Mastering Inner Talk: The Most Underrated Secret Of Successful Entrepreneurs
Everyone engages in self-talk.
But hardly anyone does it correctly.
Researchers now know that the words you use to talk to yourself and others may be having more of an impact on your life than you may have thought. The right words may not only free you from your fears but can also help you tap into mastering time, money and relationships.
Want to learn how successful entrepreneurs, sports celebrities and others use self-talk to skyrocket their success?
Ethan Kross is a brilliant psychologist who through a myriad of ground breaking experiments, has found that how people conduct there inner monologue is directly proportionate to how successful they will be in life. Talk to yourself with the pronoun I, for instance, and you’re likely to flounder and bomb out in stressful scenarios. Address yourself by name and your chances of soaring in all types of tasks drastically increases, from giving a presentation in the office to philanthropic endeavours.
Krosse’s experiments have now proven when self-talk is deployed certain ways, at certain times, it frees the brain to perform at astonishing levels. By toggling the way we address self – first person or third – we flip a switch in the cerebral cortex, the center of thought, and another in the amygdala, the originator of fear, drawing us closer to or further from our sense of self.
Administering psychological distance activates self-control, allowing us to have clarity of thought and more powerful execution in tasks. The famous philosopher Socrates was once asked by the equally renowned philosopher Theaetetus to define thought. Socrates replied, “The Talk which the soul has with itself”. Inner talk is a self-generated instruction manual; your voice directs you to fold up a paper airplane and sound out words.
Lebron James, considered by some to be the greatest basketball player of all-time, was on television discussing his decision to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Miami Heat; meanwhile outraged fans were setting his jersey on fire. James explained his decision had come from a place of tranquility. “One thing I didn’t want to do was make an emotional decision,” he told the audience. “I wanted to do what was best for Lebron James, and to do what makes Lebron James happy.” By addressing himself in the third person Lebron was able to distance himself from the fear and deliver a confident press conference.
Malala Yousafzai, a peace loving Pakistani activist for women’s education and the youngest woman to win the Nobel Prize, on The Daily show, was quoted saying the following in regards to the Taliban. “’If the Taliban comes, what would you do, Malala,” she described her self-saying. “Then I would reply to myself, ‘Malala, just take a pan and hit him.’” This is another example of distancing yourself from your own fear in order to accomplish things that you may have originally not thought possible.
Kids are simply the best example of what I’m talking about.
In our Nashville practice we had a beautiful kids playroom custom designed by one of our patients. It was by far my favorite place to hang out when I had a minute to spare. I’d love to go and make conversation with the children. For me, there’s nothing better than getting perspective on life by asking a child what they think about life. I find it so fascinating to see a child learn. You can literally witness them learn something new right before your eyes because not only can you see the action, they talk you through every step. For instance, watch a little girl, place clothes on a doll: “We need to get her dressed. Her shoes go here. Her shoes go here. We put her in the house. Oh no, she doesn’t fit, we need to start over”.
The psychologist Lev Vygotsky labeled this, private talk.
Out spoken self-talk that is meant to transform the current task, much like a hammer assists with building a house. Placing your thoughts in word form, makes them tangible and easier to use.
How To Talk Yourself Through a Challenge Like a PRO
Use this technique correctly and have enhanced focus, purposeful planning all while preventing toxic thoughts:
“Jessica (1), what are you worried about? It’s not the first interview you’ve ever had. I know you want this job but relax (2), and maintain your composure. Even if it doesn’t go perfectly, it’s not the end of the world. You’re qualified (3), intelligent, successful, pretty. Just show up with your best foot forward and the rest will happen. Breathe, you got this Jess.”
- 1. Jessica separates herself from the situation by calling herself by name, seeing herself as a stranger might see her. The separation confers wisdom, poise and tranquility that she would never have if using the words I or me
- 2. She taps into a similar mindset of a child piecing together a puzzle, only instead of instructing herself to put this piece into that piece, she now tells herself to relax. Her inner-direction is precise.
- 3. Jennifer now diffuses the gravity of the situation with affirmations. She allows herself to accept that it’s not the end of the world if the situation doesn’t happen the way she wants it to.
Did you know the brain organizes and compartmentalizes over 1.2 Billion bits of information per day?
In order to maximize brain function and tap into endless amounts of energy the brain needs certain micronutrients per day. When these vitamins, minerals and amino acids are lacking, the brain goes into a starvation mode and begins to save energy.
Think of a Formula One race car that’s about to enter the track on race day. The driver has precision focus, the crew is in the pit ready, waiting, except there’s a problem. There’s half a tank of gas and a few ounces of oil in the reserve. The Formula One car is now a fancy piece of metal instead of a trophy-winning masterpiece. This situation happens everyday with over 22 million Americans per year except the race winning entity here is way more important than a racecar, it’s the one piece of bodily real-estate that controls all life, the brain.
“50% of people taking Multi-vitamins are still nutritionally deficient.” - William Shive, University of Texas at Austin
I remember clear as day when Carla stepped into my clinic on a Tuesday morning.
She was the epitome of a successful 40-year-old entrepreneur. She had everything going for her. A beautiful family, a thriving Nashville based company and a track history of Fortune 500 accolades. I remember thinking, “I can’t find anything wrong with you, maybe you should be helping me!” Little did I know, there was a lot going on with Carla. She had learned to hide her issues with flawless poise.
Every morning Carla would get up at 5:30 am and sit on the side of her bed to collect her thoughts for the day. Most of us will sit for a couple minutes and then pull up the bootstraps for a productive day. Not Carla, by the time Carla was able to collect her thoughts; she would find that hours had gone by. She claimed she would get in this trance and not be able to come out until it was over. Her doctors sloughed it off to menopause and put her on all sorts of hormone replacement therapies.
After spending a week with Carla we realized there was an underlying cause much bigger at work.
Carla had severe micronutrient deficiencies that were causing massive amounts of inflammation to accumulate in her intestinal tract, which so happens to be the most important gateway for brain health. These deficiencies were causing her body to go into a type of starvation mode that was essentially shutting down the way her brain communicated with her body.
We immediately started to address her deficiencies by first performing one of the most advanced intracellular micronutrient deficiencies tests on the market. From that point I could see Carla was severely deficient in not only key antioxidants like Glutathione, Cysteine and Selenium but also brain boosting fatty acids like Oleic acid. We immediately began an intensive program to address the cause of why she was having these deficiencies and not just simply addressing the symptoms.
I’ll never forget meeting with Carla after 3 months of working together, she came in with her 8 year old son Daniel; she didn’t say a word to me, her tears said it all. Her son walked up to me and waved me down to get on his level, he wrapped his arms around my neck and whispered, “I got my mom back”.
In closing, If I were to give you one piece of advise to skyrocket your brain health it would be to know your deficiencies and toxicities.
Our culture spends over 5 billion dollars a year on brain optimizing supplements!!!
When I work with someone I’m usually able to save him or her a couple thousand dollars a year just by analyzing their lab work. Through precise algorithms I’m able to see what specific nutrients are going to boost brain reaction and response customized to you!
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