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145. Believe You Belong: Beating Imposter Syndrome and Mastering Self-Talk
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Every athlete has felt it—the quiet voice that says “I don’t belong here.” In this episode of the Especially for Athletes podcast, we tackle imposter syndrome head-on and explore the power of self-talk in building unshakable confidence.
Shad shares personal stories, insights from athletes like Tanner Allen and Michael Jordan, and compelling neuroscience that proves what you say to yourself matters. Whether you’re stepping into a bigger role, moving to a new level, or simply trying to believe you’re good enough—this episode is for you.
💬 Highlight Moments:
- A college coach’s tough-love advice that shattered imposter syndrome.
- Neuroscience behind why self-talk rewires your brain and boosts performance.
- Quotes from Venus Williams, Nick Saban, and others on belief, confidence, and mindset.
If you’ve ever questioned whether you’re good enough to compete—this episode will remind you: You were invited for a reason. Now it’s your turn to believe it.
Especially for Athletes:
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Credits:
Hosted by Shad Martin
Produced by Shad Martin and IMAGINATE STUDIO
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Transcript
Introduction to Imposter Syndrome
00:00:01
Speaker
Welcome to the Especially for Athletes podcast, where we explore essential principles that empower athletes to learn life's most valuable lessons through sports.
00:00:16
Speaker
Hello, everybody. Welcome back to the Especially for Athletes podcast. I'm Shad Martin. And today's episode is one that we've been wanting to do for a long time. It's about a quiet killer of potential in sports and in life. It's called imposter syndrome. Have you ever heard of that before? It's that sneaky voice in your head that says, you don't belong here.
00:00:39
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Whether you're
The Power of Self-Belief in Sports and Life
00:00:40
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trying out for a team or just made a roster or stepping up to the next level of high school or going from high school to college, JV to varsity, or if it's a new role in your job, the belief that you have in yourself will shape your performance and the path ahead.
00:00:58
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And today, I just want to challenge you to ask yourself the question, What do you believe about yourself? And what do you say to yourself? If we were to see a transcript of the words that you speak to yourself throughout a day, throughout a class, a test, or a game, a competition, what would that be like?
Advice from Tanner Allen to New Athletes
00:01:18
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So I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and I came across this Instagram post from Tanner Allen. And Tanner Allen is a former Mississippi State baseball player, and he was addressing college baseball players who are going from high school to college and are just about to enter their first fall.
00:01:38
Speaker
And he said this. I'm just going to read the transcript of it. You're about to go to your first meeting and you're going to quickly realize you're no longer the best player on the team anymore. Everybody there is faster, stronger, and more experienced than you.
00:01:53
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But here's one tip that helped me start every single game my freshman year. And here's his tip. It's going to be very easy to feel overwhelmed and like you don't belong.
00:02:04
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But remember this, that university gave you a scholarship because they believed in you. If they believed you're a great player, why don't you? If you don't believe in yourself, what makes you think your coach will? So that's powerful.
00:02:19
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It's actually
Personal Struggles with Imposter Syndrome
00:02:20
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personal to me as well because when I was a freshman in college, so I just went from a successful high school baseball career, got a scholarship, went to college, and we started to play some fall games. And I relate with what Tanner is saying here.
00:02:35
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I still remember the first team meeting I went to. I embarrassed myself. There was one of the players on my team. He had full beard. He had a mustache, beard. He was hair.
00:02:47
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huge, big, grown man. And I went up to him and I said, hi, coach, I'm Shad Martin. And he said, I'm not a coach, right? And so this was a senior on the team and I'm grateful for this player. He took me under his wing in many ways, gave me great advice.
00:03:02
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He was a pitcher on the team. But I remember sitting there thinking like, holy cow, that dude is not a coach. I'm playing with people like that now.
A Coach's Impactful Lesson on Self-Belief
00:03:11
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So fast forward a couple of weeks from that team meeting, we're playing some fall ball games, and I had a horrible game.
