Talk to Yourself. Don't Listen. Power Talk Part 2

Last week you learned why words are costing you strokes. Today you get the weapon.

In Part 2 Bo and Shannon deliver everything promised from Part 1, and then go even further with brand-new science that was not in the book.

Here is what you will hear in this episode:

— Why you cannot control negative thoughts, but you can stop pulling the trigger on them, and exactly how the T-chart gives you the tool to do it in real time

— The three types of Power Talk and which one science proves is the most powerful under pressure: I statements, you statements, and name-based statements, and why Cristiano Ronaldo talks to himself in third person before every penalty kick

— University of Michigan research showing that using your own name in self-talk drops your amygdala fear response by 25 to 35 percent while keeping decision-making 15 to 20 percent more active — producing 8 to 15 percent better scores in close competition

— The bank robbery analogy and Shannon's snake story from Seattle that prove words change your physiology before your brain can argue

— The cortisol killer and how Power Talk physiologically switches you from sympathetic stress mode to parasympathetic calm mode, loosening your muscle fibers and increasing clubhead speed

— Shannon's real cycling brake story on how "adversity is my advantage" lowered his rate of perceived exertion on a 40-mile ride and took his average from 19.5 to 21 miles per hour

— The complete Power Talk library by category, swing, pressure, adversity, putting, short game, score, and present-moment focus with the chipping yips research that reframes difficult lies entirely

— The three-part Power Talk formula: your name, an instruction reminder, a confidence boost — and Shannon's step-by-step plan for building it into your game over the next four to eight weeks

— The T-chart built live on the episode with real examples for both sides

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Last week we proved something that most golfers have never been told. The words you speak to yourself, not just the intentional ones, but any words and thoughts are physically changing your coordination, your muscle sequencing, and your ability to execute the very next shot. Any negative self-talk is forty to seventy times more powerful in its damage than anything positive that you say in the same breath. Last week we gave you twelve types of negative self-talk. You now know your dominant pattern. You've been paying attention this week on a course, hopefully, and noticing what the inner critic is saying to you or your hearing. And today we're going to show you how to stop that loaded gun and you pulling the trigger. Today we're going to share the T shark. We're going to go a little bit deeper in the science. The amazing part about today is we're also going to give you practical ways to finally flip the script on its head and start walking and playing this game like a caveman golfer. What if your best golf wasn't yours away? What if you were just one round away? Welcome to the One Round Away podcast, where we're going to help 100,000 golfers like you shoot their new lifetime low rounds and performing when it matters most. Hey, I'm Bo Watson.

SPEAKER_00 1:12

I'm Shannon Shevsky, and just remember it's all about caveman golf. C-Target, C ball, hit ball. The words create are the worlds that we walk in when it comes to golf. And today we're going to teach you how to create your world and we're going to build your world based on words.

SPEAKER_01 1:30

Yeah, Shannon, we talked a lot about that last week. You know, how God spoke the universe into form just by mere words. It wasn't thoughts. It was actually spoken into existence. And how much more so did we talk about how the words we speak aren't just empty? Like they actually will go out and accomplish a task or purpose. And what we need to be mindful of is death and life are in the power of the tongue. So you're either speaking life or you're speaking death. And that, my friends, has a direct impact on whether or not you're going to play and perform to the level that you ultimately want to perform. And it's not true just in golf, it's true in life. On the spiritual aspect, really quick. Here's the amazing thing. God said in his word in the book of Isaiah, He said, I'm going to send forth my word, and it will go out and accomplish its purpose and not return to me void. Jesus Himself is the word that became flesh. Jesus said, I didn't come to destroy the law, I came to fulfill it. Well, here's the amazing thing. He is the living, breathing word. And the amazing thing about that is he came stripped of everything that when you look at his form, literally God in human flesh, comes in the most humbled way, born in a feeding trough, and is at the mercy of his mother, lives a sinless life, and then dies a death that we all deserve. And not only that, he rose from the dead three days later, and where does he sit? At the right hand of the Father. So what is incredible about this is God sent forth his word, which is Jesus Christ Himself. You can go read this in the book of John. The word became flesh and dwelt among us. And what's amazing about this is that if those of us that we uh Christians, okay, those that believe that the incredible thing about all this is the fact that if we uh died with Christ, it is no longer us who lives, but Christ in us. So wait a second, that takes the whole speaking words to a totally different level because then who is speaking? It's Christ in us that's speaking. And therefore these words not only are just like stale on its own, no, they hold power, they hold weight. And we have to be very, very careful about the words we speak because we're either we're speaking life or we're speaking curses. And today, what's crazy is we're gonna go a little bit deeper, even on the science part of this. So even those of you that aren't Christians, don't hit end on this episode because like we're gonna show you the science part of this that is amazing. Um, so that said, Shannon, let's dive in.

