When did the speaker start working with her sports psychologist?

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An Olympic Gold Medalist Shares Her Secret to Overcoming Negative Self Talk - Sanya Richards-Ross

25 Sept 2024 · 1 min

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0:53

A short YouTube monologue by Olympic gold medalist Sanya Richards-Ross describing how working with a sports psychologist after the 2008 Olympic Games helped her manage negative self-talk. She recounts labeling intrusive thoughts as "monkey chatter," learning to stay present, and reframing negativity into positive, performance‑supporting statements (e.g., "I've had a great season... I'm prepared, I'm deserving").

Questions this video answers

After the 2008 Olympic Games.

Chapters

So I started working with my sports psychologist after the 2008 Olympic Games. I wish I would have started working with him sooner.
My sports psychologist helped me to, first of all, be present in the moment. I think I like to call it monkey chatter. Those negative thoughts that you cannot turn on and off, they just come in and tell you you're not ready, you're not prepared, it's not your time. And my sports psychologist kind of taught me how to flow with that. And whenever I had a negative thought about, well, you didn' do it in 2008, I would say, yeah, that's right, but I'm doing it today. He taught me how to fight negativity, but with positivity. And so then you change your thought process around to saying, I've had a great season. I've beat all these girls before. I'm prepared, I'm deserving. And all those things kind of help to allow you to go out there and run from a positive place.