Body Language: The Universal Language (part 2)
In last week’s article I challenged you to pay attention to how you reacted when good things and bad things happened to you. Specifically with your body language, how did that go?
Here are some of my observations
1. I pump my fist a lot. I’m like vintage Tiger Woods out there.
2. When things don’t go my way, I let out a heavy sigh and slump my shoulders quite often.
These seem like my main “go-to” physical reactions to positive and negative. So why is identifying it important? Because rarely do we ever physically express frustration or disappointment without also doing so mentally. When we get frustrated, we show it physically, and then frustrated thoughts run through our minds. These thoughts can spiral into more destructive thoughts (which lead to destructive actions) and take a serious toll on our motivation. It can be difficult to identify our frustrated thoughts, but it becomes a lot easier to identify frustrated body language. And here is another great thing! When we’re dealing with body language, we can get help identifying it!
I had an athlete come to me one day and say, “Jon, when I hang my head, my thoughts get pretty dark. I need some help bouncing back from that.” He would make plenty of mistakes, and not all of them resulted in a hanging head. But when he did hang his head as a result of a mistake, it was a huge cue to him that he needed help getting out of his own way.
Isn’t that remarkable? And an example of the power that comes from simple identification! Most of us can deal with some amount of disappointment and keep our heads level and mind focused but everyone has a tipping point. We all have a point (and it can vary from day to day) where it’s just one disappointment too much and the negativity attacks our mind like a shark attacks chum.
So recognize the power when we have enough emotional and physical control to identify the physical reactions to the tipping point. For the athlete above, it was a hanging his head down. Identify what it is for you and you unlock a great secret on the road to emotional control. And here is why: We can use our body language to change how we think about ourselves.
Yes, let that sink in. We can change how we think about ourselves and our situation (those negativity attacks) by how we position our bodies. Again, I will use the athlete above to simply explain it. When his head was down, he had negative thoughts running through his head. When his head was up, his mind was focused and positive. I need you to understand the simplicity behind this and maybe some math can help.
Mistake + Head Up = Focused
Mistake + Head Down = Drowning in Negativity
Mistakes are a constant, just as they are for all human beings. But his physical reaction was different, and it was that difference that meant either a focused mind or a drowning mind.
Enter Amy Cuddy. Amy is a professor and researcher at Harvard Business School. She studies nonverbal behaviors and gave a ground-breaking TED Talk in 2012. You owe it to yourself to check it out:
Some pretty remarkable science is shared in that video. Power posing is kind of given a bad name. So if you don’t like that, just think of it as putting your body in a confident position. This research shows that we can change how we think and how we see ourselves by only changing our physical position. There is your scientific evidence, now let me give you my personal witness. Performers of any kind can change negative to positive by changing their body language. Here are some examples I’ve seen:
- Free Throw shooter increased percentage by looking up during routine instead of down
- Soccer Goalie improved Goals Against by deliberately keeping eyes up and connected to the play after conceding a goal.
- Football LB increased total tackles by eliminating showing frustration to teammates after mistakes.
You may share this with someone who will say, or you may think to yourself, “This is circumstantial.” I promise it isn’t, but there is only one way to know for sure. Try it yourself. And in my experience, there is one reason why you won’t:
Challenge Extended. See you next time.
Jon Osborn is a Sport Psychology Consultant. If you are interested in having him work with you or your team, reach out to him on Twitter @08osborn24 or e-mail precisionmentality@gmail.com
