There are two words that are quietly wrecking your performance at practice and in games In the wild part is that you probably say them multiple times every single practice without even noticing. Now, before I get into what it is and how you can actually be doing it differently, I wanna give a shout out to an athlete in our community. So this athlete's name is Laura and she recently texted us this. She said, my flag football team. Won the championship and during the game I used my snapback routine and it helped immensely with my performance. Nice job, Laura. She is crediting a mental tool that she learned inside our program, the Elite Mental Game. This is our mental training program for girl athletes. So that is not luck that you won the championship. That is a trained mind showing up when it matters most. So. Nice job, Laura. And that's actually what today's tip is all about, how to train your mind. And if I haven't met you, I'm Coach Brie. I've been coaching girl athletes for 14 years, and today I wanna talk about something that happens inside your head during practice, specifically when things get hard, okay? Your brain, when things get hard or they're difficult, or you're learning something new and it's not clicking for you, your brain is automatically looking for the exit. Okay, because your brain doesn't like it. It doesn't like automatically, doesn't like hard things. It doesn't like challenges. And if you've ever like hit that wall in practice or you've mentally checked out or you told yourself these words, this is too hard. And then we're going to change that. Those are the words that you're probably saying in those moments when things are challenging, when it's not clicking. This is too hard. Okay. And I used to tell myself this all the time when I was playing sports specific, specifically volleyball. I used to tell myself that defense was too hard. I mean, I was a tall, I'm six feet tall. I was a middle blocker. So you know, the front row was kind of my jam. And when I would go in the back row, I would just automatically tell myself. Defense is too hard. It's not my thing because you know, I like, maybe it didn't do very well in one drill or something like that, and so I decided that it was too hard and here's what happened. I ended up not getting good at defense because I was telling myself it was too hard. I decided it was too difficult for me. It wasn't my thing. So I pretty much gave up before I even gave myself a shot. But I didn't realize that's what I was doing at the time because what's actually happening. In your brain when you say, this is too hard or this isn't for me, your brain has a built-in filter system. It's called the reticular activating system. The RAS. I know it's a big fancy name, but it's a very simple concept. Basically, your brain scans everything around you to find evidence for whatever you've already told. It is true. Okay, so you think about it like this. Um, if you've ever wanted a specific pair of shoes, um, for me in high school, I think it was like these pair of Adidas shoes. I know they're like back now, but I really wanted this pair of Adidas shoes, um, that were black. And then I just started seeing them everywhere. You know, when you like want something and then you just start to see like, okay, everybody has these shoes except for me. All right, now, those shoes were always there, but your brain wasn't filtering for them. Then when you got that thing in your head that you really wanted it, now all of a sudden they're everywhere. And the same thing happens with your self-talk at practice or in games. The second you think this is too hard, your brain goes to finding proof, right? So that missed rep, hard, that drill, you kept messing up on hard. You're tired. Well obviously. It's because this is too hard. Okay? So your brain is literally building a case against you, and this hard is a dead end word. There's nowhere to go from there. Your brain hears it and then starts looking for an exit, which is exactly what happened to me with defense. I just didn't, um, try my best. I, you know, probably didn't seek out opportunities to get better at defense because I was telling myself that it was too hard. And then that's exactly what became true. In my life. And it wasn't until I was like an, an adult or you know, in college even playing volleyball that I was like, oh, actually, maybe I can get good at defense. This isn't something that is just like, not for me. Okay, so here's the swap that I want you to try this week. Okay? Um, I want you to, the next time you think to yourself like, this is too hard, defense is too hard, this skill is too hard, this drill is too hard, it's not for me. I want you to swap that four. I am figuring it out. Okay. I'm figuring it out so that, or even I'm still figuring it out. All right. I, I think I like the shorter one. I'm figuring it out. I'm figuring this out. That's it. And here's why this works. I'm figuring it out. Is present tense. Okay. It tells your brain that you are in the middle of something actively happening. You're not stuck. You're not feeling, you're just in the middle of a process. And this works whether you've been doing something for one day or for one year, right, like a skill that you've been practicing for a long time and you still find difficult. You could be working on that same skill over and over and over again. And this is true. You are figuring it out. You're figuring it out. Every rep, even the ugly ones, that's part of you figuring it out. And so compare that to this is too hard. Hard is a verdict. I'm figuring it out, is a direction. It gives some action to it and the brain follows the words that you give it. So now let's give your brain something useful so when it hears I'm figuring it out, then it's going to build the evidence that that is true. So then you're gonna start to see in your, um, you know, in practice and in games, you're gonna start to now find evidence that you are getting better at the thing that you are figuring it out. Because again. Your brain is so powerful and it's so clever that it will go to work to prove whatever thought or belief you're putting in it. Okay, so that is your challenge for the next practice, for the next game. You're swapping from, you know, this is too hard or this isn't for me, or like, I'm not good at this to, I'm figuring it out. Okay. Say it in your head. Say it out loud if you need to write it down, but that is your challenge. Okay. If you want more like this, athletes, because these are the type of things that separate great athletes from average athletes. Average athletes don't do this. They just continue to be bad at whatever. They say that they're bad at. And then they never get better. Okay. Great. Athletes are the ones that are not just doing the physical work. They're putting in what we call the mental reps. They're going to the gym for their mind, the mind gym doing things like this. They're being aware of what their self-talk is. They're, um, doing something called. A snapback routine. Like Laura said earlier, they have ways to get over mistakes fast. Um, they have pre-game routines. They use a little visualization. The mental side of the game is what separates great athletes from average athletes. So if you want to be in that level where you're giving yourself a competitive advantage above other athletes, then go ahead and check the, um, the description below. I have some links for you. Specifically, I have a, a quiz for you that's called What's your Competitor Style quiz, which is a really great, great way for you to find out kind of what your competitor style is, what your strengths are, and how to play to those strengths. So that is Linked Below Athletes and I will see you in the next Athlete Tip episode. I.