Self-Talk - Develop your Personal Mental Attitude

Important: GDPR Email Preferences

As you may already know, the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will be coming into effect on 25th May 2018. We take your privacy seriously and we are working hard to ensure we comply with the new data protection laws. You can find out more about how we're doing this in our privacy policy on our website.

We want to make sure you continue to receive the latest newsletters, blogs, special offers and more.

As someone who has opted-in to receive our emails in the past, we’d like to give you this opportunity to confirm what you wish to receive:

Just so you know, if you don’t let us know what kinds of emails you want to receive from us, we’ll stop emailing you on the 24th May 2018 - you'll be missing out!

You are of course free to change your mind at any time – just follow the link at the bottom of any of our emails.

Advert

Self-talk

Self-talk is whatever you say to yourself about yourself and other people, or whatever you say to yourself about the way the world is.

Whenever you describe to yourself what is going on inside yourself, or with other people, or the way the world is (or seems to be, from your perspective), you are engaged in a process of self-talk.

There are two ways of thinking about self-talk.

Here is the first way.

What you think is true, is what you tell yourself.

The above statement seems self-evident. If you think today is a nice day, then you say to yourself, "Today is a nice day."

But, what I want to draw to your attention, is that the converse is also true.

This is the second way of thinking about self-talk:

What you tell yourself, is what you'll think is true.

Let me say that again because it is important:

Whatever you tell yourself, is what you will think is true.

That sentence is hugely important. Because if you tell yourself today is a terrible day, then you will believe it to be true. And whatever you believe to be true will affect your experience of the day.

If you tell yourself you will fail, then you will begin to believe it. If you believe you will fail, then you probably will.

Look at this:

Most people assume that only the first model is correct. And it is correct.

But the second model is also true and most people don't realise it.

It is vitally important that you tell yourself good things about yourself and that you don't say derogatory things about yourself, to yourself.

• If you say good things about yourself, then they will tend to become true.
• If you say derogatory things about yourself, then they will tend to become true.

Be hyper-cautious of saying derogatory things about your own abilities.

If you are not good at something, don't say, "I am no good at X", state it in the positive, "I am going to get better at X".

This is important.

Think very carefully about the implications of this; then, make the necessary adjustments to your self-talk.

Quiz: How Positive Are You?

Would you say you tend towards having a positive mental attitude, or are you sometimes a bit too negative for your own good?

Find out exactly how positive you are, with our simple quiz.

Personal Development Training

Personal Development Training

In order to improve your performance, you may need to develop your personal and professional skills: meaning: skills of communication, planning, prioritisation, motivation and personal confidence. If you want to learn more, then click here for personal development training.

Blogs by Email

Do you want to receive an email whenever we post a new blog? The blogs contain article 5-10 minutes long - ideal for reading during your coffee break!

Your Comments

Further Reading in Personal Development

• How to Develop Your Intelligence and Talents
  If you want to be successful, never give up on learning. You can never know too much. Educate yourself and not only will you help yourself, you will have the ability to help others too. Learn new skills, develop existing ones and enrich your life.
  Read Article >
• How to Improve Self-Confidence
  Would you like to improve your self-confidence? Even the least confident person can improve their confidence, by taking some simple steps. Check out this guide and begin your journey to becoming more self-confident, today.
  Read Article >
• Self-Talk - Develop your personal mental attitude
  Negative self-talk has a big impact on your mental attitude towards yourself and how you think other people perceive you.
  Read Article >
• Actualise Your Potential
  You were born with an immense amount of natural talent; latent, innate power to perform at a high level of achievement. Learn how to use it.
  Read Article >
• Personal Development Training: Be More Proactive
  Personal Development Training: Be More Proactive You can put people into one of three different classes: Those people who are proactive. Those people who are reactive. Those people who are passive. Being more proactive is the best option People who are proactive tend to achieve more, tend to be happier and...
  Read Article >