Lesson: Reframing Negative Thoughts
Your thoughts determine how you behave and feel. Negative beliefs bring about negative outcomes. When you allow yourself to think negatively, it becomes difficult to reach both short-term and long-term goals. Rather than blocking these thoughts, you can reevaluate the unhelpful ones and replace them with rational, open-minded ones.
Many athletes get trapped in negative self-labels such as:
● I suck!
● Why do I always mess up?
● I’m never going to beat him/her…
You make your reality by the thoughts you choose to keep. Poor performance occurs when you feed your negative thoughts by focusing on them. The more you focus on negative thoughts, the more they will run rampant through your mind and the more it will affect your performance.
The most effective tool to change negative automatic thoughts - called HOT thoughts - is simply by identifying them. You can track negative thinking throughout the day by completing a thought record. Thought records allow you to change HOT thoughts into balanced thoughts by examining your emotions before, during, and after performances. Here’s a couple of examples:
Automatic Thought: You’re going to blow it today!
How do you feel: Anxiety, no concentration, low performance
Alternative Thought: I'm actually pretty good and will perform well
Automatic Thought = You’re a loser!
How do you feel = Low motivation, low confidence, want to give up the sport.
Alternative Thought: I'm a winner and performed well in the past
Whenever you have a negative thought, feeling, or attitude, just reframe it. Use the Fight ON! Mentality to eliminate all negative thoughts.
Many athletes get trapped in negative self-labels such as:
● I suck!
● Why do I always mess up?
● I’m never going to beat him/her…
You make your reality by the thoughts you choose to keep. Poor performance occurs when you feed your negative thoughts by focusing on them. The more you focus on negative thoughts, the more they will run rampant through your mind and the more it will affect your performance.
The most effective tool to change negative automatic thoughts - called HOT thoughts - is simply by identifying them. You can track negative thinking throughout the day by completing a thought record. Thought records allow you to change HOT thoughts into balanced thoughts by examining your emotions before, during, and after performances. Here’s a couple of examples:
Automatic Thought: You’re going to blow it today!
How do you feel: Anxiety, no concentration, low performance
Alternative Thought: I'm actually pretty good and will perform well
Automatic Thought = You’re a loser!
How do you feel = Low motivation, low confidence, want to give up the sport.
Alternative Thought: I'm a winner and performed well in the past
Whenever you have a negative thought, feeling, or attitude, just reframe it. Use the Fight ON! Mentality to eliminate all negative thoughts.