United States Eventing Association

Pressure Proof with Daniel Stewart: Saying is Believing

This month we’re going to begin a three-part series on how to create positive riding experiences by making sure the words you say to yourself and the thoughts you think to yourself are positive. Referred to as self-talk, internal dialogue, or brain babble; the words you say to yourself can have a huge impact on your performance. In fact, your thoughts and voice are actually considered behaviors, and just like how positive physical behaviors (i.e. a balanced transition) can create success, your verbal behaviors can also accomplish the very same thing. So let's spend the next few months talking about how to talk to yourself!

This month we’ll discuss one of the strongest, strangest, and simplest forms of positive self-talk. It’s a three-part program I call "Create, Concentrate, Annunciate" and it begins by creating a short positive affirmation sentence, called a focus-phrase, like “I can do it”, “We’ve got this,” or “Stay calm, finish strong."

Once your focus-phrase is created, you shift to step two by concentrating on each word in the phrase while repeating it to yourself (repetition is very important when it comes to convincing yourself that you’re capable of accomplishing great things!).

After a few repetitions, tweak it a bit by placing a special emphasis on each of the words as your repeat it. This is the annunciation phase where you basically say the sentence, but yell a different word to yourself each time you repeat it. For example, if your phrase has four words (like “I can do it”) say the sentence four times, but yell the first word at yourself the first time you say it, the second word the second time, the third word the third time, and the fourth word the fourth time you say it.

In the end, you’ll have repeated your focus-phrase four times, but most importantly you have really heard all four words. It would look something like this (imagine yelling the word in bold below while just speaking all the others). Once you’ve completed all four repetitions, say it one more time only this time yell all four words to yourself.

I can do it!

I can do it!

I can do it!

I can do it!

I can do it!

Not only is this program a great way to ensure you’ll hear all parts of your positive affirmation phrase, but it’s also a really sneaky way to get you to repeat those positive thoughts to yourself.

So this week, why not come up with your very own focus-phrase and then use the Create-Concentrate-Annunciate technique to repeat it to yourself a few times? All you’ll really need is a little time and a little imagination. You can even get sneaky and use a meaningful goal to create your focus-phrase. For example, if you typically get nervous riding in front of crowds why not use, “I love riding for crowds” as your focus-phrase. In the end, you’ll have heard it six times, yelled all five words at yourself, and be careful what you wish for, you might just get it!

Join me over the next two months for more interesting ways to turn your voice into a positive-potential tool, but in the meantime, if you’d like to learn more about rider biomechanics and video analyses of the flat and jumping position let me know. I’m hosting my next online instructor certification class starting April 18th. Visit www.pressureproofacademy.com for more info!