Negative Self Talk.

Hot take:

If speaking so poorly to yourself was the solution, it would have worked by now.

Regardless of who you are and your role in life, negative self-talk is real … and consistent.

#athletes are no exception.

And it can happen more consistently because you’re aiming to hit goals and milestones every single day.

Multiple times a day.

As a swimmer, I practiced 2x/day most days of the week.

If I didn’t hit pace in morning practice, I’d spend the day ruminating on what I “should” have done to get there.

10 hours later I was back at it. Working my ass off to hit pace again.

If it didn’t happen, I spent my drive home going over every detail thinking about where I could have shaved off 0.1s to make it.

Wanna know how many times that worked?

0. Zero. Zilch. Nada.

Piling on the woulda, coulda, and shoulda only made it that much more challenging to hit the times I wanted.

You’d think I would have realized the moments I just let go and let those missed paces be data points vs. the epitome of my worth I actually reached my milestones.

So the next time you default to negative self-talk following a performance, ask yourself how much it actually helps.

After all, if it was the solution it would have worked by now.