Every once in a while, you might catch yourself thinking something negative about yourself. While it might seem like it’s good to have a little inner critic, excessive negative self-talk can have several harmful effects that can affect your mind, body, and even your loved ones.
The more you judge, blame, and doubt yourself, the chances are that your mind will eventually start believing what you’re telling yourself. These negative thoughts can slowly start to overpower you and eventually have you convinced that you’re not good enough.
Let’s take a look at what our transformational life coaches recommend for negative self-talk.
1. Become More Mindful Of Your Inner Chatter
Firstly, it’s important to become more aware of your inner chatter. While there’s no switch that can turn off your inner critic, there are ways to become more mindful of your thought process.
The second you notice yourself being negative, replace it with a more positive thought. Start becoming kinder towards yourself and learn a few positive affirmations that you can repeat to yourself throughout the day.
While this might not be easy, you will find yourself becoming much better with practice.
2. Switch to Neutral Thinking
The next thing to remember is to practice neutral thinking. This is because, for some people, positive self-talk can be a little more complicated. Sometimes unnecessarily praising yourself might feel insincere, which can generate negative thoughts again.
So how to combat this? Through neutral thinking.
Instead of being negative about yourself, try neutralizing the thought with something more balanced and realistic. If you failed a test, instead of saying, “I’m a failure”, try saying, “it’s understandable that I’m disappointed, but there are strategies I can work on to prevent this from happening again.”
3. Practice, Practice, Practice
We know how difficult it is to break some habits, but when it comes to stopping negative self-talk, we cannot emphasize this enough – practice. Habits don’t change overnight, which is why it takes time and practice to get better.
Repeat positive affirmations to yourself several times a day. You can even try writing down these positive thoughts to create a new narrative in your head.
Are you looking for more tips to improve your self-esteem? Check our self-development coaching services by Kathy McKnight. Being a certified life and business coach, Kathy Mcknight used empathy and compassion to develop a deeper understanding of her client’s self-esteem and helps break mental barriers that could be hindering their progress.
Get in touch with her now to learn more about her services in Tampa.