Hide the Hyde When it Counts

At all moments in the day, two voices compete for your attention - a Dr. Jekyll and a Mr. Hyde. For those of you unfamiliar with this story, Dr. Jekyll is a well-respected and beloved physician. His evil alter ego, Mr. Hyde, meddles in the darker side of science. For your imagination, you may want to imagine other adversarial duos. You could imagine, Batman and The Joker, Harry Potter and Voldemort, Luke Skywalker and Dark Vader, Frodo Baggins and Sauron, or Iron Man and Thanos. Choose a duo now that personally resonates with you. 

When you are making dinner, going for a walk, reading a story to a loved one, or about to step on the ice, field, or pitch, your duo is fighting for your attention. Dr. Jekyll may be sending thoughts of confidence and self-reassurance but Mr. Hyde is also in the back of your mind casting self-doubt, fear, and anxiety. Imagine you are about to take the ice for a semi-final match. You have waited all season to face this team — to whom you have lost to twice. You want to show your family, friends, and coaches that you can cover the league-leading scorer. In this moment of excitement but also nervousness, can you hide your Hyde? Understanding that you have the choice to choose Dr. Jekyll EVERY TIME is the single most important thing you will read in this blog today.  

The first step is to identify your Automatic Negative Thoughts (ANTs). ANTs are spontaneous, involuntary thoughts that are often irrational and pessimistic. They can occur in everyday situations but can also show up when you least want them, such as in your semi-final game. Here are a few examples of ANTs, which ANTs are you likely to have? 

1. All-or-Nothing Thinking: viewing situations in black and white terms, without seeing the middle ground. 

• Example: “If I do not score during this game, I am the worst on the team.” 

2. Overgeneralization: making broad conclusions

• Example: “If I do not play well in this game, I will never be selected for the AAA team.” 

3. Mental Filtering: focusing on only the negative and ignoring the positive. 

• Example: “In my long program, I did not land my double axel, therefore the whole program was horrible.” 

4. Disqualifying the Positive: rejecting positive experiences by insisting they did not count. 

• Example: “I only did well in this race because the top sprinter pulled out last minute” 

5. Jumping to Conclusions: making assumptions without sufficient evidence 

• Example: “I am going to miss most of my putts on the green today, I just know it.” 

6. Catastrophizing: exaggerating the importance of problems.

• Example: "If I make a mistake, my whole career will be ruined."

7. Emotional Reasoning: believing that feelings reflect reality.

• Example: "I feel anxious, so something bad must be happening."

8. Should Statements: using "should" to pressure oneself or others.

• Example: "I should be able to serve 75 mph because I did it in practice."

9. Labeling: attaching a negative label to oneself or others.

• Example: "I’m a loser."

10. Personalization: taking responsibility for events outside of one’s control.

• Example: "It’s my fault that the team lost our game” 

Once you have found your typical negative thought patterns, you need to actively choose Dr. Jekyll, NOT Mr. Hyde. We may not be able to control if an ANT shows up.  Mr. Hyde is trying his best to invade our minds. Instead, after the ANT appears, we need to pay attention to and draw out Dr. Jekyll. We can do this in several ways. Today we are going to focus on learning the different types of self-talk and how we can use those to reframe our thoughts. To start this process, we need to understand the two types of self-talk: motivational and instructional. 

1. Motivational Self-talk: boosts confidence, increases motivation, and maintains a positive mindset. 

• “ I can do this.” 

• “ You got this.” 

• “ Keep pushing.” 

2. Instructional Self-talk: Guides focus on technical aspects of performance, improves skill execution, and aids concentration on tasks. 

• “ Keep your shoulders square and hips low.” 

• “ Reach back, twist and, follow through.” 

• “ Track the ring and stay man-on.” 

Many athletes use a combination of both motivational and instructional self-talk to maximize their performance. For example, a basketball player might use instructional self-talk when at the foul line in a game and motivational self-talk when learning a new skill in practice. It is largely up to the athlete to where, when, and why they would like to use self-talk. Now, we can take what we know about ANTS, and the types of self-talk to reframe our self-talk. 

The final step to ensuring Mr. Hyde stays hidden is to understand and utilize the three R’s to self-talk: recognize, reframe, and replace. The first R is to recognize that you have engaged in an ANT. You cannot choose Dr. Jekyll if you do not know you are turning into Mr. Hyde. Once you have recognized Mr. Hyde is sneaking out you need to ask yourself if you want to motivate yourself or instruct yourself. This step will be dependent on the athlete and the task being performed. Finally, based on whether you want motivational or instructional self-talk you need to replace that ANT and make a new positive self-talk statement. Below is an example of how the three R’s could be used. There are a few extra spaces for you to try out reframing your self-talk! 

Recognize: Where are ANTs occurring: In between periods in the dressing room I tend to catastrophize and jump to conclusions. 

Reframe: Motivational or Instructional: I am choosing an instructional reframe.

Replace: what is the new thought: During the next period, I am going to focus on communication with the team, taking shots, and forechecking aggressively.

Self-talk has been endorsed by athletes and coaches as one of the most effective strategies for enhancing sports performance. Not only has self-talk proven to enhance performance, but it also can increase awareness. Self-talk is crucial for self-awareness because self-talk creates a gap between the self and the physical activities that one is currently doing. In this gap, the performer can analyze and self-observe to become aware of their performance and enhance their abilities, creating leverage to enhance performance. It is also in this gap, that we can actively choose to hide our Hyde and engage in reframing our self-talk to ensure that we are lining up ourselves for success! 

Written by Nicole Kuzmich, MHK, CMPC (She/Her)

References

Hardy, J., & Oliver, E. (2014). Self-talk, positive thinking, and thought-stopping. In R. Eklund, & G. Tenenbaum (Eds.), Encyclopedia of sport and exercise psychology. SAGE Publications

Jones, M., & Mattie, P. (2024). Self-talk, goal setting, and visualization. In N. Pattyn, & R. Hauffa (Eds.), Handbook of Mental Performance. Routledge.  

Karamitrou, A., Comoutos, N., Hatzigeorgiadis, A., & Theodorakis, Y. (2017). A self-determination approach to understanding of athletes’ automatic self-talk. Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology, 6(4), 340-354. 

Morin, A. (2005). Possible links between self-awareness and inner speech: Theoretical background, underlying mechanisms, and empirical evidence. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 12(4-5), 115-134. 

Van Raalte, J. L., Vincent, A., & Brewer, B. W. (2016). Self-talk: Review and sport-specific model. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 22, 139–148. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2015.08.004

Van Raalte, J. L., Vincent, A., & Brewer, B. W. (2017). Self-talk interventions for athletes: A theoretically grounded approach. Journal of Sport Psychology in Action, 8(3), 141–151. https://doi.org/10.1080/21520704.2016.1233921