Peter Lohmann and a co-speaker explore two mental techniques for performance: labeling intrusive thoughts as "head trash" to create distance from them, and deliberately choosing the story you tell yourself about a situation, regardless of its accuracy, to shift your attention and motivation.
I've always liked your head trash philosophy of just naming it and calling it that and being clear that that's not real and that it's a fleeting sensation or thought that's gonna pass. That's been helpful for me.
One of the most empowering thoughts ever for me is that we get to choose the story we make, and it doesn't matter if it's true, because if we impress it on our minds strongly enough, it brings the resources and the attention and the excitement and whatever other resources we need to be the best we possibly can right now. And that's all we have. That's all that matters.