00:03:19
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In high school, you know, I wasn't great at everything, but one thing I was always pretty good at was making contact. I rarely struck out. In college, I started my freshman year. I batted second, and for any of you who know baseball, second hitters are often defensively contact, especially back then, hit and run type guys.
00:03:39
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That's what I did. That was my specialty. That's why I got recruited in college. So then I'm playing in this fall ball game and I struck out three times.
00:03:49
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It was kind of fluky. You know, I don't know if I had ever had a hat trick before in my whole entire baseball career up to that point, but there were a few, you know, one was maybe a questionable call. One, I foul tipped the ball into the catcher's mitt. The other, I just got completely fooled on it.
00:04:07
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And these were pitchers that were now throwing 90 plus that their curve balls would just break, fall off the table. And I had never struck out three times. In fact, I never did again, but this night,
00:04:18
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I struck out three times and I went home to my apartment and it wasn't like imposter syndrome. It was, oh my gosh, I don't belong here. My coach probably regrets giving me a scholarship to play baseball.
00:04:32
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So the next day, We're playing another fall ball game and there's the hitting cage right over there that we push up over home plate. And and I had taken my swings and I went out and I was rotating back around to take my turn. And my coach was there.
00:04:47
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He was leaning against the batting cage, watching us all take our cuts. And I thought, this is my moment. Like this guy's in the college coaches hall of fame. He's like 70 years old. He's been around baseball his whole life. He played baseball at Stanford collegiately. Like this guy is awesome.
00:05:04
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And I'm going to ask him advice. And so I said, Hey coach. And he said, yeah. And I said, what am I doing wrong? And my coach looked at me, like looked me in the eyes. And he said, shut up.
00:05:16
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Just like that. And then just pause. He let it hang there in the air. And he looked at me again. And I didn't respond. I was kind of shocked by it. And he said it again. Shut up. And I said, sorry, coach.
00:05:27
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In the back of my mind, I'm thinking, what the heck does this guy get paid for? I just asked him for advice and he's told me to shut up, you know. He looked at me a third time and he said, shut up. And then he added, do you think I'm stupid?
00:05:41
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Now I had no clue what my coach was talking about. I had no clue what to do. I felt so awkward. I could see some of the seniors and juniors around me kind of laughing and walking in a different direction.
00:05:53
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i felt so stupid. And then my coach looked at me and he said this, do you think I'm stupid enough to give a scholarship to a kid who couldn't hit a baseball?
00:06:05
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And I said, I hope not. And he said, baseball's hard. You're going to fail. If you can't deal with it, then maybe you should quit. But you're going to win more than you should.
00:06:16
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And then he just walked away. That was one of the greatest gifts that a coach had ever given me to that point in my life. It's like he said, look, you're going to fail sometimes, and that's okay, but you're good enough to be here. I'm not stupid.
00:06:30
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Sometimes we get that imposter syndrome where we feel like we don't deserve a position or we don't deserve a spot on the team or a scholarship or whatever.
The Dangers of Negative Self-Talk
00:06:40
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Those of us who are old know that young people, young adults even, are going to fail sometimes.
00:06:46
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Coaches don't expect perfection. But what often happens is players think they do. And so they start to negatively impact themselves by...
00:06:57
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by pouting, by getting angry. It's like they want to show with their emotions to the coach. Like, look, this is not me. I just struck out. So I'm going to throw a freak out. I'm going to do all these things to show you that I'm normally not this bad. and it actually makes players look worse.
00:07:16
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And then sometimes they'll even go to things like, start as, man, I'm so bad, I'm so bad. And they're telling themselves in front of other people, I'm so bad, why am I sucking so bad? And that negative self-talk is actually super harmful to athletes.
00:07:32
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So here's the thing. about self-belief.
Neuroscience Behind Self-Talk and Belief
00:07:36
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It starts with self-talk. Neuroscience backs this up. According to Mohammed bin Zakhari, and I probably said that name right, and I have no clue who he is, but he has doctor in front of his name, he said this, the brain is literally a supercomputer that's going to follow the directions you program it with.
