Self-talk is used to influence athletes' thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Therefore, the aim of this study is the effect of positive and negative self-talk on the level of competitive anxiety and performance of wushu practitioners in Shiraz. The research method was quasi-experimental with pretest-posttest with control group. The statistical sample of the study included 30 semi-professional wushu practitioners aged 18 to 25 years in Shiraz who were randomly selected and assigned to two experimental and a control groups. Before performing the independent variable (positive and negative self-talk), the performance of wushu practitioners in two wushu jumping techniques (jumping and kicking and lotus jumping) and the level of competitive anxiety were measured using the Martinez et al. (1990) Competitive Anxiety Questionnaire. The two experimental groups (positive and negative self-talk) performed self-talk exercises (repetition of positive and negative sentences between training blocks) in 10 sessions (5 blocks of 10 trials). After the post-test stage, the data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA. The results showed that the positive self-talk group reported less competitive anxiety after the intervention and the difference was significant (P = 0.001) and despite the lack of significant differences between the groups (P = 0.067, P = 0.087) and due to the differences in the mean, their performance has improved compared to the other two groups. Therefore, it can be concluded that it is better for athletes to perform various psychological and cognitive skills such as positive self-talk in addition to their sports exercises.