Carr's Positive Self-Talk | Sports Psychology Tips

Carr’s Positive Self-Talk

Does negative self-talk make it difficult to focus during competitions?

Do you wish you could be more positive after mistakes?

Negative self-talk is when you berate yourself for making mistakes during practice or competition.

Obviously, negative self-talk hurts your confidence and enjoyment in sports.

How can you turn negative self-talk into positive self–talk, the mental conversation you have that helps your confidence?

Dr. Christopher M. Carr explored the relationship between focus and optimal performance in his study, “Sport Psychology: Psychologic Issues and Applications (Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Clinics of North America, 2006).”

Carr identified positive self-talk as one technique that can enhance competitive focus.

He defines self-talk is the conscious and subconscious dialog that occurs in your mind before, during, and after competition.

Self-talk affects your confidence and emotions which impact your performance.

CARR: “If athletes are engaging in negative self-talk, their affective experience may be one of frustration, anger, or extreme anxiety. These emotional states challenge breathing, increase muscle tension, and create a loss of concentration and focus, resulting in lower performance. If an athlete’s self-talk is positive and relevant, however, the resulting emotional experience is one of relaxation, calmness, and feeling centered; as a result, the chances of good performance increase dramatically.”

By engaging in positive self-talk, you can eliminate the negative mental chatter and focus on what you need to do to perform optimally.

Try these tips to improve your focus through positive self-talk:

Tip #1: Journal your self-talk for one week after practice and competition. Assess what percent of your self-talk is positive or negative. When do you engage in negative self-talk?
Tip #2: Practice changing your negative self-talk you identified from #1 above into positive self-talk. How can you transfer your new self-talk to future competitions?

Knowing the situations when you get negative with yourself will help you be mindful of how to change your reaction to positive self-talk.

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