Do you want to reach your full potential? If so, understanding self-talk is essential to help you get there. For today’s post, I’m going to be helping you identify negative self-talk and how it’s affecting your potential.
Stay tuned for next week’s post where I highlight HOW to CONTROL/MANAGE NEGATIVE SELF–TALK! If you want updates of my weekly post’s in your inbox subscribe to the newsletter here:
Do you have this voice in your head that is constantly doubting you? The one that says things like “I don’t know if I can do this”, “This is too hard!” etc? Then you’re suffering from negative self talk.
Recognising HOW that negative self-talk is affecting your life will motivate you to be more mindful of your thoughts. We are often unaware how much our mind has control over our life. I have found that acknowledging this will help you take back some of that control.
What is negative self talk?
You can hear your thoughts in your head right? When you’re reading a book or watching some TV theres a voice in your head reading with you. That voice is also speaking to you throughout the day, when you’re thinking.
This voice that tells you what you’re thinking is self talk!
Your self talk can be positive or negative, when it’s positive this voice in your head is your cheerleader and when it’s negative your voice is constantly doubting you.
Negative self talk will translate into things like procrastination, lack of motivation, laziness, depression, and self doubt in your day to day life.
On the other hand, positive self talk translates into motivation, action, confidence, productivity, and growth in your day to day life.
The difference in the way negative vs positive self talk translates highlights how much power your self talk has over your life. So, now that you realise how powerful self talk is, lets dive deeper and understand the 5 ways your negative self talk is limiting your potential!
Before you read this I want you to remember this post is to HELP YOU ACKNOWLEDGE your NEGATIVE SELF TALK ! It’s going to be hard to read, but acknowledge it so that next week I can help you control your negative self talk.
5 ways your negative self talk is limiting your potential:
1. You Attract Fear
Your negative self talk is attracting fear. You’re probably wondering how, or what does that even mean?
Fear is powered by negative thoughts, so your negative self talk will attract more fear into your life. Which is why you’ll notice people around you who have negative self talk will usually be very fearful as well.
Simple example here, (btw I’m not downplaying the severity of the virus) during this pandemic, I have noticed when I am positive and confident, I don’t ‘fear’ the pandemic as much. This doesn’t mean i’m not taking the necessary precautions, I AM! BUT, at the same time the FEAR doesn’t take over my life. However, when the news of the pandemic broke out, I was in a negative head space and I let the fear of the coronavirus affect me more than I’d like.
With negative self talk I had more irrational fears. BUT with positive self talk I was very practical and logical; while taking the necessary precautions to protect myself and those around me I was able to find constructive ways of spending my time at home.
(p.s. Please wear your masks and take the precautions. Find ways to be productive AT HOME as much as possible)
So when you’re in a negative headspace you’re more likely to attract fear when it comes to major decisions in your life. You self talk will probably be saying things like “you’re not good enough”, “you can’t do this”, “this is too hard”, “you’re not smart enough, this is too complicated”, “what will people say” etc.
When you’re fearful it’s going to be harder for you to take risks, and shift things in your life. Your goals and ambitions will be surrounded by fear.
If you’re overwhelmed with this negative self talk I recommend reading my post next week and my post on – How to manage negative thoughts.
2. Lower Confidence ⇒ low impact
Negative self talk also negatively impacts your confidence. It’s not easy to have this constant voice in your head putting you down.
It’s likely that your confidence will be impacted no matter what. With low confidence, you’ll have low impact.
For example, if you’re trying to pitch your idea to your team at work and the voice in your head is constantly saying “your idea isn’t good enough” then it’s going to be harder for your to convince your team.
The problem is you may be having these thoughts even when you have great ideas and thoughts. Your negative self talk will shift the narrative in your head to tell you you’re not enough.
Thus, negative self talk can lead to lower confidence and limit your potential.
If you want to read about HOW to fix this, tune in next week for PART 2 of this blog post!
3. Negative Spiral
Your negative self talk can lead you into a negative spiral. This means that if you have one negative thought you’re more likely to have another and another!
Being in this negative spiral can lead to SELF DOUBT and uncertainty. This isn’t good because once you’re in this negative spiral you’re going to be in EXCUSES land.
It’ll be easy for you to always come up with EXCUSES for why you didn’t do something! If you’ve caught yourself saying things like “I don’t have time”, “I never learnt how to do that”, “my dog ate my homework” you’re in this negative spiral.
The key is to CATCH yourself when you’re making excuses and ACTIVELY do the work you’re making excuses for.
A negative spiral can lead you to a RUT and you don’t want to be there. To avoid that be conscious of your excuses, and don’t make them lightly.
Being conscious is going to bring you one step closer to fixing this problem.
Once again, I will be giving you a full list of HOW to manage negative self talk, so make sure you come back next week for part 2.
4. Energies Don’t Align
This one is a little spiritual. But your negative self talk will lead to misalignment. If you’re someone who does have goals and ambitions and wants to make an impact, but you’re suffering with negative self talk your energy won’t align with your goal.
The misalignment of energy will mean that it’s going to be more difficult for your to achieve that goal and hence reach your full potential.
If you’ve heard of the phrase “everything happens when it’s supposed to”, this actually means “everything will happen when your energy aligns and the time is right”.
This is because, say if you did manage to achieve the goal you set your mind to in a negative mindset, you’re going to bring that negative energy to this goal. So, you’re more likely to face more obstacles regarding this goal in the future.
But IF your energy is aligned, the road will be a lot smoother. You will still have obstacles but they won’t be nearly as hard.
Thus, your negative self talk impacts your energy which impacts your alignment and limits your potential.
My advice is that when you’re struggling with misalignment, work on consciously challenging your negative self talk. (More in Part 2 next week)
5. No growth
Last but not the least, negative self-talk presses PAUSE on growth.
When you’re not confident, not aligned, fearful, and stuck in a rut, GROWTH doesn’t want to be anywhere near you!
It’s not just that, but when you’re suffering from negative self-talk you don’t want to grow yourself. You’ll find excuses to push work aside and move deeper into that negative spiral.
I encourage you to once again, challenge this negative self talk! When you’re stuck, tell yourself “I can do this.”
A shift in mindset is required to push you out of this space to one where it’s easy for you to grow! Without this shift in mindset negative self talk will control your life and limit your potential.
I hope this post has helped you understand self-talk HOW negative self-talk is IMPACTING YOUR POTENTIAL! Don’t let this bum you out to much, the solutions are coming to you next week.
This week I want you to sit with your thoughts and notice if you’re being impacted by negative self–talk.
I’ll update this post as soon as I write the next one so you have answers to all your questions!
Sit with your thoughts, analyse them, and tune in next week to learn how to manage them.
Here’s to the start of your self care journey!
Cheers,
Disha
