true, and reframing your thought in a positive and motivating manner you can completely dispute your original negative thought and put the control back in your hands. 

The third step to overcoming negative self-talk as an athlete is to get ahead of your most common negative thoughts before they sneak in. 

Just like you spend time doing video review or training in the gym, taking the time to sit down and write down by hand (this is important!) your most common negative self-talk statements. Go to town listing out every single negative thought and then create a corresponding new self-talk statement that is focused on growth and motivation.

"I struggle to learn new tricks," to "I've learned new tricks in the past, so if I take my time and break down each step, I will figure out this trick too."

"I always feel anxiety when I compete," to "I've felt anxiety on competition days in the past but I know that anxiety is temporary and it is not going to last forever." 

When you are writing down your newly reframed self-talk look for the evidence where this has been true in the past. Focus on what you want to do versus what you fear might happen.

And to take it one step further implement visual cues to help you interrupt your negative thought and remind yourself to focus on your reframed self-talk statements, whether that is a sticker you put on your equipment or a certain color you wear.

Negative self-talk happens to all of us, that is a fact. But how we choose to dispute it and reframe it is what matters the most. 

Author: Sue Izzo 

Acknowledgments: Dr. Melanie McNally