It’s the morning of an event, a test/retest or just a workout you have wanted to crush.
You have spent months in the gym or pool, possibly even years, training for this big day.
You slept well the night prior, despite some nerves or butterflies.
You fuelled appropriately last night by eating a well-balanced dinner and breakfast this morning.
You are properly hydrated and ready to go.
Why wouldn’t you be?
And then it hits you, those negative or self-sabotaging thinking habits that may potentially limit our potential.
We can’t help it our brains naturally focus on the negative to protect us; it’s how we are hot-wired and have evolved since our caveman/woman days. However, in today’s world, we typically spend most days in a non-life or death situation.
Therefore, it is necessary to Recognize, Reframe and Refocus what’s going on and learn to deal with that inner voice.
Self-talk: The inner voice
The average person verbally speaks around 150 words per minute, and our inner speech or dialogue can contain up to 4,000 words per minute. This means our inner dialogue may be up to 26x faster than our verbal speech!
Our inner dialogue contains conscious and unconscious thoughts and the ability to either energize or debilitate our performance outcomes.
What you do with these thoughts directly impacts your performance outcome which means part of your mindset conditioning training includes performance tools to reframe ineffective thinking or self-limiting thinking statements.
Effective Vs. Ineffective Thinking
What you focus your mind on is a conscious choice that can empower you to step outside your comfort zone and direct your focus to the task at hand.
Your thoughts ****activate the prefrontal cortex portion of the brain and then communicate via our neuropathways to the amygdala. The amygdala is a portion of the brain in charge of our emotional processing and memories. A positive thought will likely signal a positive emotional response and vice versa. Next, this signal is sent down to the brain stem, which controls our body’s physiology (i.e., heart rate, breathing, blood flow, sweat response, etc.). The final step is to send out this information to our muscles and communicate the message throughout the entire body.
As a result, positive emotions are more likely to leave us feeling centred and ready. Negative emotions could cause our bodies to feel tense and on edge. Our body will perform depending on our readiness initiated in this whole process.
3R’s to Optimize Mindset: Recognize, Reset, Refocus
1. Recognize: Become more self-aware of possible thinking traps and ineffective internal voice. Make a goal of recognizing one more ineffective thought each day.
2. Reset: Utilize a cue word, action, or image to signify a hard reset to your brain to stop the negative thought. Just like you “turn it off, turn it on” to reset your phone, laptop or other devices, you can reset the brain by utilizing a cue word, action, or image.
Cue examples:
- Physical (action)
- Verbal (word
- Image
Physical (action): Take an easy, long, slow exhale through the nose to direct your mind back to the present moment and let go of excess stress in the body.
Verbal (word): Say “STOP” silently to halt an ineffective thinking pattern.
Image: Mentally image a Stop or Do Not Enter sign to help reroute your thinking.
3. Refocus: Reframe to an effective thinking statement that helps you focus on the most critical element of the task at hand. Think task-specific cue words.
- Empowers or inspires you to take action. This may be a mantra or power statement reminding you of your strengths. “I’ve earned my place here today.”
- Allows you to have compassion for yourself and the challenging situation you may be experiencing. “Next house run is a new opportunity.” “It’s normal to feel nervous, it’s time to show my skills and abilities.”
Building a better life doesn’t mean seeking out hardships externally; it sometimes means addressing those challenges we are presented with internally along the way.
At Dark Horse we have always said we “use rowing as a tool to get you there”, and this will continue to be our mantra. However, building in those positive habits and optimizing your inner self-talk are equally as important parts of the journey.
Watch this video to hear Shane explain the importance of recognising this on a day-to-day basis https://youtu.be/NVsBNiMdDEY and then get out there and Be a Dark Horse.
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