The Loudest Voice in the Stadium: Cam Newton on Self‑Talk

0:01Dr. Michael Gervais:The Super Bowl becomes everything. There is so much noise. You have three hours to tell everybody what you know about this game. The game is everywhere.

0:24Dr. Michael Gervais:Welcome to The Game Inside the Games. I'm Dr. Michael Gervais. by trade and training a high-performance psychologist. In Seattle, the 12th man is the crowd. It's the noise, the energy, the intensity that roars from the seats. But in the Super Bowl, there's another force at work, another voice that can be louder than the crowd. It's not in the stands. It lives inside the athlete. It is what you say to yourself when everything is on the line, self-talk. One screams from the stadium, and the other is this little whisper inside your head. So in this episode, Brandon Marshall and I, we explore why self-talk can decide football's biggest moment and why the athletes who master it are the ones who rise when the lights are brightest.

1:08Dr. Michael Gervais:Okay, self-talk. When you hear self-talk, you're one of the premier athletes in the league for 13 seasons. When you hear the idea of self-talk, where do you naturally go? You know what? I think that's one of the most powerful things that we can lean into from a performance standpoint. When I say performance, I'm not just talking about sports. I'm talking about life. But you can go deeper. The most important part of it is the actual feeling of it. Yeah. OK. To me, that changes the game when you're sitting there and I'm talking to myself and I'm like, it's I'm going to be in this moment. It's going to be the fourth quarter.

1:47Game is on the line. Brandon Marshall catch the ball. Do you speak? Brandon Marshall scores. Absolutely. I'm talking like that. But but you speak to yourself in third person. Well, it's not me. It's the announcer.

1:59Dr. Michael Gervais:That's OK. That's great. Let's open that up because the research is really clear that if you're going to talk to yourself to back yourself, to build yourself, to to really find that credibility, that the research is that we we are better served when we talk to ourselves in third person. Yeah, and let me, because I was about to go to like level four or five of this mastery thing, right? First thing of self-talk is that, right? Kyrie Irving last year, he tears his ACL at the free throw line, finishing it off. He's sitting there talking to himself, and you can read his lips. Cristiano Ronaldo is about to do a PK, and you see him says, you're the greatest player in the entire world.

2:41That's self-talk, right? That is so important.

2:43Dr. Michael Gervais:He's like totally locked in and you see everything where he's building and backing himself about being great in this moment. That's right. Words of affirmation. I'm this. I'm that. Like you have to speak life over yourself. It's that powerful. And then you go into where I was just at. Maybe that's level one B or maybe it's level two. And I'm in the moment. I'm in the moment. And it's not just me talking to myself. I hear the crowd. I hear the coach. I hear my quarterback. Right. I hear it all. They're talking to me. I'm talking to them. Right. And then the next level to that is the feeling of that.

3:14Like I can I can I can I can feel, you know, the hairs on my neck standing up. I can feel the breeze go by. I feel the pig skin when the ball jumps into my gloves. Right. I feel that I feel, you know, the feeling of scoring that touchdown in that moment, overcoming that high pressure situation. And to me, that is like the final part of this whole thing is the feeling of it. Do you actually feel it?

3:43Dr. Michael Gervais:What you're saying? Do you feel it? So that what you're pointing to is exactly where we want to help people get to is that idea. So when you say something to yourself, if it's not real, if it's not credible, if it's not honest, if you haven't earned the right to say it, you start to get like kind of light with it. That's right. But when you know that you've earned the right to say, I'm a finisher, I'm a whatever, fill in the blanks that worked for you. That's right. Then you start to have that vibe and then everything starts to quiet down so you can put all your attention at the task at hand. Who taught you how to speak to yourself?

4:17Dr. Michael Gervais:Wow.

4:21I think the sports taught me that. Right. There was an introduction to that, just being in sports, a coach here, a player, watching someone in the locker room, watching someone on your team. So it was informal. Then it got formal when I got to the league and I was introduced to a sports psychologist. But the first person that introduced me to his name was Eric. And I was in fourth grade. He was in fifth grade. We shared a back row together for the Lake Howe Eagles in Orlando, Florida. and uh eric came to practice one day he said i'm gonna be a florida gator like what do you what's that what's the gator it's like uf i'm gonna be a florida gator and he that's all he was talking about the gators the gator gators he talked about it so much that i fell in love with the gators and i wanted to be a gator that became my dream how about that that was the first time i ever heard an athlete talk about you know something like that the contagion

5:22Dr. Michael Gervais:of self-talk the contagion of your goals and and and listen his self-talk was so powerful that it turned into my dream and that dream became almost a reality where i wasn't highly recruited my senior year i only had three or four offers one of them was the florida gators and we're talking about a Big gap. There was UConn, wasn't a power five, like a mid-major in football. UCF, Pitt, who offered me at another position, and then there was UF. And so I'm sitting there, Coach Ron Zook, he just took over for Coach Steve Sperrier. I'm sitting there in Gainesville, Florida, on my visit. Sunday is when you sit down with the coach and you talk about what's next.

