Positive affirmation statements

[whisky]

Talking with a fiend (not a miss spolling) and fellow archer tonight we got onto the issue of verbal positive affirmation statements. We have an archer at the club that says ‘that’s the way to do it’ (in a sort of Mr Punch stylie – made that bit up!) when he shoots 3 x 10’s indoors. Normally when newbie’s are around.

I wondered what other people’s experiences are. What do you tell yourself, if anything or have you heard any amusing stories?

Do you believe in positive psychology and that it works? You hear plenty of archers berating themselves for a poor shots at tournaments.

[Woodie]

Yes it does work but you have to work at it. Young Simon worked on my mental attitude for 3 weeks before the Scottish premier event last year and I shot my socks off. Since then I have regressed a bit so have some work to put in.
Lately I have been mentaly saying GOLD or X just before release to reafirm my aim. It seems to work some of the time. It is a case of trying to find what works.
Another thing on scores is to only look at 6 arrow totals. I have found this reduces negative thoughts about stray arrows. eg. I might put in a 6 but still have a 1/2 doz score of 48 instead of my average of 50. Don't seem so bad then. Of course the best thing is not to look at scores at all but this is not always possible.

[chris]

Being a pretty layed back kinda chap I don’t really bother much with things like that (read not very competitive ). But I do some times get annoyed with
People who belittle those less talented as themselves and can usually shock them if I get “hissed of” enough . This once happened at a track day where some one ,who shall remain nameless was out ridden by some one on an old 600 bandit as against his R1.so it dose work sometimes.
chris

[Murray]

Positive self talk is important. Shutting out the negative self talk is equally important. I usually visualise a good shot, just before I shoot every arrow (if I have time). Standing tall, feeling strong, all these positive images can help.
I try not to think "right, i can do this" as that tends to be too abstract, it's more a feeling, and usually words like "line, power, control" are enough.

Sometimes I just need to stand on the line and say "smooooth" just before I shoot the shot, if I'm struggling.

I once stood on the line and told my coach "this is going to be a 10"... bang, smack in the middle. She said "yeah, lucky"... I said, no watch this - another 10..." bang, smack beside the first. She said ok, do it again then. I said, "ok, another 10..." bang, right beside the first two. I tried to continue it, but by then my conscious started to kick in and I blew it... sometimes an unwavering self belief is enough to get rid of the hesitation and just commmit to shooting an X.


Most importantly, even if you shoot a rubbish shot or end - make yourself come off the line smiling... you will find that this will negate many negative feelings straight off the bat.


If I have people coming off the line mumbling about their bad shots and telling me how they shot that miss... I tell them to go take their negative energies elsewhere

[robtattoo]

Just before I draw, I stand inline with the target looking straight ahead, close my eyes & take a deep breath whilst visualising the arrow flying straight to the X. I find it calms my mind & lets me take a more relaxed shot. Just before I loose I whisper 'Get on'

[elastoplastscavenger]

on shooting a good end i may do any or all of the following:
sweeeet
back of the net (with a little kick in an Allan Partridge kinda way)
ooohh yeh
aaaaeeyyyy (Fonz style)
that was alwight
nice (in a fast show way, i forget the character that did that)
baby
hot damn, i be good

when encouraging a newbie that has just shot a good end i usualy say something along the lines of "that was good, ur getting it. now do it every time!". i allways try to add the bit about "every time" or similar to try and encourage consistency between shots.

[wingate_52]

Positive thinking is very important. Find a mantra and say it to yourself as you prepare to let loose. Complement other archers on their success. 2 members of my club use reverse psychology on me and that works (maybe they really don't like me?)After shooting 11 golds and a 7 at 50 yards. I used to tell myself before each shot that "I am an 11 gold end archer". Not too successful. I now take satisfaction that I can do this and hope that the next score will be be a new PB. One day I will take some time out and tune my equipment.

[geoffretired]

I know a lot of beginners who look at positive thinking as some sort of nonesense. For them, a better technique is what they feel they need. There seems to be some logic in that, too.
When they practise, there is a good deal of uncertainty about their own technique, which in turn leads to disappointment. They seem to be practising disappointment;and they certainly get that at times.
Positive thinking, if it did nothing else, would break that cycle and allow them to get on with developing a better technique, rather than dwelling on the failings of their current one.
For better archers, it is important to feel good about the next shot. Dwelling on a previous error is bad news. I believe the value of positive thinking is underrated. It is difficult to think positive when the arrows are falling in the grass and not even making a group down there.Use of positive thinking needs to start earlier than is often the case.

[FlightyRachel]

Originally Posted by geoffretired

I know a lot of beginners who look at positive thinking as some sort of nonesense. For them, a better technique is what they feel they need. There seems to be some logic in that, too.
When they practise, there is a good deal of uncertainty about their own technique, which in turn leads to disappointment. They seem to be practising disappointment;and they certainly get that at times.
Positive thinking, if it did nothing else, would break that cycle and allow them to get on with developing a better technique, rather than dwelling on the failings of their current one.
For better archers, it is important to feel good about the next shot. Dwelling on a previous error is bad news. I believe the value of positive thinking is underrated. It is difficult to think positive when the arrows are falling in the grass and not even making a group down there.Use of positive thinking needs to start earlier than is often the case.

What an interesting topic. As a beginner, I have to say that I feel far too embarrassed to do any of the psyching up that I see people doing on the shooting line. That's not because I don't believe it works or think it's 'nonsense' but I just think how silly I'll look if I stand for ages in a zen trance then fire three arrows into the wrong target. Which probably proves I suffer from negative thinking... I have had evenings when everything seems to flow and you just know it's going to go right. How to bottle that feeling eh? (Better clafiry, I do mean evenings shooting!)

I did get trapped in a nightmare of negativity at a handicap shoot, and it was awful. I was utterly convinced that I would come last, and I did.

Rachel

[geoffretired]

I know what you mean about being embarrassed. The point I was making was more or less that in different words. The problem is I think, those who most need to get a routine established are the ones who have " too much to learn all at once". Beginners are on a very steep learning curve. Having said that, most beginners seem to shoot very quickly and are left waiting for the
others to finish. If the positive thinking was part of their early training it would fill in some of the waiting time and it would not have to lead to embarrassment. Think of it as a pause to collect your thoughts. No harm done then if you miss. What thoughts you had will never be discovered unless you tell. It can be totally internal too. You don't need to rehearse the whole shot sequence as do high jumpers for example. To begin with, simply going through a weak area perhaps; or telling yourself the next is going nearer the middle;talking to yourself in silence. Keeping out of the chicken and egg situation where one bad shot encourages another and then doom and gloom sets in.