Anchoring Statement

Here is a challenge for you – try right now to think of two thoughts at the same time.

Can’t do it? Try again, this time a little bit harder.

Still can’t, well that makes sense because it’s basically impossible.

No matter how hard we try, we can’t keep more than one thought in our heads at a time. As soon as you try to think of two thoughts, you just switch between them, only holding one of them in your head at a time.

We can use this aspect of how our minds work to our advantage with the use of an anchoring statement. Here’s how….

When we have an important test, presentation, game or event coming up, it can cause us a lot of stress and anxiety. In these situations, many of us have brains that are programed to go straight to negative thoughts. We will spend the days, hours and minutes leading up to the event thinking things like:

  • I am going to do terrible.

  • I’m so unprepared.

  • If I don’t do well I’m going to lose my starting position, not get into the college I want, etc.

If these are the thoughts running through your head, do you think you are going to perform at your best? Probably not.

So how do we overcome this tendency of our brains to go negative? Through the use of an anchoring statement.

An anchoring statement is simply a phrase that we have chosen beforehand, that is either positive or neutral, that you can repeat in your head whenever you notice those negative and unproductive thoughts creeping in. Some examples include:

  • I am prepared, I’m going to do well.

  • I practiced hard and will focus on one thing at a time.

  • I’m ready and going to rock this!

A word of caution with your anchoring statement though. Ones like the following will likely not be effective.

  • I’m going to get a 50 on my ACT

  • I’m going to go Pro next week.

Why are these statements not effective? Because they are likely to be completely unattainable or even impossible. And when you have a thought like this in your head your brain is not going to buy into it, causing this whole strategy to potentially backfire on you.

So, there are two key steps to the use of the anchoring statement strategy:

  1. Notice the negative thought

  2. Replace it with a neutral or positive (but realistic) anchoring statement

The use of this strategy will help you to keep a positive frame of mind leading up to your next test, presentation or event; thereby improving the likelihood of you performing at your best.

Tom Klisiewicz