Latest / The Nadia Chapman Show / Rewiring Your Self-Talk for Better Performance on the Ice

Transcript

Rewiring Your Self-Talk for Better Performance on the Ice · The Nadia Chapman Show

• 0:05
  Well, hey there. Welcome to the Nadia Chapman Show, the figure skaters edition.
• 0:10
  I'm your host, Nadia Chapman. You guessed it.
• 0:14
  Today, I'm inviting you to slow down for a moment because this is not one of
• 0:19
  those episodes that you rushed through.
• 0:22
  This is kind of one that you might want to say then listen to it again later in the future.
• 0:27
  I want you to think about the last time that something didn't go the way you wanted on the ice.
• 0:34
  Maybe it was a jump, a bad day.
• 0:37
  Maybe, you know, I don't know, you can do something that you normally land,
• 0:40
  that you normally do easily.
• 0:42
  Maybe it was a run through that fell apart. Maybe it was one,
• 0:46
  just one of those days where nothing technically, you know, really happened.
• 0:51
  But you walked off the ice feeling heavy, feeling frustrated,
• 0:56
  just feeling things were not aligned.
• 0:59
  Now, here's the part that most skaters don't stop to notice.
• 1:05
  What did you tell yourself when you stepped out of the ice that day?
• 1:10
  What did you tell yourself in that moment?
• 1:12
  Not what you said out loud, you know, to your mom or your coach.
• 1:15
  What did you say inside your head?
• 1:18
  Because for most skaters, for most athletes, that internal conversation is running constantly.
• 1:25
  It's very subtle. It's very automatic. And it feels so normal that you don't
• 1:30
  even question it anymore.
• 1:32
  That's your little voice inside of you. You know, you'll hear things like,
• 1:35
  of course, that didn't work.
• 1:37
  Or why do I always struggle with this? Or, oh, my God, I'm so behind.
• 1:41
  Or everybody else was landing their jumps today except me.
• 1:45
  Or maybe it's, you know, I should be further along by now.
• 1:49
  And I want to be very clear here with you. This is not about blaming you.
• 1:54
  You're human and we all have that little voice within us. That's not always very nice.
• 2:00
  This is just about helping you understand something that almost no one explains
• 2:04
  properly to you or in skating.
• 2:08
  And I'm here to help and just get that little light bulb moment so you can change
• 2:14
  the way you think and change the way you talk to yourself. So I want you to remember this.
• 2:19
  Your self-talk is not just commentary. It is training.
• 2:23
  And from a sports psychology perspective, your brain is always learning.
• 2:28
  It doesn't just learn from physical repetitions on the ice.
• 2:31
  It learns from emotional tone. Also, every time that you repeat a thought,
• 2:36
  especially under stress, your nervous system treats it like it's information because it is.
• 2:41
  So when you repeatedly tell yourself that you always miss up,
• 2:45
  you know, everything, that you are inconsistent, that you can't trust yourself
• 2:49
  under pressure, your brain doesn't argue with you.
• 2:52
  It doesn't fact check you, doesn't. It stores that pattern and prepares your
• 2:57
  body to act accordingly.
• 2:59
  This is where things get very interesting and also uncomfortable for a lot of
• 3:04
  people, a lot of skaters, because many of you believe that, oh,
• 3:08
  I'm just being realistic and
• 3:09
  being honest or, you know, I'm being hard on myself, but in a good way.
• 3:14
  You just think that criticizing yourself is keeping you sharp,
• 3:17
  that it's mental fitness. But here's what the science is actually saying.
• 3:22
  Harsh self-talk doesn't make you tougher, doesn't make you better.
• 3:26
  It makes you tighter. And when your inner voice is constantly negative,
• 3:30
  your nervous system stays on alert.
• 3:32
  Your body interprets it as a threat. And when the body feels threatened,
• 3:36
  it prioritizes protection...
• 3:39
  Over performance. It's not because you don't want it badly enough.
• 3:43
  Of course not. It's because your system doesn't feel safe enough in that moment.
• 3:47
  And here's the part that most skaters never realize, or coaches or parents,
• 3:51
  is that you never train like this physically.
• 3:53
  You never say, let's go to the rink and just reinforce everything that scares me today, right?
• 3:59
  You wouldn't rehearse failure over and over again.
• 4:03
  But mentally, many people, many skaters do exactly that without even realizing it.
• 4:09
  So every time that you replay what went wrong instead of what you want to feel,
