FROM THE DESK OF:
John Ellsworth
Sports Psychology Consultant
Protex Sports, LLC
_______________________________Each month I strive to provide athletes, coaches and parents with unique strategies to drastically improve athletic performance. This newsletter is just one of the many resources I make available to anyone who is serious about improving performance.
The mind is a powerful tool. The thoughts, beliefs and attitudes we hold about how we perform greatly influences the outcome of competitive situations. Harness that power with mental game skills training and you have the winning strategy to consistently perform with a champion mindset!
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“When I say
winning is an attitude, that’s what I mean. No one ever got anywhere, accomplished anything, or survived any amount of ill luck by being negative." ~ Pat Summit, Women’s Basketball Coach University of Tennessee |
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Take
the Mental Toughness Challenge: |
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Each and every day we have the opportunity to look forward. All too often athletes are more concerned about what they did not do in yesterday’s performance rather than focusing on their accomplishments. Attitudes are developed by our view or how we see things. Success is more often achieved and repeated when athletes believe they have accomplished something. Building on successes enhances ones outlook because it creates joy. Joy creates positive feelings. I challenge you to identify, and write down three positive things you accomplished in practice or in your most recent competition. Repeat this exercise each day for the next five days. Then go back and review these cards at the end of the week.
Using Positive Self-Affirmations in Sports
Written by John R. Ellsworth, M.A., Sport Psychology Consultant & Mental Game Coach
Have you ever wondered why it seems that certain athletes succeed where others seem to struggle with success?
The people who succeed know how to program their minds for success, while others may be operating under a cloud of negative suggestions, statements or beliefs. The challenging news about what we say to ourselves is that these beliefs developed early in life and have become a regular method we use to communicate to ourselves. The good news is that this pattern can, with practice, be corrected.
The method of using positive self-affirmation, or positive self-talk to change your internal communication with yourself is simple. The process is so easy that it is often overlooked or underestimated as a powerful tool to help athletes with positive change and improved success.
What is a Positive Self-Talk Statement?
First, a self-talk statement is a statement you make to yourself all the time. The mind is always talking and advising you about who you are, how you should feel, and reinforcing the type of person you are or ought to be. A positive self-talk statement is a comment you make to yourself on a regular, frequent basis to reprogram your conscious mind with an idea, belief, reality or attitude that you choose for yourself.
How often have you doubted yourself either before or after an athletic performance or event? When you achieve success during athletic competition you are either excited and reward yourself with positive statements, or you might repeat negative statements to yourself like, “You choker,” or “Why can’t you get it right,” or “I can never seem to get this done the way I want to.”
Positive self-statements are a powerful way to replace negative “mind chatter” in your conscious mind. Mind chatter is an unproductive, unconscious guidance system outside of your awareness that controls your behavior with “value related statements.” If the mind is going to talk to you anyway, why not have the mind speak to you in a positive way. If we had conscious awareness of how we talk to ourselves, would it not makes sense to invest the time to make positive statements to ourselves rather than negative ones?
Why do Positive Self-Statements Produce Results?
Positive Self-Talk statements help to reprogram the mind. They are the nourishment the mind and personal self-esteem need to reprogram a belief in self. They are the encouragement statements that cultivate new thoughts to take root and grow. As you continue to repeat the statements, the new thoughts become stronger and permeate your unconscious mind until a new belief system is fully established, flourishing, and bearing positive results in your daily performance.
Some statements take root rapidly and bear fruit quickly. Other issues or thought patterns require more time before they ripen and bear new fruit or new performance thought patterns. I worked with an athlete for an entire season to overcome his belief that he was an unsuccessful pitcher - that could not throw strikes no matter how hard he tried.
_________________________________________
“ I was a real mess during the fall baseball season.
It was so hard for me to see the positive and success
from my performances. As soon as I walked a batter,
the negative talk would start. From that point
forward my mind was telling me I was
‘choker’ and could not get hitters out.”
~ Ryan - Pitcher /Nor Cal - JCC
_________________________________________Remember, that your actions or beliefs have often existed for quite some time, so allow four to six weeks at a minimum for this process to produce results, and more time for optimal results.
Important for Best Results
Always phrase your self-statements positively and in the present tense. The unconscious mind, which makes pictures from your words, does not register negatives. When you tell your unconscious mind, “Don’t miss that fast ball,” the mind makes a picture of missing the fastball, and then has to find a way to cancel that picture and generate a new behavior. This three-step process is very complex and does not help to generate positive behavior. This also explains why you continue to do the things that you tell yourself not to do.
Tell your unconscious mind exactly what you want it to do and it will follow the instructions you give it, especially when you repeat the instructions calmly and cheerfully for a period of time – four to six weeks. Here are some examples of positive self-statements:
- My performance today will be the best I can give regardless of the weather or conditions of the field.
- I choose to see myself performing effortlessly as I glide through my wind-up and delivery with confidence and focus.
- I love to compete; I love the energy of being in a field of runners, bikers and swimmers and choose to focus on remaining present and in the flow.
- By having my pre-at-bat plan and sticking to my plan, there is success without judgment regardless of the outcome.
