Video transcript:
Our minds always seem to have something to say, don’t they? In baseball, we notice that our minds are constantly talking to us, whether we want them to or not. Sometimes what they have to say helps us and sometimes it doesn’t. Regardless, we call this internal dialogue self-talk. Now most self-talk is automatic, meaning we don’t have control over it. And this automatic, uncontrollable self-talk is most often evaluative. Full of judgment on how well or poorly our minds think we stack up to everyone else. And as I mentioned, sometimes it helps us but many times it doesn’t.
Regardless, we can’t really control what our minds have to tell us. For example, if you just struck out swinging at a curve ball in the dirt, your first thought will probably sound something like, “Why would you swing at that?” If you’re on the mound and you just walked your second hitter in a row, your mind might tell you, “Please, just throw a strike.” And that’s not something that you can always control nor should you have to and that’s because you can control how you respond. You can control what’s called your deliberate self talk. The things that you tell yourself on purpose.
Deliberate self-talk should promote confident action or direct your focus to the task at hand. It may even do both at the same time. Before a big game, it might sound like telling yourself, “You’re ready for this.” or “Commit.” At the plate telling yourself, “See it deep.” or “Stay inside the baseball.” When I pitched, I would sometimes struggle with trying to guide my pitches to a certain spot and because of this, my command and my velocity would suffer. My stuff improved when I told myself, “Blow up the catcher.” as if I was trying to knock the catcher over with every single pitch.
Whatever cue or phrase that you need to promote confident action and direct your focus to the task at hand is the self-talk that works for you. But keep it short, simple and memorable. And remember, you can’t control what your mind automatically tells you. But you can control how you respond.