Brian Johnson explores how you talk to yourself as a performance tool. Dave Allred calls language the ultimate performance-enhancing drug. The key: don't listen to your thoughts, direct them. Focus your internal dialogue on what you want to do and feel, not on what could go wrong.
Chapters
Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another heroic one. As part of my recent mental toughness peak performance deep dive in support of the elite athletes, coaches and teams we've been supporting, I read a book called the Pressure Principle by Dave Allred. I got it after a new friend of mine, who shall remain anonymous but happens to be one of the world's most elite athletes, pulled it off his bookshelf when we were meeting in his study a couple months ago. The book, as per its subtitle, is all about how to handle stress, harness energy and perform when it counts. Ulrid tells us that there are eight different facets to his philosophy. One of them is all about the way we talk to ourselves. He tells us that the language we use is so important that he once wrote this for the English cricket team he was coaching. And I quote him now with a playful little advertisement for a new performance drug that's now being used in the development of England's elite cricket players and coaches. It has been said that it is the most powerful drug known to mankind. The performance edges that can be achieved from skillful and consistent use of this drug, increasing self esteem, creating a dramatic boost in confidence, reframing and transforming meaning and changes in behaviors and attitudes. The health warning that accompanies this powerful drug is the fact that it is in abundance, has no monetary cost, and many people simply are not aware of its existence or power. Therefore, it can easily be misused and is often abused. Most people are unaware of its existence. Individuals often suffer untold damage without knowing what or who the culprit is until it's too late. And this makes it even more dangerous, he says. Even after the cause, careless use and defect have been recognized and understood, it can potentially take years to repair the damage. Sadly, in many cases, the individual never fully recovers from its misuse and it can destroy self esteem, shatter confidence and severely limit performance potential, particularly when the performance involves making decisions. End quote. That is from the second chapter on the power of language called the Ultimate Performance Enhancing Drug. Now I just love it when authors use the metaphor of a drug to describe the power of their recommendations. We'll discuss some of my other favorites in our next one. For today, let's focus on the power of the language we use to when we talk to ourselves. To do so, let's bring to mind the wisdom from another one of my favorite writers. In his great fable about a struggling golfer called the Mental Game. Check out those notes. Seriously, check out the notes on the mental Game. Darren Donnelly drops this wisdom bomb. He tells us. And I quote Darren what you have to remember is that the point of self talk isn't to deceive yourself. The point is to direct your yourself. You don't have to keep describing the negative situation. You already know what it is that you're facing. If you let that negative voice say whatever it wants in tough times, it will keep reminding you of how bad the situation is and all the things that are likely to go wrong because of it. This is when you have to take charge and talk positively to yourself. Tell yourself how you want to feel, not how you already feel. Tell yourself what you want to have happen next instead of ruminating on what already happened. This will shift your focus and what you focus on most tends to come about. Therefore you want your self talk directing your focus to the thoughts, actions and results you want, not what you don't want. He says you have to take control of your self talk. Don't listen to yourself. Talk to yourself. Recognize that there is an ongoing battle taking place in your mind. You must take an active role in this battle. End quote. I repeat and this is one of my all time favorite lines. Don't listen to yourself. Talk to yourself. It's a huge distinction and that's today's post war here's to popping the ultimate performance enhancing drug. Talk to yourself heroically all day, every day, especially today.
