Confidence, Self-talk, and Performance

I think I can.? I think I can.? I think I can.? We've all heard about the power of positive thinking.? Research confirms that successful people engage in positive self-talk twice as often as negative self-talk.? Unsuccessful people express twice as many negative thoughts than positive one.? Yet when those same unsuccessful people were trained to speak to themselves positively over a six-week period there was no difference in their performance.? They were still just as unsuccessful.

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So, does positive self-talk really work?? Yes, it does, but it may not be enough for people who don't regularly think that way.? We know one thing for sure.? Negative self-talk triggers the fight-or-flight reflex. releasing powerful chemicals into our bloodstream, further compromising our performance.? You can learn more about this connection by checking out a previous post, Confidence, Fight-or-Flight, and Performance.

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We know there is a stronger connection between positive energy and performance than there is between positive thinking and performance.? Using simple mechanical devices change your energy level from negative (anger, frustration, sadness, etc.) to positive feelings of empowerment, control, happiness, etc.? Positive energy purges your body of the negative energy that resulted from your descent into fight-or-flight.

?There is something else you should know about negative self-talk.? It's the result of Negativity Bias, a condition all humans possess.? You may know it as Murphy's Law. Stored deep in our subconscious we believe that if something can go wrong, it will.? Successful people don't allow this bias to dominate their self-talk.? Or they turn it around and use it to their advantage when it surfaces.

?While this bias is somewhat genetic, Dr. Bruce Lipton, author of The Biology of Belief, explains that 68% of our Negativity Bias is the result of social conditioning.? That is, important people in our lives who have our best interests at heart unconsciously and inadvertently condition us to be negative.? You hear it in the many phrases that dominate conversations with loved ones.? “Don't talk about good fortune.? You don't want to jinx yourself, do you?”? Don't set your sights too high, you might not reach them and then you feel worse.”? “Don't take risks, just settle for safety?”? “Hope for the best but expect the worse.”

Loved ones don't want to see us get hurt so caution us to accept a limited existence.? But the Negativity Bias turns those phrases into self-fulfilling prophecy. We begin to expect mistakes, failures, and disasters, even if those thoughts are expressed subconsciously.? Our conscious and unconscious self-talk express those fears, then we live out those fears through our golf performance.

There are numerous variations on the above phrases.? Just be alert to them and you will hear them numerous times throughout the day.? Then, just like our loved ones, we think about, talk about, or listen to others expressing the drama in their lives.? It predominates the airwaves of television, radio, and the movies.? This must stop.? You must re-condition yourself to focus on positive aspects of your golf performance and life in general.? It must be life changing, otherwise the drama and negativity you focus on in life infects your golf performance.

?Weakening your Negativity Bias requires constant vigilance.? You must know when you're descending into a negative programming cycle.? This requires strategies that re-condition your subconscious to focus on positivity instead of negativity.?

Questions and comments are welcomed and appreciated. You can send them to this platform or email me at [email protected]

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