Our Own Internal Talk

Adam Payne • 22 June 2022

Negative thoughts can be the Bane of Your Existence.


How positive and motivated are we this week, #BlueMonday (apparently the most depressing day of the year, no evidence on that).


But it did get me thinking about our own thoughts and how we talk to ourselves internally, remembering the quote from Napoleon Hill


"You will never be greater than the thoughts that dominate your mind."


this is very close to heart, having gone through some very dark days when I first started out, your thoughts are a powerful force, both negative and positive.


For anyone struggling there a number of re-framing techniques to try: two here

Interrogative Self-Talk

You know that feeling when you catch yourself saying something negative about yourself?


It's like a little voice inside your head that's chirping at you, "You're not good enough!" or "You'll never be able to do this." And it's right there, right in front of you. You can feel it.


But what if we could take alternative view? Switching things about!


When you hear those voices saying "You're not good enough!" or "You'll never be able to do this," try turning them into questions and asking yourself: "What would happen if I was good enough?" or "How could I make myself better?" or even better: "What does 'good enough' look like?"


Asking questions opens exploration and possibility—this self-inquiry fires up the problem-solving area in your brain tapping into your innate creativity. The more you ask yourself questions, the more likely you are to find solutions to your problems! And once you do find those solutions, then who knows what else might open up?

Here’s some examples:


  • What can I do better?
  • When have I done this before?
  • Where will I do it?
  • How can I…?

Name it to Tame it! - Dr. Daniel Siegel

Negative thoughts can be the bane of your existence. They can make you feel like you're constantly falling short and never doing enough. But what if we told you that negative thoughts are just stories in your head?


That's right: they're not real! They're just little words that your brain comes up with to try to help you explain why things aren't going so well. And we know how that goes—it can feel like these stories are REAL and TRUE, but they're actually just stories.


So how do you deal with them? One way is to "Name it to Tame it!" When a negative thought pattern enters your head simply ‘LABEL’ the story.


For instance, one of my stories often is, “Who am I to be putting myself ‘out there’ teaching people how to build their business. Aren’t you supposed to be PERFECT first!?


This is massively unhelpful for me, so when thoughts come up along that storyline, I simply mentally note to myself, "Oh! the ‘you’re not good enough’ story” and then I let it go.


I get out of my head into my life and life around me.


If you are really struggling with negative thoughts, don't do what I did and keep it to yourself, seek out someone talk to.


#mindset #bluemonday #positivity #BGAUK

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