SPEAKER_00 4:14

Yeah, so here's the thing. I want to share this, and this is a question that I ask all the universities that I go to or teams and then tour players and clients and I ask, can you control negative thoughts? And I'm gonna ask yourself, can you control negative thoughts? And a lot of times, at first thought and at first glance, that's the very first thing that we'll think. Yeah, I can control negative thoughts. If we can control negative thoughts, then we wouldn't actually not have negative thoughts, right? We wouldn't have those negative thoughts. And so today we're gonna give you some insight on what those negative thoughts can be, but also the power talk to talk your way back into success, to talk your mind back into uh agreeing, because you've heard me say this quite often talk to yourself, don't listen. Because the adversary, the enemy, there's a strategy that he has, there's a thought that comes in, the enemy suggests a lie. Like, oh man, this is how my round's gonna go today, you know, because I chunked it off the T or I topped it off the T. You know, the enemy suggests a lie. Nothing good ever happens to me. This is merely a loaded weapon that's sitting on the ground that the devil leaves for you, so to speak. Or you can say, if we don't even want to look at the spiritual aspect, it's it's the that thought is a loaded weapon. And what happens is it's up to you to whether you pick up that gun and to whether you fire it. And the way you fire it is actually believing that thought. The moment you speak that thought, you're the one that's pulling the trigger. Your tongue activates that curse, so to speak. And but the shield is this to stop that weapon by refusing that script that's going on over in your mind, you mean to reject those words, don't align with those, and align with God's victory, or align with victory with the power talk statements that we're going to give. Because we talked about death and life are in the power of the tongue. And then, you know, we also talk about Proverbs 23:7, which says, as a man thinks in the heart, so is he. That is why it's important that you don't pull the trigger on that. You're the one that is activating the right words that goes in. And if you remember, last time we talked about David and Goliath, what David did, he actually spoke to Goliath and basically told Goliath how big his God was, right? We talked about that. So now I'm gonna give you a slight little shift on that. What is your Goliath? It might be the water that's right before the green that you're shooting for. It might be the your front side bunker, right? That might be your Goliath. And what you need to do is give your mind a pathway to where you're not even seeing those hazards anymore. Because what happens is when we see those and our brain can't process the word don't. It's almost a ball becomes a magnet in those situations where we hit it straight in the bunker and we say, don't hit in the bunker, straight into the water, and we say don't hit in the water. That is your Goliath. And David did not focus on Goliath's size. That's not what he focused on. He had a different type of focus. He actually saw an opportunity where where the crowd may have seen danger. He saw an opportunity where he could actually win. And so we stop rehearsing that danger in our mind and we give our brain a pathway because that's something that I always ask. A lot of times when a client flies in to work with us, I say, What do you see? And the very first thing they may see, if there is a frontside bunker, is they see a bunker versus seeing the path of where the ball is. And so that is one thing that you need to do and avoid those mental sand traps, so to speak, and falling in the hazard of cursing yourself, complaining in the sand trap of your soul, so to speak. And we start saying, I suck or I'm a failure, and effectively pulling that trigger of the weapon of the adversity that's that has loaded, and we're just sitting there aiming it at ourselves. So stop calling yourself those things. God never gave you that. Your power talk is your caddy, right? Look at it that way. Your power talk is your caddy, and you can choose to follow that. We're gonna shift gears slightly, and we're gonna talk about the body's response. What is going on in your actual physical body and what's happening? And your body has different like control modes. And what do I mean by control modes? There's a stress mode, there's a calm mode, right? The stress mode is what's called the sympathetic mode. It's where your heart races, your muscles tighten, but that's useful for running. And like when we use Power Talk and we start using words, these are things that actually happen to your body, is you can actually elevate your heart rate. You're you can actually cause your muscles to tighten just by simply using words. Now that might be useful for running, but it's a danger in golf. It's terrible for golf. But then you can also do what's called the parasympathetic mode, which is the calm mode. You're calming that inner critic that hit, and what you're doing is you are hitting the mute button on that negative thought, and that can actually cause you to spiral out there. But power talk switches you from the stress mode to calm mode. So you can obviously change your heart rate. You can you can change your breathing with power talk. And so what it does to your physiology is it you can slow your heart rate down when it increases heart rate variability. But also the simple science is basically what you're doing is when you're using power talk, it tells your body everything is okay. Your breathing becomes deeper and steadier and more automatic. And then what happens is, you know, remember where we mentioned about complaining and it releasing cortisol. When you release cortisol, the cortisol killer is using power talk because cortisol is a stress chemical that makes you actually tired. Your brain gets foggy. Power talk actively lowers these levels, keeping you sharp and energized down the stretch. When you start getting in the 15th, 16th, 17th, and 18th hole, and you might be playing well, and then all these things start going on, and then you hit a chunk and you're like, oh no. Now you start looking at that mental sword, so to speak. Are you going to use it to fight or are you going to use that sword to literally land on, so to speak, and it go through your chest? But so complaining releases those quartersaws, but the quarter saw killer is using power talk. And when you use power talk, it eliminates that tension and causes you to loosen up your muscles. But what happens in real time is stress tightens your shoulders and your grip. Power talk physically relaxes you and relaxes your muscle fibers while keeping your mind sharp. Loose muscles allow maximum clubhead speed and timing.

