Shannon Malseed
Mental Performance Training for Athletes

Talk to YourselfLike a Champion

How to use self-talk to rewire your system for peak performance.

The three kinds of self-talk I give my 1:1 athletes, when to use each one, and the lines to steal.

Third Person·Instructional·Affirmational
Shannon Malseed  ·  Mental Performance Coach
Start Here

You're already talking to yourself.
You're just not choosing the words.

There's a conversation running in your head all day and you didn't pick most of it. It's on autopilot, it came from somewhere else, and it's making decisions for you before you even know there was a decision to make. Whether you cut the last interval. Whether you go with the move. Whether you back yourself in the final 200.

Most athletes talk to themselves in a way they would never accept from a coach. If someone stood on the side of the road and said out loud what you say to yourself on a bad day, you'd fire them on the spot.

Self-talk is not positive thinking. It's not standing in front of a mirror pretending. It's the most direct tool you have for changing what your body is willing to give you, in the exact moment you need it.

Shannon Malseed

Hi, I'm Shannon, ex pro cyclist turned Mental Performance Coach. I once needed someone to teach me how to believe in myself, beyond the results. Nobody did. So that's exactly what I do for athletes like you.

I've coached 100+ high performers, including Olympians, national champions and WorldTour pros. This is the self-talk work I give every single one of them.

Before you start

Four rules, or none of this works

1
Pick two or three lines. Not twenty. Choose the ones that switch something on in your chest when you say them, and use those until they feel boring. If a line feels fake or flat, throw it out. It won't work for you.
2
Say it in your own words, in whatever language you think in. Not mine. If it doesn't sound like you, your brain won't buy it.
3
Say it like you mean it, not like you're reading it. The test isn't whether it sounds nice. It's whether your body reacts.
4
Use it before you need it, not only when you're already suffering. Self-talk is a skill you train, the same as everything else. You can't turn it on for the first time at 200 beats per minute and expect it to hold.
The practice

Three kinds of self-talk

Most people think self-talk is one thing. It isn't. There are three, they do completely different jobs, and using the wrong one at the wrong moment is why it hasn't worked for you before.

1
Third Person
For when the emotion is high. You become your own coach instead of your own critic.
2
Instructional
For the middle of the effort. One job at a time, and the noise drops.
3
Affirmational
For who you're becoming. Changes the identity, and behaviour follows.
1
Kind One

Third Person

Become your own coach.

Use your own name, or "you", instead of "I".

It sounds strange the first time. Do it anyway. The moment you stop saying "I" you step outside the panic and start speaking to yourself the way a coach you trust would speak to you.

That small bit of distance is the whole point. You can't calm yourself down from inside the spiral. You can from one step outside it.

Why this works

Distance takes the heat out of it. Part of your brain receives it as though someone else is saying it, so it lands as instruction and support instead of more pressure.

Use it when The emotion is high. On the start line, in the last minutes before it gets serious, or the moment the thought you're scared of shows up.
Lines to steal
  • [Your name], you've done the work. Now go and do your job.
  • [Your name], this is your race.
  • You've been here before. You know exactly what to do.
  • You've got this.
  • You don't have to feel ready. You just have to start.
Now write three in your own words
2
Kind Two

Instructional

One job at a time.

This one isn't about how you feel. It's about what you do.

Short. Technical. One job. "Relax the shoulders." "Eyes up." Nothing about whether you're good enough, nothing about the result, nothing about the whole race. Just the next thing your body has to execute.

This is the tool for the middle of a hard effort, when a motivational speech is the last thing you can hold onto. Short is stronger when you're deep.

Why this works

Your mind cannot run commentary and execution at the same time. Give it a job and the noise drops out on its own. You don't have to silence the doubt, you just have to occupy the channel it uses.

Use it when You're mid-effort, in the bunch, on the technical stuff, in the last 10km, or on the final rep.
Lines to steal
  • Relax the shoulders.
  • Eyes up, look where you want to go.
  • Breathe.
  • Smooth on the pedals.
  • Hold this wheel.
  • Next 30 seconds. That's all.
Name the three moments you lose the plot, and write one instruction for each
3
Kind Three

Affirmational

Change who you're being.

