You may not be aware of it but you are advertising to yourself every minute of the day. I’m talking about those little comments that you say to yourself. Everyone engages in self talk, whether it is audible or just thoughts inside our head. We need to be careful about what we say, because it is more powerful than the billions spent each year on commercial advertising.
The following is an excerpt from my upcoming book:
I read a wonderful book years ago on sports’ psychology titled Toughness Training for Sports by James E. Loher. In it, I learned that the majority of our self-talk is negative. The author emphasizes that negative self-talk is damaging and that positive self-talk improves the success of Olympic and professional athletes. This is huge, because we can change our self-talk and practice giving ourselves a great advantage.
What we say to ourselves is far more damaging than any criticism from others. Be intentional about how you talk to yourself and
about yourself.
Sometimes this negative self-talk is picked up by others. They hear us talk to ourselves. They hear the “I blew that one!”, “I suck!”, and the occasionally “I’m an idiot!”. Some people are even posting their failures on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook.
You don’t have to go around bragging all of the time, but why advertise failures? Turn that loss into a lesson and post what you learned. Work at making the majority of your self talk positive.
The expert suggests replacing, “Crap! I always miss that shot!” with “Next time I’m going to nail that shot!”
You must learn to make positive statements about yourself and when talking to others.
You might be surprised by who is actually listening to the comments you think you are only making to yourself, and even if they can’t our bodies do indeed project what we say to it. I can see “Crap! I always miss that shot!” on a person’s face as easily as I can hear it.
Feed yourself doses of positive self talk and begin to be amazed at your results. Talking positive and creating some default positive mantras has been a major source of productivity and success for me personally. I also attest that doing so has helped me to create a winning attitude. People will always choose to follow and spend time with someone positive over someone negative any day of the week.
You have to discipline yourself and work at how you communicate with yourself. Make a challenge or game out of it. Positive self talk will directly impact your dealing with others, your attitude, your tenacity, and most importantly how you think, especially when confronting a challenge.
Practice makes perfect! What you say while playing a game will later on impact what you say at the office or on the field. Identify some key phrases you know you make and shouldn’t as well as some situations in which you make them. It might sound easy to but it takes some focused effort and discipline.
Please know that when I am talking about self-talk, I am not just referring to what you say out loud. I also mean those little negative comments you make to yourself in your head. Those count just as much as what you say out loud. When you catch yourself feeding your mind junk, replace it with a positive thought and statement. It works!
You need to work on positive self talk and eliminate negative self-talk entirely. Be your own public relations worker. Get the message out there that you are confident, successful, and have a winning attitude. You need to sound like a leader.
Mantras, Slogans, and Mottos
Positive self talk is used by top executives, professional and Olympic Sports athletes, and by corporations. We can use it too. Create a mantra, slogan, motto, or creed to live by, or adopt someone else’s you admire until you do.
I believe every organization should have a slogan and most importantly they should live up to it. There is nothing worse than having something arrive late from someone proclaiming to be fast and on time. You know what I mean. Live by the words you use as your motto.
I cannot help but think that much of my success stems from my Tuesday night Boy Scout meetings. Every Tuesday at seven o’clock I pledged to keep myself physically fit, mentally awake, and morally straight. Furthermore, I took a weekly Oath and recited the twelve points of the Scout Law.
Every Sunday I recited my Christian Creed aloud with my fellow Parishioners, as well as each night and morning.
The words we use matter, whether we are using them to describe others or ourselves. We need to communicate these meanings very carefully and intentionally. Write and recite your creed regularly. We become what we envision. We become what we say.
Kelly Croy is a professional speaker and speed artist.
He has entertained and amazed audiences across the nation
with his art and words.
Please consider booking Kelly for your next event.
1-800-831-4825