SPEAKER_01 10:39

Yeah, definitely. And one thing I always want to address the elephant in the room, because like some of you are going to be skeptics right now, and you're like, eh, I just don't believe that words can really affect my body or change my heart rate or change any of this stuff. Well, let's paint a picture really quick. You're in a bank and you're just casually in there, just making a deposit because you just got a check. And so you're about the second person in line, and you're just casually sitting there looking at your watch, scrolling, and all of a sudden you hear from the right door get down. Hands up. And what's happening right now in your body in real time? I can tell you right now, your heart is beating very fast. And now you are really stressed out. And wait a second, it all started by what? Words. It was the robber coming in saying, Everybody, get down and hands up. Isn't that fascinating?

SPEAKER_00 11:43

Now, but I want to add on to that because what you added a visual reputation to that. And it was funny because I'll never forget this. Bo did this when we were in Seattle. He said, Oh, if you don't believe me, look, there's a snake under your chair, and he talks, he's talking to one of the girls right there. And guess what happened? She jumps up. Not only did what happened to her body, her immediate response was, she jumps up. She obviously has an elevated heart rate, right? And there was no snake there, but he said, There's a snake under your chair. You know, watch out. And, you know, again, the power of words, but then there's weight of words that can affect you as well. And what do I mean by weight of words? Like, for example, when I found out that my mom was in the hospital, okay, or something like that, right? The weight of the word, even though you haven't seen your mom, there's no visual cue that goes on, but the weight of the words can actually affect you as well. Here's the other thing, too. It actually lowers your rate of perceived exertion. I actually did a case study with my skaters and even myself when it comes to rate of perceived exertion. You can actually do this later in the game, for example, if it's real hot weather. What does heat do? It elevates your heart rate, right? But when you use power talk, it calms that down. And then what happens is it's lowering your rate of perceived exertion. There's been numerous case studies on people that are doing time trials. I've actually done this on my actually did this in real time. My front brake was rubbing. I was like, what in the world's going on? I use power talk to literally lower my rate of perceived exertion. And at the time, my average, you know, the first 10 miles, this was a 40-mile bike ride that I was doing the first 10 miles. I noticed that something was wrong. I was putting out some serious power. We did a store stop and I looked and my front brake was rubbing. That was actually the real case scenario. And I'm talking about lowering my rate of perceived exertion. And then instead of me going like this was a mental alarm clock, you know, screaming, oh man, the rest of my bike rides is going to be terrible. This is going to be hard. No, the very first thing is I was started thinking adversity is my advantage. The harder it gets, the harder I get. The longer I go, the stronger I get. And I started thinking those things. And then lowered my rate of perceived exertion. It was only me and another person, but I was leading the entire time. So then what happened was when we got at the end, we actually had almost a 21 average. So if you think about that, think about the elevated speed that we had to carry from going from a 19-5 to almost a 21 average. It's because my rate of perceived exertion lowered. And you can do the same thing out on the golf course as well when it comes to that. Those are just like real life examples of how power talk can literally change your physiology in real time.

SPEAKER_01 14:36

Yeah, I love that. And what we're going to do now is we're going to give you like three types of power talk. Type one is basically where you use I statements. And this is the identity builder. This is an example like I am confident, I am tough. You know, you're talking directly about who you are. It's best for like daily prep and long-term confidence building. And you know, the risk of this is if you don't feel it, your brain might argue, no, you're not. And then type two, use statements. This is where the inner coach is coming into play, and we're going to expand on that here in a second. But you know, these are examples such as you've got this, execute the swing. It sounds like a coach giving you instructions, and obviously is coming across as highly as motivating between shots. And the third one is where you actually take it to another level, and this is name-based. And science has proven this, or have been numerous studies, and Shannon will probably share some light on this too. But, you know, this is where you actually put your name in the blink. So, for an example, one of our tour players that we worked with, Savannah, and helped her get to the LPJ tour. You know, this would be an example of her saying, Savannah, trust your process. Savannah, you are a one-shot warrior. And this is where you use your name to create that psychological distance. It is the most powerful tool that you can use in these types of pressure moments.