6:11You make your commitment or they give you the offer if they haven't already. So I'm sitting there. My father's to my right. Coach Zook is right here to my left. And he says, Brandon, we want to offer you, but we want you to play safety. And I said, man, Coach, this is my dream to be a Gator. You know that. Everybody here knows I want to be a Gator. I had these dreams. I was in fourth grade, Eric. And I said, Coach, if you just give me through camp, which was four weeks at the time, I said, if you give me through camp to prove to you I can play wide receiver, that I'll come. I'll commit. And if I don't, you can put me anywhere on the field.

6:48Oh, we got Cam.

6:49Dr. Michael Gervais:Oh, look at this. We got Cam Newton. How about it? Yes, sir. Great to meet you. I wasn't expecting this that quick. Thank you, bro. Thank you. Who set this up? You set it up for me? All right, cool. It's going to be tight here. Good. All right, you good? Yeah. All right. How long do we have? Five minutes? It's perfect. I give you six. All right, six minutes. My God. All right, so read the intro really quickly again, Cam. You'll listen to this. It's about the mind mastery. And then, well, boom, we're here. Take off. Cam, you got it. Cam, I'll speak to you the intro. That's the sense you have to buy.

7:29You just got to buy it. And we got to be quick here. Six minutes. In Seattle, it's both bad as the crowd, the noise, the energy. In the Super Bowl, there's another force at work, another voice that can be louder than the crowd. It's out in the stands. It's at the athlete. What you say to yourself and everything's on the line. self-talk one screams in the stadium the other whispers inside your head so so we have cam newton here uh mvp yeah thank you is it 2015 yeah 2015 mvp you know participated was it super bowl 50. hey i'm going off the dome right now super bowl 50. we got to me uh cam newton is probably top five all-time self-talkers how about it and he's never changed I saw a clip online the other day on Instagram, him at JUCO, and he had his team around him.

8:18The way he wore his pants, how he had his sleeve on, and how he was communicating to his team was the same way then than it was when he was with the Carolina Panthers. So right now, like Mike said, we're talking about self-talk. What does self-talk, when you hear that word self-talk, what comes to mind? If you don't believe in you, who do you expect to? I think we live in a world where they say be humble, but humble don't pay the bills. They say play fair, but sometimes you got to go outside of that. They say be nice, but sometimes you just got to be flat out nasty. I think the great ones are able to streamline that in a way to form into a person that the opportunity dictates them to be.

9:13You know, Coach Belichick would always have these one-liners. And the thing that I would take away that I still apply to business that he used in the commodity of football, He said, you win the game how the game needs to be won. And such a simple phrase, but in life, it's like you win the opportunity how it needs to be won. If it's with mental advantages, then you got to get in your mental bag. If it's physical advantages, then you have to get in your physical bag. I think now as athletes, we have always had a knack to block out, but also be infested by emotions. And that's where it's not to say that Tom Brady never had negative thoughts.

10:08It's not to say Brandon Marshall didn't have negative thoughts. It's not to say that Cam Newton, Patrick Mahomes, Drake May or Sam Darnold doesn't have negative thoughts. It's the ability to understand those negative thoughts and in spite of still perform at a high level.

10:27Dr. Michael Gervais:When you are in that more negative state, when there's a little doubt, a little self-critique, a little worry, maybe you're just feeling unsettled. What does that sound like for you? Part one of the question and part two is how do you navigate through it? man i ain't gonna lie to you it just depends on the day yeah because i um i just got into i'm one of the pickleballers so to speak play a lot of pickleball yeah and i wouldn't say for the first time in a long time but yes for the first time in a long time there's a game that you cannot rage your way to success like football it's like okay boom i don't catch the ball i do any and everything to catch the ball move you run past you juke you do whatever well in tennis or racket sports specifically like pickleball you reaching back just to to kill the ball won't be ideal for performance.

11:33It's just a hard ball that's now going to be out, out of bounds. I think that's a real skill for life because there's times where rage is needed and then there's times where rage needs to be controlled. So we live in a life where a controlled rage will best suit the individual rather than being so emotionally attached to everything. Why would he say that? Why wouldn't he introduce me like Brandon introduced me? Like, what is this? I don't even. But being able to process certain things and really be. They got a word or slogan that says emotionally intelligent to the situation. And it's easy to be to say that.

