I've been running an experiment lately.
Life has been a rollercoaster. No day seems to be predictable. (Is that entrepreneurship?)
But within the cloudier days, I started noticing something. In myself, and in the athletes I work with.
It all points back to self talk.
About a month ago, a best friend of mine sent me a login to this self talk app. Sounds funny, doesn't it? You might be thinking, "eh, isn't that just social media talk?"
I was in the same boat. My personal biases were skeptical.
But then through one of my classes, my own research, and diving back into TAH's own 3C framework, I realized there's much more to the concept of self talk for athletes than meets the eye.
Let me break it down.
1. The Number of Our Thoughts
Here's something most people don't think about when it comes to athlete mental performance: it starts long before the game.
Depending on what you google, you'll get a different number. 6,000. 12,000. 60,000. 70,000 thoughts per day. The point is, it's a lot. And many of them repeat.
For example, an athlete might be saying "we got this" to themselves all morning. Or they may be saying "this sucks" on repeat. What do we expect to happen when those are playing on loop?
The answer matters more than most coaches and parents realize.
2. The Clarity (or Rather, Foggy) Lens
When all these thoughts are happening, what's actually going on in the athlete's mind?
I use a sunglasses metaphor. When we first put them on, we notice. But shortly after, it seems normal. Sometimes we even forget they're on.
That's exactly what's happening with self talk in sports. Very quickly, when things aren't going how our athletes want, that lens gets foggy. It's dirty. It's a self-talk storm they don't even understand is there.
This is where athlete mindset training gets important.
Most athletes aren't aware of the internal conversation running on repeat. Neither are most coaches and parents. But that internal conversation is shaping everything: confidence, composure, focus, and how they respond when things go wrong.
3. The Subconscious
Have you ever seen the iceberg representation of the subconscious? I was recently asked about the RAS by someone who had never heard of it.
If it's new to you: the RAS (reticular activating system) is a term from neuroscience that basically means what we focus on, we see more of.
Those things were always there. We just weren't noticing them. The subconscious was filtering them out.
This is a big deal for mental performance coaching, because the subconscious is filtering and shaping thoughts all day, especially when they're running on repeat. That self talk we don't notice... until we do.
Until the athlete flips the table on their emotions and realizes something is up.
So What Do We Do About It?
This self-talk experiment has shown me something.
No matter the adversity an athlete faces, the subconscious check-in with themselves will make or break how they perceive the outside world.
It starts with noticing. Then it starts with programming.
That's what mental performance training does. It doesn't just talk about positive thinking. It builds repeatable mental exercises, like reps in the weight room, until the right self talk becomes automatic.
Clarity, confidence, and composure don't show up by accident. They're trained.
So, are you helping, holding space, or hurting that athlete you know?
If you're unsure, let's talk. I work with athletes, coaches, and teams on the mental exercises that change performance from the inside out. Reach out or share this with someone who needs to see it.
Keep talking.
Gabe