DO YOU ENGAGE IN STINKING THINKING?

Pickleball England 3 hours ago 8 views

A new book is available on Amazon just in time for Christmas and it is the perfect gift for that special someone in your life that wants to improve their pickleball game, particularly when playing in a competitive environment. The authors are Professor Graham Jones and his wife Dr Tara Jones, Bronze medallist at the 2025 English Nationals in Women’s Doubles Senior Open event. They have kindly provided our latest guest blog on how to tackle Stinking Thinking.

HERE’S HOW YOU CAN TACKLE IT

What you think and say to yourself when you’re playing pickleball plays a huge role in your self-belief and confidence. A common theme across the pickleball players who have approached us to help them with their mental game is what we call ‘stinking thinking’, characterised by negative thoughts and self-talk that are often irrational and debilitating. Stinking thinking can be difficult to overcome since your thoughts and ‘self-talk’ are often so automatic. Consequently, making yourself aware of any stinking thinking is crucial to being able to tackle it. There are at least two aspects of your psychological ‘make-up’ that drive stinking thinking; the ‘worrier’ and the ‘critic’.

Typical of thoughts and self-talk in the worrier include anticipating the worst, overestimating the odds of something bad happening and creating images of failure. This form of stinking thinking is often preceded by the words “what if…?” followed by a multitude of things that might go wrong such as “what if I make mistakes and let my partner down?” and “what if my nerves get the better of me?” Catastrophising is another form of stinking thinking never far from the worrier’s mind; for example, “we’re 6-0 down, this is a disaster!”

The inner critic points out flaws and limitations and jumps on any mistakes. Typical of the critic’s stinking thinking are “you stupid idiot” and “what on earth are you doing?” (or unrepeatable words to that effect!!). The critic’s stinking thinking is often preceded by “yes, but …” which is a classic example of discounting any positives; for example, “yes, we won but our opponents were awful” and “yes, we won but it was all down to my partner.” The critic in you will also look for confirmation of your flaws from others. This is often in the form of mind reading, that aspect of stinking thinking that reinforces your negative thoughts about yourself; for example, “X turned down my request to be my doubles partner because I’m not good enough”.

Do you recognise any of the above in yourself? The danger is that this negative, and often irrational, self-talk can consume you and dent your confidence in situations and circumstances where things are not going well. And it can even affect your self-belief as a player if it you engage in it too often.

These self-limiting habits can be broken by noticing occasions when you are experiencing them and then countering them with positive and rational self-statements. For example, when your inner critic is berating you and making you feel bad for a “stupid” mistake, quieten it by a thought or self-statement something like “it’s ok, mistakes happen, learn from it and let it go”.

‘Triggers’ can also be helpful. A physical trigger in the form of an elastic band on your wrist, for example, can help you recognise when you are engaging in stinking thinking. Giving it a ‘twang’ can trigger you to ‘snap’ out of it by stopping and / or challenging those unhelpful and debilitating thoughts. The elastic band is an example of a physical trigger but you might also use a mental trigger, such as an image of a red ‘Stop!’ sign.

These and other psychological tools for mastering your mind are described in our new book, Gold Medal Pickleball Psychology: Master Your Mind, Raise Your Pickleball Game.

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