• 4:14
  every time that you label yourself instead of the moment, every time that you
• 4:18
  turn one mistake into a story about who you are, this is mental repetition.
• 4:23
  Now let's pause here for a second because I know what some of you are thinking right now.
• 4:29
  If I don't point out what's wrong, how can I improve?
• 4:32
  Ha, this is an important question. And the answer is, of course,
• 4:35
  not that you stop noticing your mistakes. The answer is that you change how
• 4:39
  you process your mistakes.
• 4:42
  There's a massive difference between awareness and attack.
• 4:46
  Awareness sounds more like, hey, that fell rushed.
• 4:50
  I know what I'm going to adjust next time. But attack sounds like,
• 4:53
  I always do this. I can't get out of my own way. See the difference?
• 4:58
  One keeps the nervous system regulated, the other one floods it.
• 5:03
  So elite skaters are not people who never have negative thoughts.
• 5:06
  Of course not. They are people who don't let those thoughts run the session.
• 5:10
  There's a big difference between the two. They notice them and then you redirect.
• 5:15
  Always. And this is where I want you to listen.
• 5:18
  You do not need perfect self-talk. That doesn't happen. That doesn't exist.
• 5:23
  You will have negative self-talk. It's normal.
• 5:26
  You are human. But what you need is that you need intentional self-talk because
• 5:31
  the goal is not to hype yourself up.
• 5:33
  The goal is to train your mind the same way you train your body.
• 5:36
  Clarity, repetition, and direction.
• 5:39
  So instead of asking yourself, well, how do I stop my negative thoughts?
• 5:43
  I want you to ask something way more useful. And that is, what am I rehearsing mentally right now?
• 5:50
  Am I rehearsing tension or trust?
• 5:54
  Am I rehearsing fear or familiarity?
• 5:57
  Or am I rehearsing failure or recovery?
• 6:01
  Because recovery is a skill and it's one of the most overlooked skill in skating.
• 6:06
  And what you say to yourself after a mistake matters more than the mistake itself.
• 6:11
  If your inner voice turns every error into a verdict, your body learns that
• 6:16
  mistakes are dangerous.
• 6:18
  If your inner voice treats mistakes as information, your body learns that it's safe to stay present.
• 6:25
  And this is where things start to shift.
• 6:28
  You don't need to suddenly become, you know, kind and gentle and positive all the time.
• 6:33
  No, what you need is a voice that keeps you engaged instead of shutting down.
• 6:38
  A voice that sounds more like a steady coach than a disappointed judge.
• 6:44
  Something like, hey, stay with it, or that's okay, keep going,
• 6:49
  or, you know, adjust and move on.
• 6:51
  And those phrases may sound really stupid and simple, but they are powerful
• 6:55
  because they regulate your system in real time.
• 6:58
  And here's something I want you to normalize.
• 7:01
  If your self-talk has been.
• 7:03
  Harsh and mean and condescending for years, it won't change overnight.
• 7:09
  That voice that you have within you developed for a reason.
• 7:13
  At some point, it probably helped you survive maybe pressure or expectations
• 7:17
  or comparison, but it doesn't have to lead anymore. You get to choose who has
• 7:22
  the mic in your head. Yes, you're the boss.
• 7:24
  And when you start changing that internal conversation, not to be nicer,
• 7:29
  but to be more effective, everything starts to feel different.
• 7:34
  Practices will feel lighter. Mistakes will feel less dramatic and you recover faster.
• 7:40
  All right. You trust yourself more. Not because you suddenly believe that you're perfect.
• 7:45
  Now there's no such thing as perfection, but because your mind is finally training
• 7:50
  in the same direction as your body.
• 7:52
  So the next time that you step onto the ice, don't just think about what you're
• 7:56
  practicing physically, pay attention to what you are rehearsing mentally.
• 8:01
  Because whether you realize it or not, your self-talk is training you every single day.
• 8:06
  And you might as well make sure that it's helping you. All right?
• 8:10
  And trust me, I'm sure you'll agree with me that you don't need a louder voice
• 8:13
  in your head. You need a steadier one.
• 8:16
  One that will help you stay present, recover faster, and keep going.
• 8:22
  That's how trust is built. Repetition by repetition, thought by thought.
• 8:28
  Thank you for listening and thank you for giving yourself these few minutes
• 8:31
  to slow down and reflect.