00:07:56
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What you repeatedly say to yourself matters. This isn't science fiction. It's science fact. This is neuroplasticity. More specifically, Hebb's Law. Neurons that fire together wire together.
00:08:13
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Your self-talk shapes your brain. which shapes your beliefs, which shapes your behavior, which creates your thoughts, feelings, and experiences, and ultimately your reality.
Practicing Positive Self-Talk
00:08:28
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So here's my question to you athletes and to coaches, parents who are working with athletes. What are you saying to yourself? Do you tell yourself that you're good enough?
00:08:40
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That you've earned the right to be there? That you're ready? The Mayo Clinic defines self-talk as the endless stream of unspoken thoughts that run through your head that could be positive or negative. Furthermore, if your thoughts are mostly positive, you're likely an optimist. Someone who practices positive thinking.
00:09:03
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So do you do that? The stream of thoughts that go through your head as you're playing, practicing, and preparing, are they positive? Are they uplifting? Are they contributing to you believing in yourself and having confidence? Or are they feeding yourself doubt?
00:09:21
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Are they telling you that you're an imposter? So here's what some elite athletes have to say about it. Michael Jordan said this, you have to expect things of yourself before you can do them.
00:09:33
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Venus
Insights from Sports Icons on Self-Belief
00:09:34
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Williams said this, just believe in yourself. Even if you don't, pretend that you do and eventually you will. And Nick Saban said, the way you think is the way you feel. The way you feel is the way you act.
00:09:50
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The way you act is who you become. So one of the things that you can do to work out this summer, to prepare for the fall sports that are coming, those of you who are transitioning to college or from junior high to high school or from JV to varsity or whatever it might be,
00:10:08
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You can concentrate on the way you are thinking about yourself, what you're saying to yourself, that endless stream of thoughts that are going through your head. If you can be intentional about that and start speaking belief into your mind, then that belief, to go back to what that doctor said, your self-talk will shape your brain, shapes your belief, which drives your behavior, which creates your thoughts,
00:10:38
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feelings and experiences and ultimately your reality. And so what are you saying to yourself? Can you be more intentional about your self-talk so that you can have self-belief so that you do not feel like you are an imposter?
00:10:57
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Now, obviously,
Building Self-Belief through Hard Work and Encouragement
00:10:58
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all of this does not happen just from self-talk. Believing in yourself doesn't mean you're never going to fail. It means you keep showing up anyway. Now, you earn self-belief and you'll earn more positive self-talk as you do the work. Early mornings when no one is watching.
00:11:17
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Staying late to fix that one swing, that one drill, that one move. Asking for feedback from someone who sees your blind spots or who has accomplished what you're trying to accomplish or has a strength where you have a weakness.
00:11:30
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Talking to yourself like someone who deserves success is not enough. You you actually need to earn that with your work. But if you have made goals, kept those goals, put in the work, and you're concentrating on that positive self-talk,
00:11:46
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you're going to accomplish a lot more. So in conclusion, if you're trying out for a team, stepping into something new, remember this, you belong. You were invited for a reason.
00:11:57
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Your coach, your team, they believe in you. They gave you a position on the team. Now it's your turn to believe in yourself. Because as Tanner Allen said, if you don't believe in yourself, why would your coach? reprogram your brain or make it even more positive. Speak positively to yourself. When you find yourself speaking negatively, push out those thoughts, replace them with positive thoughts, but earn those positive thoughts through working so that you believe you've actually put in the work.
00:12:28
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Compete with confidence, keep your eyes up and do the work. Thank you for joining the Especially for Athletes podcast. Have a great week. Have a great summer. Put in the work.
00:12:39
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Thank you for joining the Especially for Athletes podcast. To learn more about Especially for Athletes organization, get a copy of our book, The Sport Light, or to bring our program to your team, school, business, or organization, visit us at especiallyforathletes.org.