12:19But to actually execute that when he's furious, I'm furious. You said something I don't like. You're disrespecting my children. you're disrespecting my platform those are the times where you're not going to hey hey hey hey hey this is a test because it's all a test so so so uh i want to answer that question too and then i'm gonna throw it back to another tough situation um for me when you're surrounded by negativity and you're surrounded by the tough times that's when your self-talk need to be at its all-time high that's when i'm telling myself i'm great that's what i'm telling myself i you know i'm love them all of those things those affirmations you got to talk more to yourself like cam said if you don't love you then they're not going to love you yeah for sure so cam going back to self talk super bowl right you have a huge moment in the super bowl obviously everybody talked about it and i don't care to get into why you didn't jump on the ball etc how did you talk yourself back into superman what did that look like after you know honestly in that moment i don't even think that it was a moment.

13:26I was just reacting and hesitating. So it didn't actually pick up steam crazy enough until after I got done playing, to be honest with you. I think so many people have their own personal opinion about camp. It's like, what can we find about, ah, that's it right there. That gets under the skin. And it doesn't. It's just having the ability during that game to say, I'm tired, I'm overwhelmed, and for the first time, I can admit that. And after that game, so much frustration because at that moment, people forget it's like, well, for the biggest moment of your career, it's like I won a national championship.

14:13I won a high school, like Juco. I won championships everywhere I've been outside of, you know, in the NFL. and it's like people who won Super Bowls probably didn't win national championships. So if you start to compare those type of games, or let's just say let's put things into perspective. I said that that was the biggest game of my life. That was the biggest game of my life because it was the next opportunity. That's so good. So when you start to process certain things, you have to really be bullish and honest with the whole entity, as it's said.

14:48Dr. Michael Gervais:What do you guys want kids to know or parents to know about how to help the next generation be really great with the way they speak to themselves? Like, what do you want them to know? Because you've lived on the biggest stages. You've made mistakes on the biggest stages. You've been dominant on the biggest stages. And the way you speak to yourself holds a lot of weight to that. I would say it may sound counterintuitive, but do not avoid conflict. If I'm a parent and I have a child, I'm not allowing them to take the easy way. Always have a teachable moment. You're talking to an individual that has children that's in athletics, and I don't go to certain practices or I don't go to certain games, not because I'm not available.

15:34It's because I don't want them to know what favoritism looks like at this age. They feel entitled. Like, well, I'm not playing. You know who my – no, hell no. It's one of those things like you're not playing, you're not playing because you haven't prepared to play. And a lot of parents try to avoid conflict for their children, and you look up, they're 8. You look up, they're 12. You look up, they're 14. You look up, they're 18. You look up, they're an adult expecting that same type of praise. Well, I am who I am because my father had this quote that, whether it was Ebonics or not, figure it out.

16:10And that was one word, figure it out. Don't ask me to spell it. I just knew what if it figured out, right? And when you take children through that phase of figure it out, they start to say, okay, I dropped the ball, but why? Let's talk about it. Man, I always have my children who plays receivers, boom. Every time you catch it, touch your nose on it so you can ensure that you're really focusing in on the ball. Now when we watch the film back and I see this, I can hold you accountable. That. I can hold you accountable. So to those parents that has children, allow them to go through conflict and have the opportunity to teach them or have a lesson with them.

16:55So we're out here, Super Bowl 60, Radio Row. Ten years ago, Cam Newton took over the NFL and he found himself in Super Bowl 50. Last question for you here ten years later. How do you master yourself? So the show Finding Mastery. Yeah. How can you teach us how to master ourselves? It's simple, but yet complex. You master yourself with knowing that you are not completed. So it's a constant, right? I'm down on myself now, but I also have to give myself grace knowing that, bro, I've been going 27 days of just 5 a.m. just commitments to myself. I broke it today because it's like, yo, I'm traveling, sleep soft, cool.

17:46But understanding what I want for myself is a constant. What I wanted for myself 10 years ago looks nothing like what I want for myself today. And if I stay 10 years where it's like, yo, all I want to complete my shrine is a Super Bowl trophy, then now, bro, I'm still holding on to that same type of thought process and feeling. Mastery comes with knowing that every single day is a new way to evolve to the better version of what yesterday was. You never know who's going to jump on the pod. And for us to start with Cam Newton is special. I mean, this guy 10 years ago was literally in Super Bowl 50.

18:28Dr. Michael Gervais:Yeah, that's right. One of the biggest Super Bowls. It was a huge celebration. Whoa, whoa, 48. What about 48? This is a guy that was just here 10 years ago in Super Bowl 50. And you're on this high. I think they lost one game that year. He's the MVP. He's in one of the biggest moments in the games, history. And now people are talking about you didn't get it done. They're taking it down to a single play. You didn't jump on that plate. So the conversation around self-talk, I wish we would have spent a little bit more time there of like, when I say, how did you get back to Superman? When I say spend a little bit more time, that moment of like when you're sitting in your hotel, and you're by yourself tears in your eyes and you have to muster up some energy to say, let's go work out tomorrow.

