The Power of The Inner Voice

How aware are you of the power of your inner voice and how you can harness it to help you move forward in your life?

Today, there are so many everyday occurrences which make us nervous. Uncertainty and risk surrounds us and, in order to survive and thrive in this climate, especially as leaders, we need to think about our own and others’ inner voice.

As a coach, I often encourage my clients to use a strong inner voice to build their own power by making affirmations. Our inner voice can be highly critical so it needs to be trained if we are to get benefit from it. In my opinion, the best way to make affirmations fit into your life, and work for you, you need to build them into the circumstances in which you find yourself.

How can my inner voice make me a better leader?

As leaders, we need to be aware that every individual experiences life in a different way. Having empathy and listening to others are important leadership skills because people respond positively to being nurtured; it gives them a sense that you care and can help them to minimise risks.

Creating your own positive and powerful inner voice can help you to bring out the same thing in others. It will help generate a sense of calm and trust in those around you, which in turn encourages positivity and productivity.

What can influence my inner voice?

There are always external influences that can interfere with our inner voice.

The media is the most obvious one, and the modern tendency towards sensationalism and shock reporting makes it a struggle to keep a level head. It’s important to decide which sources you trust and how often you will give them access to your mind.

When it comes to your teams, be alert to indications that people are struggling – words, phrases and behaviours can indicate stress or overwhelm. A good way to remember the words which show someone feels pressured (or is putting themselves under pressure) is SMOG – should, must, ought, got – these words are not positive.

Equally, people who respond to a challenge or target with “I’ll try…” are very unsure. As leaders, we want to encourage “I will” along with positive thinking and non-pressured thoughts, such as “I’d like to, I could”.

How can I train my inner voice?

The amazing Brené Brown has some sound advice for any of us with a particularly loud or persistent inner voice. She advises us to write down whatever is cycling through our mind. Doing this simple thing gives us distance and the chance to properly process the thought. Our mind can be like a washing machine, tumbling thoughts around but not necessarily dealing with any of them individually. By writing our thoughts down, we can see them for exactly what they are, get some perspective and decide on an approach if one is needed.

I tend to think of a persistent inner voice as similar to a fire. While it is in your head, you are giving it oxygen to burn. Remove it from your head and give yourself time to get your objectivity back.

As leaders, being able to harness our inner voice is a win-win. We become a better leader, with greater clarity and resilience and we also remove unnecessary stress from our lives, giving us the capacity to help others do the same.?