Positive self-talk guarantees positive performance outcomes. Self-worth is a person’s confidence is his or her ability to perform. Self-talk can have an impact on performance, either facilitating or hindering achievement.

According to the concept of reciprocal determinism, a person’s behavior is influenced through cognitive processes and environmental factors such as social stimuli. For example, say a child acts out because they don’t like school.

Which of the following is true with respect to the psychological benefits of exercise? Exercise can have beneficial emotional effects, but only for males. Long-term exercise is usually associated with increases in neuroticism and anxiety. Exercise can be associated with a decreased level of mild to moderate depression.

Which of the following is true of sport professionals and coaches who are culturally competent? Their programs incorporate the values, traditions, and customs of the cultural groups with whom they work.

Mental imagery and self-talk strategies are implemented by athletes in order to regulate arousal, reduce maladaptive behaviors, reconstruct negative thoughts, and to increase one’s concentration and focus.

Imagery can be used to develop qualities in yourself you’d like to have — it’s like emotional body-building — and using a technique called “Evocative Imagery” you can cultivate courage, patience, tolerance, humor, concentration, self-confidence or any other quality you’d like to embody.

The underlying idea behind this hypothesis is that positive self-talk is linked to cognitive, motivational, behavioral, and affective mechanisms such that athletes who use positive self-talk are likely to decrease anxiety, improve concentration and focus, and perform better.

Effective use of self-talk can improve your performance by helping you regulate your feelings, thoughts, and energy about those events. Positive self-talk can help you feel confident, improve coordination, control fine motor skills, enhance your focus, and perform better at endurance events too.

Affirmations are a powerful way for you, as an athlete, to overcome ways of thinking that are holding you back from becoming your best. Society has programmed many “limiting beliefs” into your mind over your lifetime.

These tips can help:

1. Identify negative self-talk traps. Certain scenarios may increase your self-doubt and lead to more negative self-talk.
2. Check in with your feelings. Stop during events or bad days and evaluate your self-talk.
3. Find the humor.
4. Surround yourself with positive people.
5. Give yourself positive affirmations.

The 6 Best Things to Say to Yourself in the Mirror, According to Mental Health Pros

• “I am lovable.”
• “I’m a f***ing bada**.”
• “I’m so proud of you.”
• “I get to go to work and kill it today.”
• “I’m so excited for today.”
• “I choose to feel good.”

Use Positive Affirmations

• Anxiety isn’t dangerous. I’m just uncomfortable.
• The picture in my head isn’t healthy. That’s just me being negative.
• I feel anxious, but so what? I know what that feels like and I’ll get through it.
• I’m going to focus on things I love to get me through this.
• I will be OK.

Self Talk Yourself to Confidence

1. Be realistic in your self-talk. To tell yourself you’re dumb or ugly is a negative self-talk pattern which can be overcome by assessing your real assets.
2. Be kind to yourself.
3. Weed out old messages you’ve been hanging on to.
4. Learn to recognize disempowering thoughts.
5. Focus on the big picture.

Here are a few helpful tips that you can use to guide your inner conversations.

1. Be aware of your inner voice.
2. Avoid all-or-nothing thinking.
3. Express gratitude.
4. Look for silver linings.
5. Build your self-esteem with positive self-talk.

Consequences of Negative Self-Talk Focusing on negative thoughts may lead to decreased motivation as well as greater feelings of helplessness. This type of critical inner dialogue has even been linked to depression, so it’s definitely something to fix.

Start by following one simple rule: Don’t say anything to yourself that you wouldn’t say to anyone else. Be gentle and encouraging with yourself. If a negative thought enters your mind, evaluate it rationally and respond with affirmations of what is good about you. Think about things you’re thankful for in your life.

Stress and trauma also can lead to a negative outlook on life, said Morrison, who specializes in working with children and families at her private practice. Some people are especially susceptible to negativity because of their genetic makeup, which predisposes them to feeling depressed, anxious or easily overwhelmed.

Tips for Staying Positive in Negative Situations

1. Get enough sleep and rest.
2. Bring more positivity into your life.
3. Focus on solutions, not on problems.
4. Exercise your body.
5. Replace your negative thoughts with positive thoughts.
6. Repeat affirmations.
7. Do not take anything too personally.
8. Learn to meditate.

Put it in perspective Negative self-talk stems from the downward spiral we let our thoughts go into. Stumbling over your words in an interview turns into: “I’m such an idiot, I will never get a job.” But putting these negative thoughts in perspective can help us find out what really went wrong.

Some common forms of negative self-talk include:

• Filtering. You magnify the negative aspects of a situation and filter out all of the positive ones.
• Personalizing. When something bad occurs, you automatically blame yourself.
• Catastrophizing. You automatically anticipate the worst.
• Polarizing.

Here are seven things you can do to bring positivity and happiness into your life.

1. Write in a gratitude journal every day.
2. Listen to music that sounds the way you want to feel.
3. Share positivity by sending one thank-you email or doing one kind act every day.
4. Challenge your negative thinking.
5. Smile.
6. Follow your passion.

How to think positive thoughts

1. Focus on the good things. Challenging situations and obstacles are a part of life.
2. Practice gratitude.
3. Keep a gratitude journal.
4. Open yourself up to humor.
5. Spend time with positive people.
6. Practice positive self-talk.
7. Identify your areas of negativity.
8. Start every day on a positive note.