LESSON 4: FEED YOUR SELF-IMAGE
Body Food for Self-Image:
Make sure you have a great body posture with shoulders back. Make sure you move with confidence, breathe with confidence. Notice how iconic and archetypal Woods’ celebrations are. (See video below)
Face Food for Self-Image:
You want to have fire in your eyes, breathing deeply, sometimes even chewing jump a little bit fast can help you focus! It’s called swagger.
Speak Food for Self-Image:
Build yourself up constantly with your inner dialogue! The human mind has a tendency to tear it self down. So repeat: “I’m always in the zone! I always hit the sweet spot!” And don’t forget to congratulate yourself on successes! Again, build yourself up!
Feeling Food for Self-Image:
Hold that “winning feeling.” Feel as if you are lucky, that you will win. That you expect greatness. And feel those sweet spot swings!
“See” Food for Self-Image:
What we see in our minds, in our visualizations. The self-image loves feeling the validity of success, even when it is just imagined. It’s the main nutrient the self-image needs – a visual of it. If you see it in your mind, and then it happens when you play – that makes you trust the process. And it creates an awesome feeding loop for the self-image!
Great Body Language:
Note the similarities between the Greek Goddess of Victory (Nike), and Tiger Woods celebration.
PRO-TIPS
Pro-tip #1: Reading about athletes who use mental training is another way to feed the self-image. It bolsters the belief that this stuff really works. Here is that article on Iverson if you are interested.