SPEAKER_00 15:51

So you might be thinking, you know, why there are three types. See, most of the time we've only thought about using the I statements, like I'm a great driver, I'm a great bunker player, I'm a clutch performer, you know, I perform great under pressure. We have been accustomed to that. And for the most part, the science have literally has backed that up. And there's truth. There's a lot of truth behind that. And then you got use statements. So then there's been a slight shift, and then people started using the you statements. Oh, you've got this. You can do this. You play well under pressure. And it's that coach that is, you know, inspiring you, and it becomes more inspiring. And science has started backing the you statements, but still using I statements in the beginning, but then like out on the course and stuff like that, you start using you statements. So then what happened is some of you guys might be familiar with Christian Ronaldino, which is one of the best soccer players in the world, is getting ready to be in the World Cup. But if you listen to him talk, he actually talks to himself in third person. It's because he was one of the guys that actually helped be the differentiator in actually using your name because he actually uses his name over and over again. And some people are thinking, whoa, that might make him prideful. He might think that he's just arrogant of himself. No, because he knows he understands this, and this is how he's actually been talking to himself, is in that third-person reality, saying his name going into whether the, you know, he has a penalty kick and it's at the end of the game, and he's but in the beginning of the game, he missed the penalty kick. How come he steps up and you look at him? He's got big body language. He's like totally a different person because he started using the power talk. And a lot of the science have actually developed from some of the stuff that he's done. What it does is when you use your name, it is like a psychological distance from actually what's happening. You are self-distancing yourself and it'll create space between you and your stress. It's like watching yourself from the outside, or like it literally, you're watching yourself go going through whatever situation that you're going to on a video screen, right? It's something similar to that. You're looking from yourself on the outside going in. That's why it's so much more encouraging because of the psychological distance. Here's the simple science what it does, it shifts you from panic mode to advice mode. I want to say that again. It shifts you from panic mode to advice mode automatically. You think more logically, not emotionally, because you're in that emotional attachment with whatever may have just happened. You are you are separating yourself from that emotional attachment and you start thinking more logically about that, and it shifts you from panic mode to advice mode, and you think logically, not emotionally. To parallel with what I was talking about with the soccer player and then the research, there was scientific proof. There was a case study that was done in the University of Michigan, and this is the brain science and the truth. So research shows that your amygdala, which is the fear center, it actually drops 25 to 35 percent more with the type three or using your name versus saying you statements and I statements. Your decision making in your brain stays 15 to 20 percent more active when that happens because that fear center drops by 25 to 35 percent, but yet your decision making ups 15 to 20 percent more active. You feel less panic, you feel more in control at the same time. This balance is hard to achieve any other way by using your name in situations instead of saying I'm a great bunker player. In my case, it would be Shannon is a great bunker player in pressure moments. This is when it works the best. These are real golf results. What happened in this case study? The player they started making 12 to 18 percent better decisions in pressured situations. All right, raise your hand if that relates to you want to have uh better decision making under pressure, it's actually increasing better decision making by 12 to 18%. Not just that, but also here's the game changer for you. Listen to what I'm getting ready to say, because this is powerful. 8 to 15% better scores in close competition. So if you're a tournament player and you're coming down and it's crunch time, like for example, a lot of the high schools here in the U.S., they literally just got done with the state championship within the past couple of weeks, right? And then what happens is you are actually having eight to 15% better scores in close competition. So when the pressure's on, using power talk statements of using your name, you're not just making better decisions, but because of the better decisions, obviously that's gonna affect your scores right away. You're gonna be more consistent in high pressure tournaments every single time. Or, you know, instead of that, how many of y'all play skins and or you know, you got money on your line on this shot and you and you start betting on holes? Well, think about that. You're gonna be more consistent in pressured situations, and that's a pressured situation. And then here's the other beautiful thing: real results. You have faster recovery from mistakes and poor shots because you are saying your name in place of I or you. Okay, that's powerful. But here's the trick. Check this out. This is awesome. Tournament scores, you're improving tournament scores by eight to fifteen percent of improvement. That's amazing. I'm sure everybody in your brain's like you're like raising your hand. Yeah, I want that. Show me how to do that. That's approved when it comes to power talk. We're gonna also show you different examples. Examples on when you need to use I statements versus you statements versus your name statements. So we're gonna go shift gears again. We're gonna talk about strategic execution. How do you do this? What does this look like? For example, off the T, confidence and commitment. If you're John, commit to target, execute cleanly. Or Bo would say, Bo, commit to target, execute cleanly. And then the reset, like for example, after a bad shot within five seconds. Let's say, Sarah, that's done. One shot, move forward. I'm a one-shot warrior. You see what I'm saying? So then you start using your name in those bow. Can you give any other examples when you would be using your name?

SPEAKER_01 22:41

Yeah, I mean, bow. Just as I always say, adversity is my advantage.