This is the one everybody has heard of and almost nobody does properly, because they treat it as decoration. It isn't. This one changes who you are being, and behaviour follows identity, every time.

Two stems do the heavy lifting here.

The two stems
"I'm the type of person who…"

This changes the identity, and the behaviour comes along behind it. If you genuinely believe you're the type of person who finishes every session, you don't have to fight yourself at hour three. There's nothing to negotiate.

"It's normal for me to…"

This makes winning familiar to your nervous system. It won't take a road it doesn't recognise, so you show it the road first, over and over, until the thing you want stops being a shock to your system.

Why this works

Your brain doesn't tell the difference between a memory and a moment you've rehearsed vividly, it builds the pathway either way. It's the same reason athletes visualise. And it's why you cannot outperform your own self-concept.

Use it when Daily, away from the pressure. This is the one you train in the calm so it's already true when it gets loud.
Lines to steal
  • I am strong.
  • My body knows this.
  • It's normal for me to win.
  • I belong at the front.
  • I'm the type of person who does what I said I'd do.
Write three, using the two stems
Important

Don't reach so far that your body calls it a lie. Reach for the version of you that's one step ahead, not ten.

The bank

Lines for the moments that get you

Don't try to use all of these. Find the two or three your body reacts to and leave the rest.

For the sessions you want to cut

  • I'm the type of person who finishes what my coach writes.
  • I'm the type of person who does the full session, not most of it.
  • It's normal for me to train like a champion when nobody is watching.
  • I'm the type of person who trains hardest on the days I don't feel like it.
  • This hour is where the result gets decided.

For the hard efforts, when your mind says stop

  • It's normal for me to be uncomfortable and keep going.
  • This is making me faster.
  • My legs are strong, my body knows this.
  • I'm the type of person who finishes the last interval.
  • One more. I always have one more.

For the start line

  • It's normal for me to perform at my best on the days that matter.
  • I've done the work, my body knows what to do.
  • I'm the type of person who is calm when it gets fast.
  • I belong here.
  • Nothing to prove. Everything to enjoy.

For when the fear shows up mid-session

  • That was then. This is a different body and a different athlete.
  • I'm the type of person who gets back up.
  • Working hard is not what hurt me. Working hard is what makes me dangerous.
  • I'm safe right now. Nothing is happening except this.

For recovery and the small things

  • I'm the type of person who fuels like a champion.
  • It's normal for me to eat in a way that makes me fast.
  • I'm the type of person who takes care of the small things.
  • Rest is part of the work.

For after a bad race or a bad day

  • I'm allowed to be disappointed, and I'm still a champion.
  • One race does not decide who I am.
  • I'm the type of person who feels it, learns from it, and moves forward.
Try this

The interval experiment

Do this once this week.

This is how you prove to yourself that self-talk is real, so you stop doing it because I said so and start doing it because you've felt it.

Pick a session with four hard efforts.

Compare the numbers afterwards. More importantly, compare how the effort FELT.

That difference isn't luck and it isn't the weather. That's your mind changing what your body is willing to give you.

Make it a practice

When to use which one

Before you train
One affirmational line, out loud if you can, while you're putting your shoes on. Set who's turning up before the session starts.
During the hard part
One short instructional line on repeat. Not a speech. Short is stronger when you're deep.
On the start line
Third person, plus three slow breaths. The calm one. This is where the distance does the most work.
After a setback
The compassion line first, then the champion one. In that order, never skipped. If you jump straight to the champion line you're just bulldozing something that still needs to be felt.
Every day, quietly
Two lines. That's it. Every day for a month. This is the rep that changes the default.
One last thing

Two lines. Every day.

Start there.

You don't need all of this. You need two lines that do something to your chest when you say them, said properly, every day, for the next month.

The voice in your head isn't going to go quiet on its own. But it will change what it says, if you're the one training it. Talk to yourself the way you'd talk to an athlete you believe in. Every session.

Go deeper with me
Tell me how it goes

Do the interval experiment, then send me what you noticed. Email coaching@shannonmalseed.com or DM me on Instagram @shannonmalseed. I read every single one.