It’s something as simple as forgetting to bring a document to a meeting and you hear your inner voice saying ‘I’m so stupid’.
You struggle with a new piece of software and there’s that voice again, ‘I’m useless with technology’.
What’s your most common negative self-talk?
It’s just a throw-away line but actually very damaging for many reasons which I’ll touch on over the next few posts.
The most simple is that it’s cruel. Here’s a sobering thought. If you have children, would you let your neighbour talk to them the way you do at your lowest moments? If you are a fallible parent like me, that whole idea will make you feel sick.
Likewise with langauage we use to ourselves. Would we say that to our closest friend? Especially when they are in difficulty?
Of course not! It’s hurtful, it reduces self-belief and writes them off in their moment of need. It’s also not true of course.
At times when our subconscious is trying to lash out at us, usually due to fear (of failure/humiliation etc), stop and rephrase the sentence into something more true and more useful.
‘I’ve made a rare mistake’, ‘I haven’t spent time learning technology’ for example.
