‍ Don’t think of Taylor Swift.

What are you thinking of right now? ‍

Probably Taylor Swift! Maybe even singing your favorite T-Swift song!

I’m guilty. Your coaches are guilty. Your parents are guilty. You are guilty.

Guilty of telling ourselves what we don’t want to do. 

When we are trying to improve and make adjustments we tell ourselves things like…

Don’t drop your shoulder

Stop being late

Don’t mess this up

These are all great things to know, but you don’t want to be thinking…

Don’t mess this up, don’t strike out, don’t swing too late when you are up to bat because that usually ends up with big ol’ strike out!

Change the way you are thinking about your adjustments. 

Tell yourself things like…

Stay tall!

Be early!

You’re ready for it.

I can do this!

See the difference there?!

Now you are in the right mindset to actually make the adjustments you want to see!

This is a really...

I get this one a lot!

Girls are always asking me how to get more motivated?! ‍

So, if you’ve ever thought or said this before…

I just don’t feel motivated.

I would rather just stay right here relaxing.

Ugh, why can’t I get motivated to do this?!

Then, you should keep listening! This is for you!

Motivation is tough.

It comes and goes. 

Sometimes it’s there and sometimes it just disappears.

Motivation comes from these things…

Planning

Accountability

Routine

Let me go deeper here.

Planning: If you have a plan of action (aka writing it down in a planner/agenda) you are more likely to be motivated to GET IT DONE!

When you aren’t feeling motivated, it’s going to be written down and you will more likely push past that resistance and lack of motivation to GET IT DONE!

Accountability: Surround yourself with people who keep you accountable, push you, make you a better person. Make sure the friends you are with are motivated ones!...

I know, it totally sucks, right?

All you type A, perfectionist, control crazies (by the way, this is me too) are annoyed with this.

But, what if I told you letting go of the outcome will make you a kick-@$$ athlete?!

I listened to a former MLB pitcher, former MLB coach, former college coach, ANDDDD former high school coach and he said…

“Once that pitch was out of my hand, it was out of my control. I could have thrown the most perfect pitch and the hitter could get a hit.”

Ain’t that the truth.

So…

Let it go.

Do everything you can IN YOUR CONTROL and then let it go.

Give it up.

That sounds almost bad, huh? Give it up.

But, the thing is, you can only control what you can control.

And it’s definitely NOT the outcome.

You can control…

Your mind

Your effort

You attitude

Your reactions

Your passion

I made a decision my senior year (the first three years were rough hitting).

I decided that I was going to give it my all.

I decided that I was...

Are you afraid to talk to your coaches about playing time? 

I know I was terrified to go into my coach’s office for our individual meetings. Not because they were bad, it’s just this thing about talking to the head coach that makes all of your decisions (which feel like your life depends on them at the moment).

This is something we just talked about in my programs because it’s REALLY important.

It’s important to know how to talk to your coaches about this sensitive topic. 

Let’s talk playing time! This one is BIG!

My rule of thumb is, the squeaky wheel gets the oil.

If you don’t tell your coaches what you want, they might not ever know!

3 things when talking about playing time…

1

It HAS to come from YOU!

When it comes from you, all it’s saying to your coach is that you are passionate about this goal of wanting more in a certain position. 

2

Right time, right place is important.

Don’t talk to your coach about...

Have you ever made that one mistake and all the sudden it feels like the world is ending?

Or… that one mistake led to 5 more mistakes.

Or… you make that mistake and it’s all you can think about for the rest of the day?

I feel ya girl! 

And I’ve got YOU!

I teach my girls in my program these 4 steps to confidence after a mistake…

1 Awareness

Just knowing that your thoughts are starting to spiral to a destruction and having the mindfulness to be like, “Paige...it’s happening, shift your thoughts.”

2 Reflect

Ask yourself these 3 questions. 

What did I do well?

What did I not do so well? (this is the easy one)

How do I get better?

3 Remodel

See the lesson in your mistake. Learn from it. Use it as fuel. Use it as a tool to get better and move forward. Tell yourself what you ARE actually capable of!

Pro tip: this is where affirmations come in! 