SPEAKER_00 22:45

Absolutely. And critical moments in high-pressured situations when the score is close and the shot is tough. Like, for example, we have mentioned about Camille who just made the uh LPGA tour. One of the things that she could say is, Camille, you've been here before. It's process over outcome. My process is going to guarantee my outcome. It's going to give me a more advantage. So here's a type of comparison. When I say type of comparison, like type one, or I'm just going to call them I statements and then you statements and name statements because there's three types. We're going to talk about that. So what happens is to give your brain and your body more of a calming effect, I and you statements is more uh a medium level. It's kind of like turning up the heat. Do you want low heat, medium heat, or high heat? That is like medium heat, so to speak, on calming. But saying your name is very high heat situation. And it calms you faster than you statements and the I statements. Now, when it comes to confidence boosting, I statements and you statements are very high. Those are very high. Okay. And so that's why it's important that away from the course, you start using I statements. You're going to have to train yourself, and we're going to give you some mental drills that'll give you the skills that have actually help you to perform your best when it matters the most. We're going to give you these skills and drills here in just a minute of what you can be saying to yourself. I statements and you statements, confidence boost, very high. You say this away from the course. Now, when you use your name, confidence boost is high, is not very high. It's like, you know, you've got on the heat, you've got high, and then you turn it all the way up, very high. That's the I and the U statements. You do those away from the course. But on the course, here's the thing: best for pressured situations. For a long time in the golf world, and not just golf world, but in all the other sports across the world, we have been using I statements in pressured situations. Or just saying statements, adversity is my advantage. You see what I'm saying? You're using that I or you statement. I is absolutely a no when it comes to pressured situations. You don't use I statements. Another one is you statements is okay. It's okay. It kind of helps. It's it's there's a slight advantage, but the biggest advantage under pressured situations that they have found when it comes to the calming, even confidence boost when it comes to best in pressured situations. In other words, real time. When the situation arises at the actual real time, not away from the course, but in real time, using your name is best for pressured situations.

SPEAKER_01 25:56

So we're going to do now, guys, is we're going to help you create your Power Talk. Just to summarize really fast, like what we talked about in episode one. You know, we know that there are three voices in your head. And we talk about this in our book, Indozone Secrets. And those of you that have not gotten our book, you can get it through Amazon if you're international, if you're a US reader, you can get it through us. You get a signed copy and a lot of other cool bonuses, and you just go to IndazoneSecrets.com and that link will be posted in the show notes. But just really quick, just know like, you know, you have the inner critic, you have your inner coach, and then you just have your thoughts, right? And your thoughts could be like, oh dang it, I remember my teacher saying I gotta study for the test. You know, those are like your thoughts, right? And then the inner critic, or as we better know, as us Christians know, as the enemy, you know, that's someone that's like saying, Bo, you're terrible at this. Why are you even playing this game? Like, see, you're doing all this time, you're putting all the work in, and yet you're still messing up, right? That's the enemy. Versus the inner coach. Inner coach is like that coach that always has cheered you on. Maybe you had a really amazing coach when you're playing like junior soccer, or you know, like when you're 10 years old and you had that coach that was always like cheering you on. You know, that's like your inner coach. That's one that on the golf course can act as your caddy, you know, somebody that's very helpful, right? Or for us Christians, you know, we have the Holy Spirit. He's our counselor, he's our helper. So we can rely on him on the golf course as well. One of the things that we really want to make sure that we highlight again, we talked about this extensively in episode one, is you have to replace don't language with do commands. Okay. So, like if you say, hey, don't hit in the bunker, and Shann talked about this, you know, a lot of times when we ask our clients in our schools, you know, what's your plan here? Well, I want to avoid hitting in water. So I don't want to go here. And the problem is that don't is not gonna work for you. Because like right now, don't think of a pink elephant. And right now you're thinking of a pink elephant. You cannot not think of the pink elephant. So what you have to do is you have to give your brain a path. This is where we have to have it a do come in, meaning, hey, I'm gonna start it at the right edge of this tree and I'm gonna have it fade back to this section. Like, see how it's more specific. That's what you have to do when you're in a tournament situation or in pressure is give yourself a path for you to go. One of the things that we're gonna do right now is cover the T chart, and this is gonna be really powerful for you because when you look at the T chart and the whole process of this, I like to picture this as like you're in a courtroom setting, and so you have your inner critic on one side or the enemy, and you have the inner coach on the other side, which is like you know, your defendant. And the amazing thing about this is that we taught you last week how to pay attention to your thoughts, you know, and the words that you're speaking. But in 2 Corinthians 10, 5, what we have to do is we have to cast down every imagination and destroy arguments, and we capture every thought like prisoners of war, and then we make it obey the truth. Well, what's interesting is Jesus Himself said, I am the truth, the way, and the life. And so what we need to do is make sure that whatever thought, whatever word that we speak or hear, that we're taking it captive, we're not gonna argue with it, we're gonna capture it, we're gonna label it, and we're gonna replace it with something that actually is true. And this is the beauty of the T chart, because on the left hand side, take a blank sheet of paper, draw a massive T on the paper, and on the left side, we're gonna write down three to five common things that we've heard ourselves say or what the inner critic has voiced to us. All right. Think of this as like the accuser coming into the courtroom. Yeah, I just had to go to Zechariah 3 1, and it says, Then he showed me Joshua the high priest, standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. Okay, check this out. And the Lord said to Satan, The Lord rebuke you, O Satan, the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you. Is this not a brand plucked from the fire? And he's talking about Joshua. Joshua standing before the angel, clothed in filthy garments, and the angel said to those who were standing before him, Remove the filthy garments from him. And to him he said, Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure garments. Let them put a clean turban on his head, and so they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments. And this is so amazing to me because when you look at this, this is like literally the courtroom, and this is happening in real time with what the enemy, the accuser, is trying to say to you and get you to believe. And then you have Jesus over here, who is basically his defendant, and ultimately telling him what is true about him. This is the incredible thing, like to go really deep in all this is knowing your true identity in Christ, those of us that are believers, and those of you that do understand our identity, we also understand our authority, and the words that we speak are not our own. Therefore, they have power, they have weight. And this is why it's so critical that you get this, because when you understand your true identity in Christ, oh my goodness, like you're now seated with him in heavenly places. So therefore, you're not even operating in this realm, you're now having the kingdom of heaven come down, so to speak, because Jesus said all the time throughout his ministry, Kingdom of Heaven is near, kingdom of heaven is near, and then eventually said, The kingdom of heaven is here. And so, wait a second, there was something that had to happen. There was a transition, there was something that took place, and this is where we've been given authority. And Shannon, you can share that uh verse.

