Every minute you are awake, you engage in 800 to 1,200 words of self-dialogue. In these conversations, you solve problems (or create them), make decisions (or avoid them), judge, praise, or disparage yourself. You can dwell on past mistakes or plan future achievements.
Obviously, the more positive and forward-looking your talk, the stronger and better prepared you become.
In the computer world, the word GIGO means "garbage in, garbage out." Your mind works the same way. What you talk to yourself about directly affects how you live your life.
Encouraging Words
Whenever you catch yourself engaging in negative self-talk, take a deep breath and break the cycle.
1. Choose one thing you are grateful for and talk to yourself about it for thirty seconds. This blocks out your negative self-talk.
2. Choose one thing you like about yourself. Describe it. How does it enhance the things you do? How does it advance and enrich others? What is its impact on your community, your industry, the world?
3. What are you most proud of? Make a strong mental picture of it, and tell yourself all about it.
4. What future event are you most looking forward to? Describe it to yourself in vivid detail. Elaborate, expand, expound. Add Technicolor and stereo. Live it.
5. Keep an upbeat book or tape handy to reinforce your positive self talk, and use them whenever you feel negative. (When you are moving around, listen to the tape. When you are settled in one place, read the words).
Being your own biggest booster doesn't mean you're immodest. How can others be motivated to promote you and give you a hand up if you're not positive about yourself?
Remember: five years from now, you'll be the same person you are today - except for the people and situations you've encountered and the thoughts you've thought. Keep your thoughts positive, upbeat, and future-oriented. No one else is in a better position to be your biggest cheerleader than YOU.
