Do You Talk Dirty?

Do you talk dirty?

Many people underestimate the power of self-talk.  Isn’t it interesting how we think about and filter our conversation with business contacts.  We are kind and supportive of friends when they have challenges, with our children we think about how to phrase the conversation so as not to effect their self-esteem.

So why don’t we treat ourselves kindly and speak to ourselves in a gentle, thoughtful and motivating fashion? Do you voluntarily feed your mind with negative thoughts? How often do you find yourself uttering, “ugh, idiot” as you make a mistake?

How many of these statements do you make throughout the day?

I’m no good at.... I’m useless at.....Oh I could never....I’m not as good as.....I don’t…I can’t….

Language is extremely powerful. Women are particularly susceptible to negative self-talk (or ‘dirty talk’, if you will). This promotes negative thoughts, as our emotional and intellectual selves are so connected. When I start to work with women entrepreneurs one of the first things we need to do is clean their negative self-talk. Maybe you are not currently amazing at a particular skill, but be kind to yourself. When we see a small child learning to master something, let’s take walking for instance, every time they fall down we clap and smile and encourage them to try again. If you find you constantly belittle or berate yourself, take a note of the words you use and jot them down, make a commitment to do this for a week. You will find you start to recognise the language, once you consciously acknowledge your words, you will be able to challenge them and start to neutralise their effect.