We all experience conversations in our head. This is known as our internal dialogue and it can influence how we feel and behave in practice and competition.

Our internal dialogue can be both helpful and unhelpful. In performance situations, positive cognitions can help us push that ‘little bit extra’ to achieve our best whereas unhelpful cognitions can contribute to performance anxiety that can negatively impact performance. This lesson will teach you how to:

• Gain a better understanding of how your thoughts can affect how you feel and behave
• Manage your emotions and ability to focus around performance situations
• Identify and manage unhelpful self-talk patterns and develop and reinforce positive self-talk patterns
• Use self-talk in a variety of situations and contexts, such as when you're experiencing stress or anxiety or when more focus is required.

The skills covered in this lesson are relatively complex and require practice and support from your parents, coaches and teachers to implement.

This lesson includes an 11-minute video and a downloadable document. It can be used on its own or as part of the Power Up performance psychology program that contains six lessons.