Example: “This was one mistake. I’m a powerhouse. I can hit...

When I have the first conversation with a mom or dad about what their daughter is struggling with on the mental side of the game, I share with them how I can support them, but the best part of the calls are…

When that mom or dad says…

“I’m so excited about this program because I know this will be so much more than softball (or volleyball or soccer or basketball)!”

That’s when I know a family is a perfect fit for my program, The Confident Athlete.

When we figure out that we are more than just an athlete… INCREDIBLE THINGS HAPPEN!

Incredible things like…

Success
Results
Confidence
Happiness
Love

How the heck do you figure out that you are more than just an athlete though?

It starts with you.

It starts with asking yourself…

Who do I want to be?
How do I want to show up?
What are my down-to-the-core values?
What do I want to be known and remembered for?
How do I want people to feel?

*This is what I did my senior year of...

You have to fight em’

The negative thoughts are going to come up.

“You suck at this.”

The self doubt will creep into your head.

“You aren’t good enough.”

The fear will sink in.

“You can’t do this.”

So you have to fight back!

Here’s how…

Question the out of your thoughts.

1 When those negative thoughts come up, you have to start questioning them.

When you are thinking, “I suck at this”...

Ask yourself these questions…

Is this true?

Is this 100% true?

Do I really suck at this? All the time?

Does this define who I am?

You will start to challenge your negative thoughts by asking these questions.

You will start to disempower those negative thoughts.

You will start to realize what is ACTUALLY true.

2 Use positive affirmations.

Create positive, confident, empowering statements! 

Examples

I am strong.

I am confident. 

I am worthy. 

I am capable.

I can do anything I set my mind...

Nervous about that first practice back?

Afraid you might look dumb in front of all your teammates?

Worried you’ll be a little rusty?

These are all totally normal thoughts as you start trickling back into practice with your team.

You know how I know?

Because SOOO many of the girls in my program, The Confident Athlete, are telling me they are nervous about getting back into the swing of things at practice.

They have told me…

“I feel like I’ll be worse than some of the girls on my team.”

“I’m nervous I won’t do well on the actual field, it’s been awhile.”

“What if I make a mistake?”

I’m here to help you feel confident going into your practices and even games since being quarantined!

We are going to do a pre-practice-or-game-been-quarantined-for-a-little-too-long routine to get you feeling that confidence for practice or game.

1. Visualize
2. Affirmations
3. Bring the energy!

You’re probably feeling...

The 3 reasons you aren’t feeling confident… AND how you can start building confidence NOW!

This is the NEW workshop that I’ll be doing in June!

A FREE Online Workshop for... 

Sports moms and dads

Girl Athletes

Coaches

If this is you as an athlete OR your daughter OR your team…

Constantly being so dang hard yourself/herself/themselves

Putting in the time and not seeing results when it matters

Desperately want to feel confident

Want to know that you are going to rock it no matter what is thrown at ya

Then, this workshop is a MUST for you!

I have been digging deep into my own experiences as an athlete, learning from the girl athletes and parents I work with every day, and I keep seeing the same things over and over again that keep us from feeling that unshakeable, undeniable, feel-good confidence.

It took me 11+ years to figure out how to feel confident. Like real, true, authentic confidence.

I am sometimes frustrated that it took me that long...

Failure is a good thing!

Knowing what I know now, it’s kind of crazy to think I’ve thought failure is a bad thing all this time.

We have to fail in order to succeed.

So much harder than it sounds though.

Because failing sucks.

Failing feels like you’re the total loser.

Failing feels like you’re not good enough.

Failing feels like a gut punch.

Good news…

YOU are in control of your thoughts. Meaning… you get to control how you think about failure.

Here is the best way I can describe this.

EVERYONE says hitting a softball (or baseball) is one of the hardest things to do in all of sports.

So, naturally, I’ve always thought hitting is hard.

Hitting is hard. 

Hitting is so hard.

Hitting is the hardest part of our game.

Hitting the ball is freakin’ hard.

What the actual heck?!

Why would I keep thinking this over and over?

Why wouldn’t I be thinking…

Hitting is easy.

Hitting is so easy.

Hitting is the easiest...