Understanding How Your Mind Influences Your Performance
Every athlete trains their body.
Very few truly understand how their own mind works.
For years, I noticed something that didn’t quite fit with traditional coaching.
Two athletes could receive exactly the same advice.
One would improve almost immediately.
The other would struggle to apply it, despite working just as hard.
It wasn’t because they lacked motivation.
It wasn’t because they lacked ability.
It was because they experienced their own minds differently.
Some athletes constantly talk to themselves.
Some think almost entirely in pictures.
Some rely on feelings and instinct.
Some have little or no inner voice.
Some cannot visualise at all.
Yet most coaching assumes that everybody thinks in the same way.
They don’t.
Understanding those differences became the foundation of Inner Voice Awareness™.
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What Is Inner Voice Awareness™?
Inner Voice Awareness™ is my coaching framework for helping athletes understand how they naturally process information.
Rather than trying to make every athlete think the same way, the framework begins by recognising that different minds work differently.
Some athletes naturally motivate themselves through internal dialogue.
Others rely more on sensations, emotions or instinct.
Some visualise vividly.
Others have aphantasia and never create mental images at all.
Some experience an almost constant internal conversation.
Others experience very little inner speech.
None of these ways of thinking are right or wrong.
They’re simply different.
The more accurately athletes understand how their own minds work, the easier it becomes to build confidence, improve focus and perform consistently.
Why I Developed Inner Voice Awareness™
After years of working with clients from many different backgrounds, I began noticing patterns that weren’t often discussed.
Traditional coaching frequently teaches techniques without first understanding how the individual athlete experiences their own thinking, self-talk and through their individual mind.
The result is that some methods work brilliantly for one athlete but make very little sense to another.
Rather than forcing athletes into one model of thinking, I wanted to create a framework that begins with awareness.
Because awareness comes before change.
Once athletes understand how they naturally process information, coaching becomes more personalised, more effective and often much simpler.
Every Athlete Has an Inner Experience
Although every athlete is unique, many recognise themselves somewhere within these patterns:
- Athletes with constant internal dialogue.
- Athletes who naturally visualise.
- Athletes who think primarily through feelings.
- Athletes with aphantasia.
- Athletes with little or no internal speech (anendophasia).
- Athletes who move naturally into instinctive performance.
Understanding where you naturally sit is often the first step towards improving performance.
Why This Matters in Sport
Sport places enormous demands on attention.
Under pressure, athletes often become caught in unhelpful thinking patterns.
Some overanalyse.
Some become distracted.
Some lose confidence.
Some become overwhelmed by internal criticism.
Others become disconnected from what they actually need to focus on.
Inner Voice Awareness™ helps athletes recognise these patterns without judgement.
Only then can they begin changing them.
The Goal Isn’t to Think More
Many athletes assume they need better thinking.
Often they need less unnecessary thinking.
Elite performance rarely comes from analysing every movement.
It comes from trusting preparation while directing attention towards what matters most.
Understanding your own mind allows you to know when to think…
…and when to simply perform.
The Connection to Flow State Activation™
Inner Voice Awareness™ is the foundation.
Flow State Activation™ is the application.
Once athletes understand how their minds naturally operate, they become far better equipped to develop the conditions that allow flow to occur.
The two frameworks are designed to work together.
One creates awareness.
The other develops performance.
Coach’s Insight
One of the biggest mistakes in modern coaching is assuming every athlete should use the same mental techniques.
Some athletes thrive using visualisation.
Others never create mental pictures.
Some benefit from positive self-talk.
Others perform best when their minds become almost silent. Mindfulness will help with this.
The objective isn’t to think like someone else.
It’s to understand how you think.
That is where consistent performance begins.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Inner Voice Awareness™?
Inner Voice Awareness™ is Matthew Exell’s original coaching framework that helps athletes understand how they naturally process thoughts, emotions, imagery and attention to improve performance.
Is Inner Voice Awareness™ based on sports psychology?
It draws upon ideas from sports psychology, NLP, cognitive coaching and years of practical experience while introducing an original framework centred on individual differences in mental processing.
Does everyone have the same inner voice?
No. People experience their internal world in different ways. Some have vivid internal dialogue, some visualise easily, some rely more on feelings, while others experience little or no inner speech.
Can Inner Voice Awareness™ help confidence?
Understanding how your own mind works can reduce confusion, improve self-awareness and make confidence-building techniques more relevant to the individual athlete.
Is this only for elite athletes?
No. The framework can benefit athletes at every level, from beginners through to professionals, because every athlete has an individual way of processing information.
How does this relate to Flow State Activation™?
Inner Voice Awareness™ helps athletes understand their own mental processes. Flow State Activation™ builds on that understanding to help create the conditions for consistent high-level performance. Some NLP along with positive psychology will help here.
Ready to Understand Your Own Mind?
Your greatest performance advantage may not come from training harder.
It may come from understanding yourself better.
Inner Voice Awareness™ is designed to help athletes recognise how they naturally think, focus and perform so that coaching becomes individual, practical and genuinely effective.
Call +44 07807 540142 or email me