“Get out of your own way.” The Performance Statement. Part 2/3

The following LEAD (Love, Effort, Attitude, Discipline) blog was inspired using the book, “10 Minute Toughness” by Dr. Jason Selk (Director of Mental Training for the St Louis Cardinals) and is directed toward coaches, athletes or anyone who wishes to better learn how to effectively deal with negative thoughts in order to perform at their very best. If you missed Part 1 of the series, please go back and review it to give you a better reference point.
In part one of this series we discussed how, “thought replacement is replacing unhelpful (negative) self-talk with a practical performance statement. Cognitive psychology has taught us that the mind can fully focus on only one item at a time. If you are thinking about what is going wrong in your life, you cannot be thinking about what it takes to make it right. Letting your mind have its way can often cripple you with self-doubt or negativity. Your body listens to what your mind tells it. The only reliable method of overcoming self-doubt and negative thinking is to supply something else for your mind to process.”
“Performance statements avoid negativity and direct your thoughts toward targeted areas of strength. They enable you to stop dwelling on elements that makes it harder for you to perform and start thinking about what helps. The key to using thought replacement in sports is to identify what thought is most helpful for performance.”
In part 3 of this series Dr.Selk helps you create your own performance statement that will help you avoid self-doubt and negativity, so that you can improve your confidence, allowing you to have the best chance to accomplish your goals.
Coach Nelson serves as a high school football coach who is pursuing his doctorate in Sport and Performance Psychology. He has worked for division 1 athletic departments, professional sport franchises, a Fortune 100 Company and has won numerous awards for his LEADership abilities.
His mission is to positively influence the world through Love, Effort, Attitude and Discipline (#LEAD). To learn more about the LEAD philosophy follow him on Twitter Levi Nelson or reach out via email at rln10@zips.uakron.edu He’d love to learn about or help you in your journey!
