Negative Self-Talk While Shooting

Our research has shown us that almost every thought a shooter has while performing will eventually bring his/her focus/attention back to the barrel and/or the lead. 

In some instances, the omnipresence of the seemingly uninterrupted stream of random thoughts turns into an avalanche of eventually negative “gibberish,” none of which if you heard someone else say would make any sense. 

So, where does this come from? And why does it erupt at times when things seemingly are going well and not-so-well? Why does this happen? Why are the thoughts almost always negative? 

Well, we are all a product of everything we have ever done, and we are more a product of that which we have given great emotion to. 

But research shows that we have a 3:1 negative bias towards our memories of past experiences. Said another way you are three times more likely to remember something that happens to you that you interpret as bad. Because things that happen just are, and it is how you interpret them that makes them good or bad. Typically how you judge whether something that happens to you is good or bad comes from your expectations, especially when shooting a tournament. 

Under emotional pressure, people tend to revert to past negative memories and associations if they don’t affirmatively decide that they want to store their current activities, emotions, and memories more positively.