Self-Talk
by John Byron Gassaway, Fuzion Fitness Trainer
Learn more about John and view his profile click here
The term self-talk can sometimes be misleading. After all, the messages that we send ourselves are not always statements or sentences - many times we send ourselves messages in the form of images, feelings, or single words. According to research by psychologists and neuroscientists, we have approximately 150-300 words or images running through our minds every minute. Most of these messages or simple and don't go beyond daily routines like "I have to remember to pack my workout clothes for this afternoon." These messages can, however, become detrimental when they are self-defeating like "I will never be able to lose this weight" or "I hate sweating" or "I can't believe we have only been working out for 15 minutes." When these messages are repeated over and over they become hard wired into our brains. This means that our neural pathway can run more quickly and fire before we even realize it. When they are so efficient they can be construed as beliefs - something we hold true of ourselves.
The best antidote to these negative messages is a rewiring or rewriting them to be positive messages rather than negative. An example might be the person who is consistently and constantly telling himself that he will "never finish as strong as I start" in a workout and then changes his self-talk to be "it is difficult and I have been working hard, but I will put 100% of whatever I have left into this exercise." By restating this message, he will ultimately become more empowered to engage more effort and feel better about finishing an exercise to the best of his ability.
Our thoughts affect our behaviors and physiology. What we think will mirror our emotions, physiology, and behaviors. If we consider the two messages from above, we would be able to measure a significant difference in how the workout completed physically, emotionally, and which exercises and resistance was used. We truly get what we expect. Changing the messages we send ourselves is one of the easiest ways to enhance our confidence, motivation, performance, focus, and outlook on life.
The first step to change these messages is becoming more aware of what they are and when they occur. Remember that these messages can become almost instantaneous when they are repeated over and over, making it very difficult to identify them. Therefore, paying attention to when a physiological change occurs or a sudden change in emotional feeling takes place most likely coincides with an automatic thought - or immediate self-talk messages.
Once you have recognized when these messages occur and in what situations they come to be, it is important to write them down. Taking the time to write them down and really consider what it might mean allows you to use insight to investigate where they may have come from. One way to categorize them is to split a page into three columns labeling each column: 1. situation, 2. thought, and 3. new positive thought. Using this as a tool to better understand yourself and rewire your thoughts will help you unleash untapped energy and potential.
Changing your thoughts from the negative wiring to the positive will take time and does not change overnight. Just like exercise, committing time and energy into making a change will help it happen. The more you practice at it, the better and more efficient the new neural pathways will fire. At first, the older pathways will be stronger, more efficient, and quicker than the new ones - but over time you will be able to make the positive statements more powerful than the old.
Some quick Tips:
Positive does not mean unrealistic: telling yourself you are going to be able to lift more weight than you ever have before without training is dangerous - instead tell yourself meaningful and manageable changes.
Some research indicates that it will take 12 positive messages to counter 1 negative message (especially when they are so hard-wired to the brain) - so repeat the positive messages as often as possible.
Eliminate self-defeating words like "can't," "never," and "impossible" from your vocabulary - as these will lead you to believing you are unable to achieve your own potential.
