Negative thinking = self-destruction
A negative throught is the most important wrong thought in the world of sports. Negative thinking is holding you back from making progress. Negative thinking about yourself always puts you down, corners you and attacks your confidence. They are, as to speak, a one-way-ticket with no return. Usually it is trailed by wrong behavior and misdoing. Thus given the prove again that you are up to no good.
How often have you been confronted with failure? And when you are heading for failure again, you start thinking ‘oh boy, here we go again’. Failing in doing something, or failing in achieving something makes you think you are not able to succeed. Stop thinking this! Negative thinking enlarges the idea. You put the emphasis again on things that go wrong. And by giving it your full attention, it becomes reality.
To break this pattern you have to stop thinking negative. Try to focus on things that work well or things you like to do. Eliminate all negative thoughts. Don’t let old wrong habits take control. Focus on the result you like to see, if need to be gradually. Execute, evaluate and execute again. While facing a problem, try to think positive. Act positive. There is no exception to the rule ... things sometimes simply go wrong. Learn from the experience.
I JUST CAN'T MANAGE!
BEFORE THE SHOT
Do you think a player will succeed playing a shot properly when only seconds before he is thinking about missing or failure? Most likely not! How can negative thoughts help you achieving positive actions and results? Still lots of players are making this mistake.
Thoughts like ‘okay, I will try to do my best’ is inaccurate. By thinking like this you send the wrong impulse to the brain. Sending the signal ‘I can do it’ is much different. Trying is like protecting yourself for when you miss or fail to achieve. They say ‘well, I tried, didn’t I?’. Your mind set has to be more determined. ‘trying’ is incomplete. What we need is a positive affirmation for the action that lies ahead. We need a healthy approach mentally, with belief and a positive mind.
AFTER THE SHOT
When a player misses a shot or fails to do so, we sometimes hear ‘you see, I can not manage, it is too difficult’. Again he is affirming a negative thought. You have to be very careful when this saying becomes like a normal behavior. For your mind will connect the thought to the occasion. The moment it occurs again, almost certainly these thought will pop up again and you are doomed to fail.
Instead of pointing out how terrible you are, you can divert the emphasis on what has happened. Instead of saying … ‘you see, I was awful’ you can put the emphasis on what went wrong or the reason why you failed without resuming how terrible you are again. As such, you are diverting the problem from you as a player to the physical action that went wrong.