Causes and Consequences of Self-talk on Performance
How you think and talk to yourself is linked to how you feel and act (Ellis, 2003). This may sound obvious, but it should be striking, then, to realize how much you likely talk to yourself in a way that completely forgets this notion.
That's your inner critic poisoning the narrative of your mind.
Self-talk, after all, is essential to how you feel. How you feel, understandably, has quite an impact on your performance. So it makes sense that athletes should take care to rid the narrative of their mind from unnecessary and irrational criticism. Negative feedback, however, can be helpful. But you can easily understand how this gets out of hand quickly.
Let's look, specifically, at how self-talk is shaped and, ultimately, impactful on performance. We'll do this through Hardy et al.'s (2009) model of self-talk, shown below.
Model of self-talk; adapted from Hardy et al. (2009).
Antecedents (causes) are shaped by personal factors, like how you process information, how much you believe in the thoughts surrounding your narrative (belief in both positive and negative thoughts), and personality traits like openness to new experiences and neuroticism. Additionally, the specific situation matters, like how difficult the task at hand is, the context surrounding a certain game, and how supportive (or unsupportive) your coach is.
The difference in these factors change each thought, and thus your overall narrative, significantly, leading to different consequences.
Positive consequences of healthy self-talk (which is denoted by rationality, mindfulness, and optimism) include better focus, higher confidence and motivation, improved technique, and lower anxiety.
Negative consequences of negative self-talk (which is more emotional, pessimistic, and anxiety-filled) include the opposite of those benefits listed above; a more distractible focus, higher self-doubt, shaky technique, and increased anxiety.
Structure and solutions can be derived from Latinjak et al.'s (2014) research distinguishing self-talk from goal-directed and undirected. Goal-directed thoughts involve those that are executed with intention related to solving a problem through reasoning and action. Undirected thoughts are more unintentional and automatic. These could be further highlighted as thoughts involving mind-wandering, distractions, and spontaneity.
Given what we know about evolution, our automatic thoughts are more likely to be those that result from scanning for danger. Not just dangers that are an immediate threat to our lives, but things like threats to social status as the result of making an error, or worries about future opportunities that stem from a loss in the current game.
This means exercising discipline in awareness, catching your spontaneous, negative thoughts as they come up, is an essential element to enhancing your self-talk. Mindfulness based meditation every day for just 5 minutes can be a great first step in improving this awareness muscle.
Another tip that is easy to execute and can be immediately beneficial is reframing your self-talk to sound like that of a supportive loved one or coach. It provides distance from your emotional inner critic and changes the tone to someone who won't necessarily let you off the hook, but also infuse some optimism.
It's clear that athletes with unhealthy self-talk are worse off than those with healthier talk tracks. Mental performance coaches are dedicated to analyzing how athletes' automatic (and deliberate) thoughts destroy their game. They're also well equipped to provide athletes the right tools to course correct, even when the pressure is at its highest.
References
Ellis, A. (2003). Early theories and practices of rational emotive behavior theory and how they have been augmented and revised during the last three decades. Journal of Rational-Emotive and Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, 21, 219–243. doi:10.1023/A:1025890112319
Hardy, J., Oliver, E., & Tod, D. (2009). A framework for the study and application of self-talk in sport. In S.D. Mellalieu& S. Hanton (Eds.), Advances in applied sport psychology: A review (pp. 37–74). London, UK: Routledge.
Latinjak, A.T., Zourbanos, N., Lo´pez-Ros, V., & Hatzigeorgiadis, A. (2014). Thes structure and content of undirected and goal-directed thoughts in sport. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 15, 548–558. doi:10.1016/j.psychsport.2014.05.007
