What is Self-Talk?
Self-talk, also called the inner voice, is the way you talk to yourself. The quality of your self-talk is important because it has a tremendous impact on how you feel and how you perform, either supporting or sabotaging your efforts. Neuroscience researchers have demonstrated that “self-talk strategies can make a valuable contribution to skill acquisition, learning, and task performance enhancement in sport.” [Hatzigeorgiadis, 2011]
What is Visualization?
Visualization, also called sport visualization and sport imagery training, is a powerful tool which utilizes the five senses in creating and rehearsing mental images of sport experiences. It can be used to learn new skills, enhance performance and even accelerate recovery from injury. Neuro Scientists have discovered two very fundamental properties of the brain that explain why visualization works the way it does:
1. the brain thinks in pictures, and
2. “the brain often cannot distinguish whether you are imagining something or actually experiencing it.” [Research Paper: Science Behind Visualization, Bala Kishore Batchu]
In other words, if you visualize an experience in vivid enough detail, label it and infuse it with meaning, the brain will perceive it as something that actually happened and store it as a memory. This process works for recalling memories of actual past events and creating visual scripts for outcomes you desire to happen (outcome script).
Gabby Thomas, Olympic GOld Medalist
Gabby Thomas is an American professional track and field athlete who specializes in the 100 and 200 meter sprint events. She won a bronze medal in the 200 meter individual event and silver in the 4×100 meter relay at the postponed Tokyo Games in 2021. At the 2024 Paris Olympics, she won gold medals in the 4 x 400 meter and 4 x 100 meter relays and individual gold in the 200 meters. Check out what she has to say about how she used self-talk and visualization to prepare for the 200 meter event.
And in case you missed it, check out her gold medal performance in the women’s 200m final at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
Bio: Antoinette Datoc is a certified Mental Performance Coach who specializes in helping athletes, their parents and coaches cultivate growth mindsets and mental strength. She is a competitive ballroom dancer and together with her partner (who happens also to be her husband) has accumulated 17 national championship titles and represented Team USA in three world championship events.
