Positive thinking
- Philip Brophy
- Mar 27
- 3 min read
Shoo’ing your inner critic• 3 min read
Ethan Kross, a psychologist in the University of Michigan carried out a study to demonstrate the value of self-talk.
89 participants were given five minutes to prepare a speech. Half of the participants were told to only use pronouns to refer to themselves while the other half were informed that they should use their names.
His study showed that the pronoun group experienced higher levels of anxiety with comments such as “How can I prepare a speech in five minutes” while the name group experienced less anxiety and expressed self-belief using self-talk such as “Bryan, you can do this.”.
The name group also scored higher in their performance from independent evaluators.
Introduction
When we lack confidence in what we do, it can affect our ability to be on our A-game in the workplace, impacting our levels of self-esteem.
Today, we’ll take a look at how regulating our feelings through challenging our inner critical voice, helps to build up our sense of self-belief to show our true potential.
Digging deep
We all know the inner critic very well — the voice in our heads that tells us we’re not good enough. It plagues many of us in our most vulnerable moments. Think about it. You’ve heard the same ol’ lines before:
“I’m not qualified for this promotion”
“I’m so nervous presenting — there must be something wrong with me.”
“They’re going to see through me.”
Self-belief takes practice
The good news is that by building up your self-belief, you can break these negative patterns of thinking. But to build it, it takes practice. Rather than relying on the notion of “faking it till you make it,” it takes fostering a genuine sense of self-belief.
Chances are, you’ll be taken more seriously if you hold yourself with confidence, perhaps being entrusted with a project if you’ve shown yourself capable of inspiring others through the conviction of your words.
Having a real sense of self-belief allows us to express our true selves, to dare to engage in challenging but manageable projects, and to step outside of our comfort zones to achieve new goals — all of which are valued characteristics in an employee.
This is why we need to dig deeper, taking positive steps, such as:
Conquering our inner voice
Remind yourself that your inner voice is not reflective of your actual point of view. How about writing down your thoughts in the second person, i.e., "you" statements?
For example, while you could write, "I get everything wrong. I’ll never succeed," you could write, "You get everything wrong. You'll never succeed."
Seems negative right?
Yes, but it will allow you to see this idea from the outside perspective, letting you see how unreasonable this assessment is.
Key takeaways
Self-belief is more than just “dressing for success.” While it can be built up over time, it requires consistent daily practice to break negative patterns of thinking.
Having a sense of self belief radiates and inspires confidence, while making us dare to step out of our comfort zones to try new things and achieve new goals.
Our inner critical voices are rarely reflective of reality. Try to assess these thoughts from a distance to have a more balanced perspective. Would you assess others in the same way?
Think big, act small
Write down some of your most frequent negative thoughts in the second person to get a little perspective, e.g., “You always get it wrong.“
Would this be a fair thing to say to anyone you know? How would you show compassion and reason with a person who spoke like this?
This will help you gain a fairer perspective of your abilities and deal with your self-criticism in a more realistic way.
Content sources
Forbes, ‘5 Strategies To Build Unshakable Self-Confidence’, Caroline Castrillon
Forbes, ‘6 Ways To Harness Inner ChatterTo Make—Instead Of Break—Career Success
Forbes,‘The Power Of Positive Thinking: Staying Motivated During Trying Times’, Scott Hirsch,
Harvard Business Review, 2021, Ann Howell, ‘How to Build Confidence at Work’
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, ‘Self-Talk as a Regulatory Mechanism: How You Do It Matters
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