You may have heard the phrase, “If you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.” This statement gives us insight into the power of our thoughts to determine our direction in life.

As a coach, I’ve learned to help my athletes pay attention to the conversation they have in their heads so they can begin to change the chatter and ultimately their performance. They discovered if they missed a shot or made a mistake, they’d often reinforce it with thoughts and words like “I can’t make a shot” or even “I’m having a horrible game!” Invariably, one mistake would lead to many and their performance would end up exactly where they thought it would.

The Bible tells us that if we can control the conversation in our head, we can experience a different result. God gives us a simple 3-step process to control the conversation and gain victory:

1. CAPTURE – As we start to pay attention to our “self-talk”, it becomes easier to take captive all the negative, pessimistic, untrue, or defeated thoughts so they don’t do any more damage.
2. CRUSH – Once we capture them, we need to crush them. The easiest way is to simply say “that’s not true, that’s trash.” Anything that condemns you is simply a lie.
3. CREATE – After we’ve captured and crushed negative thoughts, we need to create godly “go-to” affirmations. We do this by using God’s truth about us from his word. Go-to statements like “I’m strong and courageous” or “I’m more than a conqueror in Christ” or even “I turn obstacles into opportunities” help to create a positive and optimistic outlook for the next play.

So, let’s Control the conversation. Philippians 4:8 gives us a great place to start!