Negative thoughts are more natural than you think. Having these thoughts may be difficult to control, but how you manage and respond to them can become a practice. Investing in your mental performance is a big part of reaching your potential both on and off the field.
Your thoughts matter. Unfortunately, most people have a negativity bias when it comes to thoughts. Studies show that over 80% of our natural thoughts are negative. In fact, there are even acronyms like “ANTS” (Automatic Negative Thoughts) and “NATS” (Negative Automatic Thoughts) which are commonly used in sports psychology.
Negative thoughts ramp up even more in high pressure situations, like games, tryouts, or tests. These scenarios can heighten our negative thoughts due to the extra stress we feel.
We have all experienced the “what if” syndrome that has cast doubts on our performance. What if I mess up? What if Coach yells at me? What if I get beat? What if I drop the ball? What if I’m not as good as everyone thinks?
These are those “NATs” manifesting in real-time on the field. Allowing these thoughts to build inside of us shifts our energy and focus away from performing our best. So the question is, what do you do when these thoughts are affecting your performance?
When a physical part of your game is affecting your performance, you work on it. If your stick skills are sloppy, you play wall ball and do stickwork drills. If you are out of shape, you get a trainer and workout.
If you are struggling with negative self-talk and low confidence, you need to work on it. You must train your mental performance.
There are methods you can practice on your own. To overcome negative thoughts, it takes training new thought habits in your brain. This will be uncomfortable; however, in time you will adjust to your new and better thoughts will give you positive energy to perform better.
Step 1: Awareness (or Mindfulness)
The first step to changing your negative thoughts is to become aware of them. Most of the things we think we don’t even notice, so practicing awareness or mindfulness is a necessity. You can’t change something if you don’t even know it’s there. Start pausing throughout your day and notice what you’re saying in your mind. At a stop light, walking on campus, before you walk on the field, pay attention and listen.
Step 2: Reprogramming
We need to swap out these negative thoughts for empowering beliefs. As we become aware of these thoughts, now is the time to decide what we want to say to ourselves.
One interesting exercise is to ask yourself if you are good at something that you objectively know you are good at. It can honestly be anything. For example, I was once asked the question: do you think you are a good lacrosse player? A good lacrosse player, that’s it. Not the best in the world, not the best on your team, not even one of the best. Just “are you a good lacrosse player”? The crazy thing is that I felt uncomfortable saying the phrase “I am a good lacrosse player” out loud. Being good is all relative - anyone can make the case they are good, yet we often choose not to feel that way.
So why was this so hard to say? Because I had to reprogram the way I talk to myself and my belief systems. I have noticed a habit of holding myself to a very high standard, and in exchange, being very harsh on myself internally to reach or maintain that. At times, this has led to a lack of confidence and affected my performance on the field. I have since been practicing reprogramming the way I speak to myself through coaching, journaling, and self-talk methods.
There is a difference between being arrogant and confident. I think so many players are actually afraid of being arrogant, that they believe these negative thoughts and this eats away at confidence. To be the best you can be, you need to feel and believe you are capable of being that. I once heard a friend and fellow coach Mike Mabry give a presentation where he said “you will never outperform your belief system.” This made so much sense to me and really hammered home the importance of our self-talk and how we frame our beliefs.
I want to wrap up by acknowledging that I know the idea of self-talk and belief systems can sound vague and insignificant. I do not want to give off the impression that just talking better to yourself will turn you into the best lacrosse player ever. It is also important to note that I am not a mental health professional - this is all through my lens of playing and coaching experiences.
However, one thing I feel confident in saying is that athletes need to be both physically and mentally equipped to be their best. If you do not believe that you will be successful you are probably right, and if you do believe it, then you are at least on the right path to put in the rest of the work you need to achieve your goals.
Whenever you begin to feel doubt or anxiety, practice taking control of those thoughts and flipping them into your new positive beliefs. Just like everything else, this is a practice that must be performed consistently. Create new habits to improve your mental health and performance, and I think you will be pleasantly surprised by the impact.
Lastly, I encourage you to use a sports psychologist, therapist, or mental performance coach if you have the ability. I say this since I avoided using our sports psychologist in college as I felt there was a stigma around it, and to this day I regret not taking advantage. Now, I do work with a mental performance coach and am thankful that I do. (I have linked Anna's site at bottom of page).
Get a journal and train your self-talk. Write down 5 things everyday about the type of person you are and want to be, and then take a few minutes to say them out loud and feel them inside of you. Use the format along the lines of “I am the type of person _______”. An example might be, “I am the type of person who brings great energy to every practice and always makes the next play.” Write it, say it, feel it. Whatever your phrases to reprogram your beliefs are, they are up to you, but these are what you fall back on when the NATs start creeping in.
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