SPEAKER_00 31:42

Luke 10, 19, behold, I've given you all power and authority to trample on serpents and scorpions. It's a good verse. And you know, I want to kind of plug into here for the ones that may not be a Christian. We actually talked about this in the book. We talked about positivity, we talked about negativity. You've heard Bo and I even talk about the inner critic. Everybody has an inner critic. If you actually put a name to that negative self-talk that you're getting, it actually becomes more real and becomes more powerful. And then what happens is you actually recognize it, that's the inner critic. That's not me, that's the inner critic. Because remember, we talked about the three voices inside your head, one that might be you, one that might be God, and then the other one might be the inner critic or the devil, right? And those are three different voices. And if you label that negativity inner critic, then what happens is it becomes that mental alarm clock that's going off inside your head that you don't need to listen to that. You need to change your thoughts and shift that in there. And so sorry, but I wanted to plug that in there because it's powerful and it makes it more real, and then it helps you to be aware. Because if you're not aware, guess what? You're just gonna be going alone and believing that and pulling that trigger and shooting that gun off inside your head and destroying your performance simply by doing that.

SPEAKER_01 33:14

Yeah. You just said it right there, destroying your performance. We talked about it, I think, last episode or previous ones. You know, my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. And now that you have this knowledge and you become more aware of the things that are you're speaking or hearing, now it has no weight or power over you. And that is the beauty of the T chart, because in real time, we're now showing you how to get this on paper on the left-hand side. And so for some examples of this, is like, man, I always three-put when it matters. Every stroke, I'm always messing up. I can't hit a long iron to save my life under pressure. Like, why is it that I always mess this up? Or I always fall apart on the back nine. It's like every time that I think about my score or whatever, it's like every time I find a way to screw it up. And these are things that we need to write down on the left-hand side. And I'm talking about everything that, and this is where you have to be truly transparent with yourself. Like, be brutally transparent and honest with yourself and write down every negative thing, everything that you have spoken out loud. Again, you can go back to your most recent rounds, or if you've been very negative for a very long time, this one will probably be easy for you. But the beauty in this, this is how we show you in real time how to flip the script, so to speak. All right. So take a few minutes, do that on the left hand side, and then on the right hand side is where we're going to now give you the statements that you're going to leverage your inner coach, or those of us that are Christians are the Holy Spirit, and what Jesus would say that is true about you, just like that example I just gave you about Joshua, the high priest. You know, he's standing before the Lord in filthy garments, and Satan's throwing all these accusations at him, but then Jesus actually speaks what is true about him, right? Because ultimately he took his place. And that's the beauty about being a Christian, is like he literally came and took our place and died to death that we deserve. And now we stand before the Father completely clean, washed clean. We're standing before him with no guilty conscience because God says, Your sin is cast as far from me, from as far as the east is from the west, and therefore there's no recollection there for him because we are literally made whole, stand before him completely spotless. And it's because of what Jesus did in our place that allows us to now become completely clean, sin-free, sinless, and now we have this new identity that we get to walk out and do on this side of eternity. And this is where, oh my goodness, it's so powerful because now you have the authority to take every thought captive and make it obedient to the truth. And this is what the T chart is allowing you to do in real time. Now you're going to speak what is true, what the Holy Spirit is speaking to you, or your inner coach is speaking to you. And this is where you say things like, for example, and here's the Power Talk library from our book. You know, if you have a pressure moment and you need to trust your swing, this is where you say things like, hey, in moments of pressure, I trust my preparation, I let the athlete