- I choose to take the success from practice into the game with confidence, and trust in my ability to be a winner.
- Being in the flow and in the process of my own race means no judgment and no analysis.
- My training has prepared me for this day. I am confident that my training success has prepared me for this day.
Let positive self-statements become a positive force in your athletic life, and life in general. Let this positive force enable you to become all that you can be.
You can Improve Your Performance with Positive Self-Statements. Make a commitment to get started now.
My daughter, a Division I basketball player, sustained a season ending injury right after a successful freshman year as a starting point guard on her team. This injury devastated her because she was looking forward to her sophomore year and her starting position. The team had been highly ranked at the end of the previous season, and was expected to have an even better season in the new year. She is so hard on herself and demands perfection in everything she does – academics, athletics, and life in general. She is currently in a rehabilitation program, yet cannot seem to get past the feeling that she will never be the same basketball player in the future. How do I help her regain her confidence, reduce the negative things she says to herself, get her to believe she will get through this process, and perform well next season?
Have a mental game problem? Ask sports psychology expert, John Ellsworth your question and he'll respond to you personally! Email your mental game problems and questions to john@protexsports.com
The Confident Athlete: A 14-Day
Plan for Ultimate Self-Confidence
By Patrick J. Cohn, Ph.D.In The Confident Athlete you'll learn how to think and perform like a champion. One of the best-selling products on sports psychology, The Confident Athlete investigates the common mental obstacles leading to poor performance--confidence. After reading this book and applying the 14 days of exercises, virtually any athlete will boost confidence! This program improves confidence by identifying the common thoughts or behaviors that decrease confidence and instills the mindset needed to be a champion.
SPECIAL!!! Available ONLY to Minding the Sport Subscribers
2 CDs & 68 Page Workbook … $59.00 (plus shipping)
Regular Price: $89 -- YOU SAVE $30!
The Composed Athlete: A 14-Day
Plan for Ultimate Composure
By Patrick J. Cohn, Ph.D.Written by a leading sports psychology expert, the Composed Athlete teached athletes (as well as coaches) how to cope with pressure, especially when performance is critical to the outcome of the competition. The book covers the mental breakdowns that occur that lead to loss of composure and provides a 14 strategy/plan to change negative thoughts and behaviors dealing with composure that inhibit performance. Perfect for any athlete or coach who wants to learn how to stay calm during crunch-time!
SPECIAL!!! Available ONLY to Minding the Sport Subscribers
2 CDs & 63 Page Workbook … $59.00 (plus shipping)
Regular Price: $89 -- YOU SAVE $30!
The Focused Athlete: A 14-Day
Plan for Ultimate Concentration
By Patrick J. Cohn, Ph.D.When athletes get side-tracked, so does their performance! The Focused Athlete teaches coaches and athletes alike, the concentration skills to focus on the play or performance, rather than heckling fans, shouting teammates or environmental conditions. Much like its popular counter-parts, the Confident Athlete and the Composed Athlete, the Focused Athlete covers the mental barriers that negatively impact performance and provides personalized strategies to create winning thoughts and behaviors.
SPECIAL!!! Available ONLY to Minding the Sport Subscribers
2 CDs & 63 Page Workbook … $59.00 (plus shipping)
Regular Price: $89 -- YOU SAVE $30!
The Confident Athlete: A 14-Day
Plan for Kid's Success in Sports
By Lisa Cohn and Patrick J. Cohn, Ph.D.When you're a parent to a youth athlete learning the secrets to motivate your aspiring athlete requires special insights into your child's mental toughness--or mindset in sports. The Ultimate Sports Parent takes parents, or anyone working with youth athletics, the secrets of instilling a champion mindset. Topics covered include: overcoming fear, increasing confidence, refining focus and building composure.
SPECIAL!!! Available ONLY to Minding the Sport Subscribers
2 CDs & 118 Page Workbook … $59.00 (plus shipping)
Regular Price: $89 -- YOU SAVE $30!_____________________________________________________
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John Ellsworth, M.A
Sports Psychology Consultant
PROTEX SPORTS, LLC
___________________________________John Ellsworth knows that every athlete wants one thing—to achieve peak performance, especially in competition. As both president and founder of Protex Sports, LLC, John is dedicated to helping serious athletes strengthen confidence, refine focus and build composure to provide them the winning advantage—mental endurance.
With over 30 years of experience in business, education, coaching and sport psychology, John is highly regarded as an accomplished authority on achieving excellence and reaching optimal performance. He brings a multi-faceted approach to the mental aspects of sports and health by looking at the attitudes, beliefs and thoughts that influence performance behaviors.
In addition to his extensive experience in both clinical and applied sports psychology, Mr. Ellsworth has worked with sports parents, sports teams, coaches, athletic trainers, sports agents and physicians to train them in the skills to boost mental toughness or assist athletes recovering from a sports related injury.
John works throughout North America with athletes and teams from a variety of sport backgrounds. He earned his Masters Degree from John F. Kennedy University in Counseling Psychology with a specialization in Sport Psychology (2001); has obtained undergraduate degrees in Business, and Psychology, as well as teaching credentials from Hillsdale College; and is presently working on his doctorate degree.
