What is self-talk and how can we use it?

In their latest video, Swim England sports psychologists Hannah Stoyel and Helen Davis explore self-talk and how we can use it to shape our perspective.

The way you talk to yourself is often expressed by the inner voice in your head – this is known as your self-talk.

In situations, be it at training, at home or around a competition, the way you talk to yourself is really important and has a big impact on your perspective.

Click or tap play on the video below to find out more.

Self-talk and how we can use it

In the video above, Hannah and Helen talk about threat state and how focusing on uncertainty, downsides, worries or frustrations can affect your swimming.

Learning how to use self-talk to shift your perspective from threat state to challenge state – where we view adverse situations as a challenge – is a powerful, lifelong psychological skill.

Practising it now will help you for when you are next in training or competition, or even for other situations away from sport.

Try completing a chart like Hannah and Helen in the video and see how you can start shifting your perspective and language from threat to challenge.