19:19Get back up. You're still Superman. You look at the MVP trophy. Those are tough moments. And see, athletes have to deal with that where there's 70 ,000 people to watch that live. And then there was 100 million people to watch it worldwide.

19:37Dr. Michael Gervais:That's a different type of pressure. I think that most people never really understand what they're capable of because they're terrified to make mistakes publicly. And because when you make public mistakes, you have to sort that out. Yeah. And if you make this mistake privately or you never really go for it, you stay safe in this little bubble and your self-talk never gets really tried. That's right. And so you've made plenty of mistakes publicly, you know? And so can you just walk through? I've got two questions. One, walk through a mistake that you made and how you navigated through it. Like, concretely.

20:14Dr. Michael Gervais:Bring me into that. Public. It could be anything, but public so that I can remember it with you. Man, so I'll give you a ball one and I may give you a business one. So in ball, just dropping a ball. 70 ,000 people. But you got to understand that feeling. There's 70 ,000 people surrounding you, screaming, cheering. Do you have one in Seattle when we were there together? oh wow that was tough uh that was a moment seattle was a moment it was the end of my career is 2018 and uh because there was a narrative probably in your mind do i have it do i not that's exactly right that's a powerful one i was going there i dropped the ball in seattle and i dropped two balls actually and uh i couldn't find my way back and i was telling myself i was great but On the other side, it was, are you done?

21:08Are you going to get another shot? So every day I was coming to work and I was fighting that battle.

21:13Dr. Michael Gervais:That's right. And I could never overcome it. It got to a point where Coach Carroll was like, we got to let this guy go. And that was the end of my career. But I was fighting every single day. Like, how did you fight with it? How did you work with it? It's self-talk. Yeah, but how, like, obviously you're aware. You would say something to yourself like, man, maybe I'm done. Maybe I'm a step off. Maybe they're right. I didn't believe it. I didn't believe it because it's a fight. But I already knew that. At that point in my career, I already knew that there's moments like this. When I saw, when I was at my high at the Chicago Bears and just crushing my best season ever, I get on the bus, team bus, and Devin Hester was in a rut.

21:53And I saw the great Devin Hester watching old high school and college highlights.

21:58Dr. Michael Gervais:Yeah. And I was blown away by that. I was like, why is Devin Hester? The Devin Hester. He had to do that to try to get back through it. And I said, oh, you always have to fight for your confidence. So now fast forward, four years later, I'm at the end of my career, and I'm probably at one of the toughest moments, and I find myself looking at my old highlights. I'm looking at all the great practice clips from practice that year. I'm like, no, I still got it. And I'm also, no, you're great. You can do it. But you're fighting those negative thoughts. So this is for every person listening right now, what he's explaining is that when you're really clear about what you've done in the past, it's been extraordinary.

22:39Dr. Michael Gervais:And you've used your imagination to see yourself being great in, in sport. We have the luxury of looking at tape, right? But the rest of us, we don't have that luxury. So we have to use our imagination and we have to go back and index all the times that we felt a certain way that we had that way about us that we want to recapture. So imagination, so good a vision of who you want to be with the imagination of what you've done and how you felt and then the self-talk is a way to stitch it like that's right that's exactly right that's right let me just go be me now that's right let me go get after it again let me work with my emotions and be more curious about how the other person's experiencing their life too that's right that's right that's right that's self-talk that's right that's self-talk and then it goes into action what are you doing you know you're going to get some extra catches on the jugs like what are you going to do you're going to meditate calm your mind a little bit then when you get that first touch you know you you embrace that a little bit more because you need those reps so even you know talking to people who they don't have the luxury of film and so they have to use their imagination and so now you're imagining that thing and let's say that thing is i want to be here in six months or maybe you don't get there in six months but in three months right you have a little taste of it You have to really embrace that.

24:00Those moments are critical. Celebrating those small wins are critical because that's what gives you the confidence for the big thing.

24:08Dr. Michael Gervais:And that's also what self-talk gives you the confidence and self-talk also can pull you down. Oh, my goodness. Is it the most powerful tool? I feel like it might be the most powerful thing because it starts. It's here. you know i think it's it's like a um you know football we call bang bang yeah like something happens real fast like boom boom and i think it's awareness awareness of how you're speaking to yourself and then being happy and having the tool to be able to guide it to work with it it's those two things that happen together and then the combination of those gives you the emotion the feeling of like the requisite feeling the required feeling of how you want to be so So I think it might be one of the great tools that is maybe untapped, but it claims you.