inside of me come out. Hey, I'm relaxed, I'm focused, and my swing is always going to be smooth and effortless. I embrace my swing's capability. I trust in my execution. The other examples like, hey, the more pressure on the line, the better I perform. Right? It could also be I channel pressure into fuel for peak performance. Or in the face of pressure, I actually find freedom in my routine. Okay, those are some examples there. Now, what about like bad bounces, like things like that? Here's some other ones, you know, when it comes to adversity, obstacles or stepping stones to success. Every setback is an opportunity for a comeback. I am determined to succeed and I will never give up. Those are some good ones there. Let's talk about putting. This maybe this is where the inner critic is the loudest, right? You miss a short putt. We know from science and Dr. Izzy Just's research that missing a short putt is the fastest way to being in a red light state. So here's where we can use statements like, hey, with every stroke, I surrender the result. My putting routine is my compass. It guides each putt perfectly. Every putt is an opportunity for me to showcase my skill and precision, right? And then what about short game? You know, for your chipping, your pitching, maybe bunker play. Hey, I'm a master of touch and feel my short game. You know, difficult lives, they fuel my creativity. You know, my short game skills shine under pressure. I want to actually touch on it really quick. Difficult lies fuel my creativity. Just really quick on uh science part, from what I've actually learned is from David Orr, who's can I consider one of the best, if not the best, putting coach and short game coach in the world. And what was fascinating from the research I found out with him is that when golfers struggle with putting yips or even short game yips, it all rooted back to indecision. And so if you're not sure of the lie, you're not committed, you know, that's typically when indecision creeps in. That's ultimately when people mess up, and that's what gets them down this massive rabbit hole of the putting yips or chipping yips, and it always roots back to one shot. I had a conversation just recently with another golfer in our community and it was fascinating. He talked about this time in a member guest, they're playing amazing, hit almost drove the green, had a short side pit shot. It was pretty simple, but because he wasn't sure on the lie, he ended up messing it up, and then it created a snowball effect, or a couple holes later, he then missed another pit shot, then it became a stronghold. He started struggling with the chipping yips. And let me just tell you the research, as far as like true neurological for the yips, it only affects about 4% of the people. That means 96% of you, it rooted back to a missed shot or an indecision. So I just wanted to give you that really quick because this is really, really critical to understand. So that when you have a tough shot, using a power talk statement like I embraced difficult lies that fuels my creativity, that's a good one to use. What about bunker play? Hey, I embraced the challenge of bunker play and I'm always ready to perform. You know, what about like when you're struggling to focus on your process, right? Because we know that the score can be an expectation trap. Hey, the score takes care of itself if I take care of the process, right? Process over outcome. When I focus on the former, the latter thrives. Hey, my score does not define my value or my identity, my behaviors do. Remember that amazing episode we did on the thermostat? That's a great one to use. And what about present moment focus? Because we know that this is the key. If you want to play and be in the zone, you know, again, what we teach, if you want to be in flow state, it is all about being in the present. We know from neuroscience, they have shown that if you're in flow state, it means you're infatuated with the present moment. You're not thinking about the past, you're not thinking about the future right here and now. And that's where you're always gonna have your best performance. So in the present, I hold a power to shape my future. Every shot counts. The journey is my treasure, but the process is where I make my mark. I am a champion, and my process reflects my excellence. And this is where you also use your name when you're doing these power talk statements. So, like again, if you're gonna do it in a third person, it's like, Bo, you are a champion and your process reflects your excellence, right? That's how you would do it, and that's how you would write it in the right side. So that's how we do the T chart. Shannon, you want to give your comments and thoughts on that?

