"I Can Do This" Yes You Can

We all go on mental autopilot.

Myself included.

80% of our mental self talk is negative. I don't know if that's scientifically confirmed, but I don't think we need it to be. Just look around. The news, social media and drama filled TV grab our attention. That's probably because our brains have a "negativity bias," which historically meant we pay attention to negative things so that we won't get eaten by a lion. We're in a much more comfortable situation than our ancestors, but have the same brain. What used to help us is now hurting us.

So what's the solution? We just have to get up and do the things we want to do. Easy right? I've been there too. "Just get up and workout!" Easy to say, hard to do. Our minds are going into the task "cold." If you wouldn't start a workout without warming up, why are we trying to do the same thing with our brains?

If our brains are so negative, they're all too ready to talk ourselves out of it.

In order to do what we want to do, we have to counter this survival mechanism.

We have to believe it's possible before we even start. But how do we do it?

It's going to take a lot of brainwashing:

• Reading

• Seeing other people do it

• Visualizing ourselves doing it (which is the hardest part)

If you're skeptical, then keep reading and see if we can come to an agreement.

Is Self-Talk Nonsense?

Let's take a moment and address any objections. The main ones being that self talk and visualizations are woowoo nonsense.

Are they?

Whatever you do, don't think about a red sports car.

There, you did it.

Seeing something that's not even real is…real. We will watch a horror movie, or have a bad dream or just think of a negative past or (imaginary) future outcome and our bodies respond.

We also talk to ourselves all the time anyway. Sadly, it's negative. Do you doubt yourself? Do you ask yourself where you parked your car? Do you have to remind yourself of upcoming events? All talking to yourself.

So if our bodies respond to what we visualize and what we say in our heads, why not do so in our favor?

"It's not real," you may say.

True.

But neither is any other negative alternative.

"That doesn't guarantee it's going to happen!"

Also true, but we can't predict the future anyway.

So if we're going to "lie" to ourselves and see things in our mind, we might as well insert things we actually want to have happen.

In terms of performance and athletics, our muscles fire when we visualize the same sport we're doing. 1 minute of visualization is as good as 7 minutes of practice. I got those two stats from 10-Minute Mental Toughness, which is worth a read. So if it can help elite athletes, it can help the rest of us.

See it. Believe it. Then do it.

I've lifted weights that I didn't think were possible for me. I've done movements that I didn't think were possible either. Whether it's just 5 more pounds, a new movement or a few more reps, we can be afraid and talk ourselves out of it.

After reading Mind Gym by Gary Mack, I'd practice visualizing lifts before they happened. Most of the time it was for weights I hadn't done before, sometimes it was to get through a tough session, and sometimes it was for weights that were no problem for me just to make a more crisp practice. I'd just see myself doing the lift over and over. Again, your brain and your "body" are rehearsing it just like you're actually doing it.

After a few bouts of this, then I'd take a leap of faith and just try to lift it. Lo and behold, it would work. Usually our bodies can do the things we have in mind, as long as they're within the range of what's possible for us. (A few more push ups reps? Sure. A backflip? Maybe you need to build up to that.)

As a side note, this is how world records are set. Technically, no one has done the thing yet, but one person can see it in their head. The sub-4 minute mile used to be a fantasy. Once it was done, even high school students started doing it. The kids had the example they could see, but the person who did it (Sir Roger Bannister) had to do it out of thin air. He saw the possibility and made it happen.

Years later, I read 10 Minute Mental Toughness by Jason Selk. It goes into more practical steps as far as setting up a mental gym routine. It stresses the importance of these mental practice sessions so that eventually your brain (and body) accept it. Again, your brain goes through the moves the same as if you were physically doing the thing. Not bad for getting in extra practice sessions while sitting still.

Positive "Lying"

Arnold Schwarzeneggar has talked about the importance of the mind, going so far as to say that it's more important than the body. It makes sense. If you can't see yourself doing something or the end result, your brain doesn't give the body the instruction to put in all the work.

Spread through Tim Anderson's books (the crawling guy) he repeatedly talks about how we think. He stresses the importance of telling yourself that you're already strong and you're a super hero. The exercises are just a way to release it. It comes in handy when facing grueling workouts. You have to be the person in your head telling yourself "Yes I can, yes I can, yes I can." If you don't, it's all too easy for your brain to give up when the times get tough.

As a minor example, and a very important one, there is a little mantra that is said in KidStrong. If you don't know what it is, it's a workout class for kids, but mainly jump, hang, crawl, bounce and flop on the padded floor class. Lots of play, which is great for kids.

They repeat the following phrase before and after each class:

"I am strong. I am brave. I can do this!"

Again, are any of those true? They are if you believe them. Would you tell a kid they're not true? I'd hope not. You'd probably want to encourage them to say it and believe it more often.

So why don't we do this to ourselves?

"Because it's for children!"

Again…if Olympic athletes are doing this, why aren't we bringing this to our every day lives?

The Mental Warmup

I will go into practical steps, but first I want to stress something very important.

If you want your mental game to improve, you have to improve your mental diet. Output is determined by input. Read positive books all the time. Take a timeout from your phone and visualize the life you want. Listen to positive messages. Watch positive or inspiring videos.

You have to brainwash yourself into a better mindset.

Do you know why?

Because you're already being brainwashed.

The randomness and negativity of social media. The negativity of the news (it doesn't matter which side). Negativity of any reality TV. Don't you think this stuff affects you? It's not passive.

You can do a detox and take a break from all of it, but you might as well inject positivity back in to fill the void. Your brain is going to run at some point, so let it run with the things you choose.

Now for goals closer on the horizon (a few months or weeks or days), there is a little system brought about by 10 Minute Mental toughness. It's a great way to warm up the mind and help out the body.

Have a goal in mind that's not too far away and do the following.

• Take a centering breath. Centering means 6 seconds in, 2 seconds hold, 7 seconds out. This will get some air deep into your lungs and calm you down. A calm mind is a positive mind.

• Say the physical cues of what you're going to do. The "performance statement." If I have to squat today, I'd say "tight going down, strong up." It should be something short and sweet. This way you don't have 10,000 other things running in your head while you do the lifts and you focus on what to do in the present moment, not the outcome of the workout.

• For 1 minute, see a positive past event. It can be a recent workout or maybe even your best performance.

• For 1 minute, see a positive future event. It's probably going to be doing the goal you set for yourself.

• For 1 minute, see yourself performing well for the next workout. For this and the above two steps, make sure to repeat your physical cues.

• Then say a "Identity statement." If you say what you are, you perform in accordance to that. "I am a strong squatter. I'm disciplined and consistent." Something like that.

• Take another centering breath and go workout.

Regain Your Brain and Get Back in the Game

I'm on your side.

As we get older, it's all too easy to let the traps of the modern world get their grips on us and never let us go. Our minds are being bombarded with negativity. Just go read any comments on any platform on any controversial opinion. It's not pretty.

The combination of too much information and that information being negative can get you to consume endlessly. This creates an environment of not doing what you want to do (just due to time) and having a negative outlook on those things.

"I can't do that" is the lie that destroys dreams. When you say that, you're trying to predict the future. If it's something reasonable, then lie in the opposite direction and tell yourself you can do it.

Unplug. Be careful of the information you allow into your brain.

If you do it often enough, you'll want to get up and try.

So go try this out.

Thanks for reading!

As always, if you have any questions, feel free to respond to this newsletter.