333 - The Performance-Boosting Power of Positive Self-Talk
Savvy Psychologist
Macmillan Holdings, LLC
4.6 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 5 March 2021
⏱️ 12 minutes
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Summary
Positive self-talk isn't just an athlete's secret weapon! Decades of research shows it boosts performance, builds mental toughness, and regulates emotions whenever you take on a challenging task. Here's how to use it to score some big wins of your own.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You've got this. Go get them. This isn't just a nice way to talk to yourself. According |
| 0:10.4 | to decades of sports psychology research, positive self-talk actually boosts performance, builds |
| 0:17.1 | mental toughness, and regulates emotions. Welcome back to Savi Psychologist. I'm your host |
| 0:23.4 | Dr. Jade Wu. Every week I'll help you meet life's challenges with evidence-based research, |
| 0:28.8 | a sympathetic ear, and zero judgment. Today we learn from top athletes about their secret weapon |
| 0:36.3 | to success. On the show we've talked about untangling, unhelpful thoughts like how not to fall |
| 0:43.2 | into common thinking traps. We've also talked about being compassionate towards ourselves. |
| 0:48.5 | Now all of these are great long-term approaches to cultivating a healthy mental space and we |
| 0:54.6 | should practice these every day. But what about when we're on the spot right now? Can we use our |
| 1:02.1 | thoughts in a high-stakes moment to better our performance? For this we can turn to the sports |
| 1:08.6 | psychology field for some coaching. Now anyone who knows me knows that I am not an athlete, |
| 1:16.0 | but I've always admired athletes for their total focus and ability to perform under pressure. |
| 1:22.8 | Like when Stefan Curry makes his game deciding free throw, I imagine that time slows down and |
| 1:30.4 | everything extraneous is filtered out. But I also wonder, is there anything else going on in his |
| 1:37.6 | head in that moment? Does he say anything to himself to make that magic happen? |
| 1:44.4 | Maybe he does. It turns out that positive self-talk is an athlete's secret weapon. A 2020 study |
| 1:51.4 | of 300-meter runners found that using positive self-talk consistently made them run faster |
| 1:58.2 | and feel mentally tougher. They didn't necessarily think that their speed was any different, |
| 2:04.0 | but their performance spoke for themselves. And it's not just this study from last year, |
| 2:10.1 | there are already decades of research showing that cheering yourself on has real effects for |
| 2:15.7 | scoring more points and winning more competitions. So how to make this work for you, whether or not |
| 2:23.2 | your an athlete? Well, positive self-talk is exactly what it sounds like. You literally talk to |
... |
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