Yes But … It's How You Say It That Counts!

This chapter explores the battling voices in athletes’ heads that make them give in or keep going! Nearly 90% of marathoners engage in self-talk during races, with the type depending on the level of perceived intensity. The three phases of development of self-talk research are highlighted: through the early use of instructional and motivational self-talk, to the application to reduce perception of effort (RPE) through attentional strategies, and now via organic (spontaneous and goal-directed), strategic, system 1 and 2 self-talk. Self-talk directly improves endurance performance through altering an athlete’s RPE. The chapter explores studies involving motivational self-talk, the power of I–You shifts and the sequencing of ‘Yes … But’ statements. Emotional prosody, how you say what you say, reveals that voice tonality can convey a different message to the actual words used. Making shifts in auditory qualities is trainable, and athletes can begin to gain more control over troublesome self-talk. Two exercises on exploring and changing the auditory qualities of a memory can make significant improvements, as demonstrated by changing one athlete’s perfectionistic concerns. The chapter closes with a complete self-talk intervention for optimal performance for a 5000-m runner with multiple previous did not finishes (DNFs).