San Francisco 49ers star George Kittle has shared a touching insight into how his dad, Bruce, before each clash.

Kittle's been on fire this season, racking up an impressive 503 yards and six touchdowns in just eight games. After making his 500th career catch in Week 8, he became the fourth fastest tight end to hit that milestone.

Despite' rocky 4-4 start, Kittle's got his eyes set on the and heaps praise on his dad for his role in his achievements. The NFL ace is all about the power of positive thinking, a trait he picked up from his father. Speaking exclusively to Mirror Sport, Kittle revealed, "The positive affirmations started really with my dad."

He reminisced about his early days, saying, "It was nothing really I did early on in my career, but he always told me to talk to myself, especially when I was a kid playing football and other sports." Kittle then disclosed the motivational words from his father: "'Every single day you want to try your hardest, work better and get better at one thing, and have fun today.'"

Kittle went on to say, "And so I'd always focus on those three things, and that's kind of where my positive affirmations started. And then the older I got, the more those changed, and it kind of turned into 'breath in confidence, exhale fear, breath in strength, exhale weakness', etc.

"I have a couple of those that I go through. But yeah, it was mostly my dad's idea, and then we kind of change them up as we go." Kittle revealed how the affirmations have since become popular in the locker room, with his father even penning letters tailored to the next opponent.

"Whenever my dad writes me a letter for pre-game, I usually let him kind of free write it and write it as he wants to do it," Kittle continued. "There are times that we'll have a discussion during the week, and that might trigger the type of letter he wants to write.

"So like when we were playing the [Minnesota] Vikings, the entire letter was about historical Vikings throughout history and things that they did and the legends of those Vikings. So some of them are team-themed and oriented."

While this may seem like a fun pastime for Bruce as he continues to support Kittle throughout his NFL career, the 49ers tight end is incredibly thankful for how it's kept him grounded. "Positive affirmations really helped me be successful because it's a way for you to stay grounded," Kittle explained.

"It is a way for you to not be distracted by the lights and all the things going on. It is a way for you to reset and refocus if you have a bad play, to just focus on one play at a time, and to remind yourself that even if you did have a bad play, that you're a really good football player because I play in the NFL, and I'm going to go out there and I'm going to be my best on the next play."

Bruce often goes the extra mile, printing out heaps of cards adorned with motivational sayings from iconic leaders and historical figures. Kittle ensures these tokens of inspiration are distributed around the locker room.

"My dad also makes me these little note cards that have inspirational quotes on them from people throughout history, whether it's a former president, a former warrior, a former general, Albert Einstein," Kittle shared. "Just influential people of history, and he always gives me a quote or two out of these little note cards, and he prints me off anywhere from 10 to 30 of them.

"Whenever he prints me off a big stack, I like to place them in my teammates' lockers that I know that enjoy reading stuff like that. So whether it's the tight ends, the quarterbacks, Juice [fullback Kyle Juszczyk], sometimes the wide receivers, I like to put it in there, and so they can kind of just be inspired for that one day."