Talk Yourself To Success
There are many things that drive people to success, and a key
factor is what is known as 'internal dialogue'. This is the
dialogue that is constantly playing inside your head. It's the
voice that starts talking as soon as you do something, meet
someone, or think about anything.
In many cases, this voice can be destructive and knock you down,
though it is possible to quite easily harness his internal
dialogue and use it to propel you to the success you desire and
deserve.
You may notice that on occasion the voice is negative in what it
says. For example, you see something you really want to buy and
it says, "You can't afford that." Or you see someone you are
really attracted to and the voice says, "They're way out of your
league, they'll never go for someone like you."
Quite obviously, this does nothing to make you life any better.
Therefore, why not change the content of the voice? When it says
something negative, counter it with a positive suggestion. For
example, when the voice says, "You can't afford that." Respond
mentally in a firm and positive voice with something like, "How
can I afford it?" A question that empowers you and propels you
into positive action.
This may take some time, and you may notice initially you do not
always catch the voice and correct it. However, keep it up and
before you know it, you will have changed the negative dialogue
into a positive, empowering one.
You can also change the tone of the voice. What would happen if
instead of the usual tone of voice saying, "I can't afford it"
you hear the voice of Homer Simpson, or Donald Duck, or any
comic character saying it? You certainly wouldn't listen to the
voice and take it seriously, you would laugh at it and it's
power over you would be broken.
This technique can be extended to helping you motivate yourself
to do something. When faced with the washing up, what do you
hear in your head? Do you hear a whiney voice saying something
like, "You really ought to do the washing up or you'll get into
trouble" or a commanding and scary voice saying, "Wash up NOW!"?
What would happen if the voice were a soft and really seductive
voice speaking in your head? The sort of voice that gives you
shivers down your back. What if it said something like, "Let's
do the washing up big boy."? How would that motivate you?
Stephen King, the author, uses this technique with his writing.
When he has to write he hears this very loud and powerful voice
shouting at him as if through a megaphone saying something like,
"WRITE NOW!!!!!" It almost scares him in to writing.
However, you don't need to scare yourself into action. You can
change your internal dialogue to be anything you want; whatever
works best for you to motivate you and help you to get where you
want to be.
Listen to your internal dialogue and play with changing the
tonality, volume and tempo to find the type of voice that works
best for you. Create a number of different types of voices, one
for motivation, one to stop you doing things, one to make you
feel loved, one to make you feel happy and so on.
Mastering your internal dialogue is a major key in mastering
your life.