That’s what a Reset Button is. A physical action, or cue, used to bring your awareness to the present, and oftentimes, help you get over a mistake you’ve made. Let’s dig a bit deeper.
Why is having a Reset Button beneficial? Take our hypothetical pitcher, Mike, for instance. Mike is a solid starter, but like us all, sometimes gets in his head a bit. Against his team’s biggest rival, he walks the first two batters! His last four pitches were so far out of the zone that he couldn’t even try to blame the ump’s eyesight. If we could take a peek in his mind, we would see a snowball effect of negative self-talk. It didn’t take long for a reliever to come take his place. When asked after the game about his mental performance, Mike shrugged and said he thought it probably wasn’t great, but he couldn’t remember any specific bad thoughts.
What if Mike could go back in time to right after the second walk? Except this time, he is armed with the knowledge you are gaining at this very moment. Mike not only possesses a Reset Button, but also understands how to implement it and exactly how it works. Instead of drowning in negative thoughts like, please don’t throw another ball, Mike takes a moment to step off the rubber. He stares at the ground and slowly shakes his head, imagining all of his negative thoughts shaking out onto the ground. The past is behind him and now he is going to control what type of thoughts fill the void he just created. This is going right down the pipe.
It should be noted that simply using your Reset Button to rid yourself of any negative thoughts you have is only HALF of the solution. You now need to actively replace them with positive thoughts. It is extremely helpful to take a moment before you’re in a game to brainstorm positive self-talk that fits different situations you may find yourself in on the field. If you need to Reset in the box, great you have a couple positive thoughts ready to go. Same with in the field. Preparation beforehand will boost your confidence to use your Reset Button in the game.