How do you talk to yourself?
More dreams die from a lack of confidence than a lack of competence (Shane Parrish, Clear Decisions). I love that statement. I am the first to admit self confidence is not one of my strong personality traits. My default is to critique myself and listen to the little voice in my head that whispers its doubts. Now that I’ve entered the ‘mature’ time of my life, I know I have gained more self confidence and trust in my abilities. But I do have to talk to myself alot! I have to remind myself of what I’ve achieved in the face of tragedy and heartache.
So I thought I would share some tips for how you can talk to yourself in a way that will boost your confidence, alleviate doubts and get you in a mindset that is both positive and healthy.
Talk to yourself about adversity - past hardship is where you get the confidence to face future hardship. No one knows your story and they don’t need to, but by acknowledging to yourself that you have faced difficult times and got through is quite empowering.
The most important voice to listen to is the one that reminds you of all that you’ve accomplished in the past - it’s so easy to forget the wins and focus only on the losses but by celebrating what you’ve achieved gives you the strength to get back up every time.
When you can’t see a problem from multiple points of view, you create blind spots. Take another look at that problem from a different angle - there is some truth in the saying “there is more than one way to skin a cat”.
Don’t read the comments - the internet makes it easy to find people who will happily give you both positive and negative feedback on anything you share. If you are confident in what you put out in the world, it doesn’t matter what others think of it.
So savour those conversations with yourself. You’re actually rather interesting!