Great athletes learn how to control their thinking because they know it affects their performance. Cheerleaders can benefit from this strategy especially in preparation for competitions. 

My last blog outlined the importance of categorizing thoughts as good for you or bad for you.  Also, I suggested noting where your time-focus was: past, present, or future. 

Good performance depends on a present focus and positive thinking. 

Once you have identified and categorized your thoughts, the next steps are: 

1. Change the time-focus first by telling yourself, “I am here now; I am present in the here and now.”

2. Change the harmful thoughts to another thought using any of the following:

a. simply choose to focus on something positive in the moment (there is almost always a positive aspect to any situation; it’s your job to find it!)

b. ask  yourself if the negative thought you are having represents the truth or is it a distortion (such as, “I’m terrible at this…I’ll never be a good cheerleader…everyone thinks I stink at this.”) 

1. if it’s a distortion, change it into a more realistic thought. And you can tell it’s a distortion if you’re using absolute terms like “never” or “always.”

c. if the thought reflects reality and is not a distortion, identify the problem and discover a solution. 

Here are some examples of how this system works: 

Let’s say that a recent practice didn’t go well…nothing seemed to work.  What were your thoughts? 

Perhaps you thought, “Coach will kick me off the squad…no one thinks I deserve to be on the team…I’m the worst one in the group.” 

Okay, it’s obvious that these thoughts are not good for you and there’s a bit of future-focus negative predicting going on (“Coach will kick me off the squad.”) 

So, first bring yourself into the present and remind yourself that no one can predict the future and it’s a waste of time to worry about something that hasn’t and probably won’t happen anyway! 

Now ask if your beliefs are true or a distortion.  They are at least exaggerated.  So now look for the problem tht needs to be solved.  And that is, you had a less than stellar practice.  Ok.  Not the end of the world, right? 

But you have still identified a problem that needs fizing.  But you have now opened up the possibility of a solution rather than limiting yourself to feeling miserable. 

What might some solutions be?  You could ask Coach or your captain for extra help.  You could try a different approach.  Perhaps you need to find a different way of focusing.  Maybe you could review some videos.  See?  You’re a problem solver now rather than a whiner! 

So, if you detect that your thinking is negative and limiting, ask yourself how you can open up your thinking…how can you change it from destructive to constructive.  And constructive thinking always opens up the possibility of a solution, of a constructive action.