SPEAKER_00 40:29

Yeah, I'm gonna give you a little plan, okay? A plan of action. How do you do this? All right, step number one, you need to ID your weakness. You know, find out what it is. Do you get upset after bad shots? Do you choke under press in pressure moments or missing short putts, losing focus in later holes? Is that something that you do? Getting too tense, do you get too tense, or doubting yourself, perfectionism, getting mad at yourself, playing scared instead of confident? Identify your weakness. And then number two, I identify your triggers. What are your triggers? When do you most need to use Power Talk when these triggers come up? For example, and Bo mentioned it standing over a putt that matters right after you hit a poor shot, dealing with wind or difficult course conditions, playing against someone you're worried about. Late round when you're tired. You know, we actually have some clients talking about late round, his body reacts differently to heat, you know, and then what happens late round, not just tired, but you're fatigued, you know, and because the heat's playing a toll on you, what's going on through your head? And or you're starting a tournament round, you know, what are triggers that set it up? You know, is that short side bunker that I talked about, or the short or the front side water or anything like that? What are your triggers? Identify what those triggers are. And then step two, after you identify, say three triggers, you know, over even over the last round or over the last couple of rounds, what were some of the negative phrases that you heard in your head? And then when was it under pressure or was it in certain situations? And then step two, write down those power talk replacements that you need to use, three to four words, you know, write or just write down a list, maybe five or six power talk statements or even more that you memorize. That's the key, what I said. You memorize the way you memorize them, you got to practice it, right? And step three, use your new phrases in every pre-shot routine, for example, over the next four to eight weeks. Then they become automatic. You need to master your formula. Like, for example, you do your name, and then you do an instruction reminder, and then you do a confidence boost. So it's like a three parts in your power talk statement. Your name, let's say, and bow. We'll use bow or trust your preparation, commit and execute. So you're giving an instruction reminder. So remember, we talked about how it switches that brain to advice mode. You're switching it, and then you're basically giving a confidence boost or an instruction. How do you learn all this and you start imparting it in your game? I statements and you statements. I statements are mainly away from the course. You want to put those in, pick up several statements, say them out loud at least 10 times daily. Okay? Say those power talk statements at least 10 times daily for the first one to two weeks. Because then what happens is it's gonna eventually become automatic. If you want a verse that says faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word, you're just your faith is going to increase and then it becomes a mental alarm clock because you said it over and over again. The next three to four weeks, you want to do the implements phase using tournament play. Notice the composure, the reset. You're actually doing this out on the course. So your learn phase, you're really popping those up. For the first two weeks, but during those first two weeks, you try to incorporate that in your play as well and use them, and you're implementing it. And then so you're doing I statements away from the course. When you're on the course, you can use you statements, but mainly use your name statements. But you're going to have to be intentional with what you're trying to do, right? You have to be intentional. So when you're doing these, you need to say it out loud. You need to have auditory or cues that are stronger than your thoughts. And so your memory is stronger than silent thoughts. So you need to say it out loud. You need to say it with emotion. You have to have emotion agreement. Actually, feel the calm or the power as you speak, that feel that confidence that amplifies that effectiveness. And pair it with the breath. You know, do a deep breath before you say it. Breathe, pairing. This inhale, inhale the calm, exhale the command, right? Or because we talked about it over and over, what breath does when you take that deep breath in, calms your body, calms your brain, removes it. You can do the hard reset, you know, debris, you know, that we talked about. And then write down daily repetition for rewiring. Write these down. Not just say them, but write them down over and over again. You want to build these in. The reason why I'm saying this is because literally when I'm doing my mental reps away from the course or and when even when I speed skated, I would incorporate my power talk when I was doing my mental imagery every single time. I would pair it with my mental imagery. And for example, when I'm talking about speed skating, I'm a great starter. I can start off the line and place myself anywhere I wanted to. I can pass anybody at any time. Shannon can pass anybody at any time. Like during the race, that's what I'm thinking. You're thinking that and you're saying that. And so that's what your challenge is going to be is literally go in, prepare your T chart examples, go back, look over the next few rounds, and then you need to execute. You need to go out and write down three or four statements or even more and literally memorize them, say them over and over again, but then start incorporating them on the driving range. Start incorporating in the on the course. So choose powerful words, be a powerful golfer, talk to yourself, don't listen. So last thoughts?

SPEAKER_01 46:27

And I just want to reiterate this is that, you know, those of you that are listening to our podcast and you listen to this episode and you're not coming from a faith background, like please understand these principles that we're sharing are going to be successful regardless of your worldview. And that's the amazing thing about the stuff that we're teaching, is it it has the science back in it. But then we also know that God's Word has been talking about this for years. Most golfers, you know, they've been creating the wrong world on the golf course for years, accidentally, consistently, you know, 40 to 70 times more powerfully than any positive thought that they've had in that same round. And today we've just given you the tools to create a different world. You know, the T chart, the Power Talk Library, you know, the daily deposit practice, and then integrating this into the system that you've already built over the last few episodes. Just know that it's not about perfection because you understand this game is a game of imperfections. It's a game of mistakes. And when you understand that, then it's all about direction. It's one deposit at a time, one statement at a time, and one round at a time, which is why I'm going to end it with this. Remember, you're just one round away.