Negative thought patterns and mindset

Spotting our errors in thinking… in order to control our anxiety in both sporting and everyday situations it is important that we firstly identify, then challenge our errors in thinking. Unfortunately, our thoughts, and our brain are not always our friend and can provide false or over exaggerated negative thought patterns which can have a hugely detrimental effect on our performance. The issue that these negative thought patterns can create is that our behaviour and emotion is all based on YOUR perception of an event/situation. Hence, a negative thought pattern is going to create negative behaviour and emotion, which is directly linked to our physical reactions. Within normal daily life, our behaviour is often in ‘autopilot,’ with well-rehearsed responses to certain situations leading to the belief of a disconnection. For example, at 0700am you leave for work every day, without thinking about it. However, when we attempt to change our behaviour, our thought process plays a vital role. For example, your partner leaving the bed un-made in the morning always makes you ‘angry,’ and shout (Behaviour) with the thought ‘why can they NEVER make the bed’ causing the behaviour. Instead, try the thought process ‘perhaps they struggle to get ready for work in the morning as they work early shifts, perhaps as I have extra time, I could do this,’ would the mood, and ‘behaviour’ be the same?? Would you be less likely to shout, or would your behaviour be more sympathetic? 

Our physical reactions such as rapid heartbeat, sweating or muscle tensing are triggered by the thought process that we have, for example, you are watching TV, your thought process ‘this is a scary film,’ what would you expect to feel? Remember the film will produce different thought processes for each person, i.e. ‘this isn’t as scary as I thought it would be’ causing different reactions. 

This is the same at sporting events, when we see and notice some athletes relaxed and unphased by the event, and some physically being sick in the corner. This, is down to the thought process, driving behaviour and physical reaction from OUR perspective of the event. As a mindset coach it is my job to help athletes become the first example of an athlete, calm and relaxed which allows them to concentrate on their performance. 

These are some of the common Distorted Automatic Thoughts: 

Catastrophising – A belief that what will happen during the situation will be so bad and unbearable that you will not be able to cope or stand it.  

Personalising – Attributing a disproportionate amount of the blame for negative events on yourself and fail to see that they can be caused by others.  

Mind reading – You assume you know what others are thinking without sufficient evidence ‘they think I am stupid’ 

Fortune telling – Predicting the future negatively, that things will be worse ‘I would not get that promotion.’ 

Negative filtering – You fail to notice the positives and focus solely on the negatives.

Should’s – Instead of focusing on the here and now, you focus on what ’should’ have/will happened, ‘I should be able to do that.’ 

Judgment focus – This is where you constantly judge and evaluate both yourself and others against, unfair standards, seeing only win or fail, Superior or Inferior. ‘I am not successful, look how successful they are.’ 

Regret Orientation – Instead of focusing on the here and now, you focus on what you could have done better, ‘I could have done better if….’ 

Unfair Comparisons – Interpreting events against an unfair and unrealistic standard. Focusing on others who do better than you, ‘my friend done better than me, they are more successful’ 

What if? – You ask a series of what if questions, what if I can’t cope? What if panic? What if I lose? 

Emotional reasoning – You emotionally interpret your reality ‘My anxiety is high, therefore I am not coping’ 

Black or White (Dichotomous) thinking – Situations/Events and people are all-or-nothing. I didn’t get 100% so I failed 

Inability to disconfirm – You reject all evidence that contradicts your negative thoughts. ‘although I beat my PB, I still lost, so I must be a failure’ 

Overgeneralising – You perceive a pattern of negatives based on a single event ‘This always happens to me,’ ‘I have had a really bad day,’ – when only a single bad event has occurred. 

Labelling – You assign negative traits to yourself ‘I am useless.’ 

Discounting positives – You trivialise positive events ‘I only won that as it was easy, anyone could have done that’ 

Blaming – You blame others, and refuse to take responsibility for your negative feelings, ‘My coach caused all my problems,’ ‘they are to blame for all my problems.’ 

Can you spot any that you use regularly? 

As a mindset coach, we would look to correct your psychological bias, in this case towards negative thinking. Think of this as a car driving along a road which hits a pothole and knocks the wheels so that they are now not forward facing but slightly to the left (negative thinking). Would we continue to drive to the left (negative) until fixed?? Or would we correct it, by turning the wheel slightly to drive forwards (rational thinking) until it can be fixed?? 

Remember – A thought is a thought it is NOT reality! 

If you would like any further information in relation to mindset coaching, either drop me an email james@jcperformancecoaching.co.uk or fill out the form on the website.