Talk to Yourself Like You Would Talk to Your Teammates
TALK TO YOURSELF LIKE YOU WOULD TALK TO YOUR TEAMMATES.
I had a conversation this week with a friend of mine that is currently in the middle of her season, much like I'm sure a lot of you are who are reading this. She is struggling with her confidence right now at the plate and I think a lot of the topics we discussed during our hour-long conversation are things that every single softball player not only needs to hear, but needs to be reminded of over the course of their careers. You see, at some point every player is going to have doubt, have fear, and lose confidence. This is par for the course when you play the most difficult sport ever invented. Failure is a part of our game, but it is also the fuel to our successes in this game. We will struggle. We will get into slumps. We will not feel like ourselves when we step on the field. So how do you get out of that? I think there are a few things we can do.
1. Talk to yourself, don't listen to yourself. I recently read that it takes 3 positive thoughts to overcome just one negative thought, but that 80% of the thoughts that come into our minds during the day are negative. It's mind blowing. Our default structure as humans is to be hard on ourselves. The only way we can combat this is by forcing, repeating positive phrases to ourselves over and over. In my mental training lessons on RISR, I talk a lot about developing your personal mottos. This is where they come into play. Have 3-5 phrases that you repeat to yourself constantly. When we do this, we take control of those negative thoughts that are serving us absolutely no purpose. A couple of my mottos are "Try Me," "My best is yet to come," and "I am enough." What are yours? If you don't know, spend time exploring them this week.
2. Do not be afraid of change. I love softball players. We are all so superstitious. If we get a few hits we have to wear the same socks. If we have a good game we have to eat the same pre-game meal. If we are in a slump or not feeling confident, there is no better time to implement a healthy change in our routine. Some of my favorite healthy, confidence boosting habits are pre-game journaling, morning walks, meditation (I use an app called Headspace), and pre-game workouts (we have a ton of options in our remote strength training platform). If you like the way these healthy habits make you feel, stick with them and make them a part of your everyday routine.
The bottom line is when you are lacking confidence, you have to uplift yourself just like you would uplift anyone else on your team. Be encouraging, stay patient, ride the wave that is our beautiful game, and remember... You Got This.
--Halo
