Becoming Your Own Cheerleader — Minus The Pom Poms
A good friend reminded me the other day about the power of words. Don’t worry runners, there’s some science coming your way too. If there’s one thing we runners like, it’s running science. Whether we choose to believe it or not is a whole other post.
Here’s what she said:
“Those words worked their way under my skin, until I believed I was that way all along.”
Powerful stuff right?
And here’s the thing, the words you tell yourself, the stories we create to explain, justify and understand ourselves are immensely powerful. They etch their way into our brains and before we know it, we’re automatically responding with things like: “I’m not a runner, more a plodder” or “I’ve never been good at sport/running/public speaking/making friends, it’s just not something I can do.”
Verbal And Mental Bear Traps
These words become mantras, self-fulfilling prophecies, carved into the neural pathways. They come out of your mouth, even before you have time to fully think them through — a habit as familiar as a well-worn pair of Brooks (other sports shoes are available, but they’re not as good).
There are, of course, good mantras. There are also those types of people who stare into the bathroom mirror every morning telling their reflections how they’re going to take on the world and win (I feel like that was a film, was that a film?).
And while you may not be a mirror-staring ‘winner,’ when it comes to running. Your mental game needs to be first-class. I’m going to say it:
It doesn’t matter how hard you’ve trained, if your brain isn’t working with you, you will struggle and ultimately fail.
NOT because you’re a failure. NOT because you never see things through or because you’re not really a runner. Because you’re not your own loudest cheerleader.
Science Fact
Michele Kerulis is an associate professor at Northwestern University specialising in sport and exercise. In an article in Psychology Today, she said this: “Mindset is also important. Runners should focus on creating a positive mindset and changing negative thoughts into positive statements. Sport psychology consultants call this cognitive restructuring, a cognitive behavioural therapy technique. Training the mind to have a positive statement as a go-to will help runners develop a habit of seeing opportunities instead of problems.”
What strikes me here is how that mindset doesn’t necessarily come naturally. It needs a restructuring of what’s already there. A shift in thinking from negative to positive.
But how can you change your negative self-talk into a winning conversation?
Habit. By habitually challenging and correcting those statements you tell yourself, re-writing those harmful words, you WILL overcome. And that’s exactly how cognitive behavioural therapy works.
Here’s my experience of doing just that.
From Zero to Hero
As I whined on about previously in my DNF article, the Race to the King event was tough. I made day one, but not day two. My legs and feet gave up. In summary, I’d bitten off more than I could chew and I was bitterly disappointed.
But here’s the thing — at about the time I hit marathon distance that first day, I realised my mental game was on point. More than that, I was being NICE to myself. Giving myself the kind of helpful pep talks I needed to make it through the next 6km. I was my own best cheerleader, and it was a revelation.
Why? Because I’m much more inclined towards the out-and-out moan-fest end of the spectrum and most often that gets directed internally at my perceived failures. You then get caught in that vicious cycle we talked about of self-fulfilling prophecy. Tell yourself you’re hopeless, you become hopeless — literally lacking hope.
And hope is a powerful emotion. Hope to finish a hard event is a magnet that can pull you home — crossing that finish line and straight into the nearest beer tent, or arms of your loved one.
Finding that hope is incredibly hard when you feel defeated but I promise you it’s there.
Practise it. Even today start challenging negative self-talk. It’s an absolute game-changer and more than that, it’s a tool you can pull out of your brain whenever you need to get through the hard thing.
This is a running hill I’m prepared to die on. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.
