Self-Talk Mantras
Repeating and believing phrases and sayings can change your mindset and help you control the situation.
16 July 2024 / Translate
16 July 2024 / Translate
I have been using versions of these mantras for many years. The idea is to simply condense a motivation, technical or tactical point into a short phrase. Repeating these phrases will help implement them. Originally, mantras were a form of spiritual meditation, but nowadays they are also part of a process called "self-talk". If you are curious, you might find this Introduction to Self-Talk interesting.
It's not simply self-hypnosis, but repeating certain well-thought-out phrases can help you focus on your mind on what is important or help you to control your nerves.
Obviously, you can create your own mantras, especially ones related to mindset and motivation, but be careful about inventing your own regarding technical things - check with a coach or high-level player before you start using it! If you want to, send me your mantras for me to check.
Self-talk helps all levels of squash players.
Some of the mantras have been adapted to be read from the first person to make them more personal. Others are more neutral or abstract.
This is my tagline as much as a mantra. Even doing some stretching or shadow swings can help your squash, but only if you do other things every day too. The key here is that we don't always have time for a proper training session, so something small is better than nothing.
In addition, consistency is key. Too often modern life throws obstacles in the way of our objectives. Knowing that you have done something to improve your squash for 50 days in a row, for example, means you are highly motivated to make it 51.
Even 10 minutes of core strength training or watching a recording of yourself playing and noting some patterns down would be beneficial. The possible list of things is almost endless. All that matters is you do SOMETHING.
Say it and believe it.
This mantra is not focused on the quantity or quality of training. Clearly you can't spend as much time as a professional squash player does training everyday nor to the same level of skill or speed. If you could, you would probably BE a pro!
But you can try to do everything properly. That means, doing the things you need to do, not the things you like to do (I almost made that one of the mantas too). In my article The 5 Vs of Training: Volume, Velocity, Veracity, Variety and Value I talk about the key ways to view your training. This mantra combines Veracity (doing something properly) and Value (doing what you need to do). "Professionalism" can be achieved by amateurs. It's a mindset that transcends all activity. Behaving like a professional athlete can mean that every training session you do gets you one step closer to your objective. No training session should be wasted.
Focus on the ball at the point of contact.
Hitting the ball with accuracy is more difficult than hitting with power. Watching the ball hit your strings increases your control. This article is not the in-depth explanation, but too often amateur squash players look up a fraction of a second before they hit the ball. This means they don't follow the ball onto their racket. Don't take my word for it, go and try it for yourself. At first it will seem strange and quite difficult, but almost everybody notices an immediate improvement in their control.
I believe that many amateur squash players hit the ball without thinking. They hit the ball because it's their turn to hit it, not because they have a clear objective in mind. Of course you hit the ball because it is your turn, but that should not be the only reason!
For a visual explanation of this concept, I recommend watch my video Implement the Traffic Light System, which explains the shot-selection and thought process to break the habit of hitting because it's your turn.
That shot was hit with clear intention.
The bigger the match, the less nervous I was. That sounds great, until you realise that even for minor matches my nerves were often the deciding factor, not the squash. This mantra helped me realise that what was about to happen really wasn't that important. I'm not saying that squash matches aren't important, but it's probably not as important as we think it is.
I stole the idea from Boris Becker when in an interview after losing in Wimbledon (I believe it was his third year playing, after having already won the previous two times), was asked how he felt. He replied: "I didn't start a war. Nobody died. I only lost a tennis match, nothing more". My takeways from that, and I saw it live, was "It's just a match - nobody died".
Words matter. Say something enough times and you will start to believe it. If we accept that our viewpoint can be manipulated, why not manipulate it ourselves? Simply saying "I will be World Champion One Day", won't make you world champion one day, but saying "I work hard every day to reach my goal", might.