Latest / Overwhelmed Working Woman: Boost Productivity, Master Time Management, Overcome Overwhelm & Stop People Pleasing / #116| How Embracing Positive Self-Talk Transforms Your Productivity and Achievements
Transcript
- 0:00Michelle Gauthier: Your brain believes what you tell it, and sometimes we don't even mean to tell our brain that, they're just thoughts that come into our head.
- 0:08Michelle Gauthier: But whatever thoughts that we are thinking, our brain believes it.
- 0:17Michelle Gauther: You're listening to Overwhelmed Working Woman, the podcast that helps you be more calm and more productive by doing less.
- 0:24Michelle Gauther: I'm your host, Michelle Gauthier, a former overwhelmed working woman and current life coach.
- 0:29Michelle Gauther: On this show, we unpack the stress and pressure that today's working woman experiences and in each episode you'll get a strategy to bring more calm, ease and relaxation to your life.
- 0:44Michelle Gauthier: Hey friend, thanks for joining today.
- 0:46Michelle Gauthier: Today I want you to call to mind one of the hardest or the hardest things that you have had to do that you did on purpose.
- 0:56Michelle Gauthier: So sometimes things happen to us in life and we have to deal with something really hard, but then sometimes we choose to do really hard.
- 1:01Michelle Gauthier: Things Like becoming a parent is a very hard thing.
- 1:04Michelle Gauthier: Sometimes switching careers or jobs is a very hard thing.
- 1:08Michelle Gauthier: Running a marathon is a very hard thing.
- 1:09Michelle Gauthier: What is something that you have done on purpose that was really difficult?
- 1:14Michelle Gauthier: Keep that in mind as we're talking today, because today we're going to be talking about the impact of positive self-talk on being productive and really getting the achievements that you want to achieve in life.
- 1:27Michelle Gauthier: If you've ever heard yourself or caught yourself saying and if you listen to Monday's episode, hopefully you've been practicing this week but if you've ever caught yourself saying I'm terrible at this or I'll never get this all done, you're not just hurting your confidence, you're holding yourself back from actual progress.
- 1:43Michelle Gauthier: So in this episode, you will discover how shifting to positive self-talk can boost your productivity, increase your confidence and help you reach your goals faster.
- 1:53Michelle Gauthier: Let's say that you decide to run a marathon.
- 1:55Michelle Gauthier: You're not a professional runner, but you're determined.
- 1:58Michelle Gauthier: At first the training is exciting.
- 2:00Michelle Gauthier: You buy the new running shoes, create a cool playlist, picture yourself crossing the finish line - I definitely did this myself.
- 2:07Michelle Gauthier: But then reality hits and you're like what have I done?
- 2:12Michelle Gauthier: Why am I doing this?
- 2:13Michelle Gauthier: At least, when I did it, there was a running group and we ran together and on the first long run which I thought a long run was like six miles at that time, little did I know.
- 2:24Michelle Gauthier: And you're like, exhausted halfway through, your inner voice will start up with I'm not built for this.
- 2:29Michelle Gauthier: I've never been able to run 26 miles.
- 2:31Michelle Gauthier: I'll never be able to run 26 miles.
- 2:33Michelle Gauthier: Why did I even sign up for this?
- 2:36Michelle Gauthier: And guess what?
- 2:36Michelle Gauthier: The more you think this, the harder it gets.
- 2:39Michelle Gauthier: Your legs will feel heavier, your breathing feels more labored.
- 2:43Michelle Gauthier: Your brain is literally making the run harder because it believes what you're telling it.
- 2:48Michelle Gauthier: Yes, that is what I said your brain believes what you tell it.
- 2:53Michelle Gauthier: And sometimes we don't even mean to tell our brain that they're just thoughts that come into our head, but whatever thoughts that we are thinking, our brain believes it.
- 3:02Michelle Gauthier: So if you were able to shift instead to say this is tough, but I'm building endurance.
- 3:07Michelle Gauthier: Every step is making me stronger.
- 3:09Michelle Gauthier: Your energy will shift.
- 3:11Michelle Gauthier: Or even just focusing on something like, let's say, your legs really hurt, you can think okay, but my lungs feel good, I can keep going, something is going well.
- 3:20Michelle Gauthier: And if you apply this to a situation at work, if you tell, tell yourself, I'll never get all this done, you can be sure that you'll never get all that done.
- 3:28Michelle Gauthier: Just this morning, I was feeling this exact thought of I'll never get all this done or I have so much to do, and I switched to a thought that I absolutely love, which is time is on my side.
- 3:39Michelle Gauthier: Even just saying that makes me feel calm and I know the first thing that I need to work on.
- 3:44Michelle Gauthier: Both of those thoughts really, really work for me.
- 3:47Michelle Gauthier: And it's funny because I was working away, working away, and I looked up at my clock and it was 12:44.
- 3:53Michelle Gauthier: And I thought, oh my gosh, it's only 12:44.
- 3:56Michelle Gauthier: I've gotten so much done.
- 3:57Michelle Gauthier: It was like the opposite of the thought that I had had when I woke up that morning, and the reason why my brain was on board with the fact that we were getting so much done and that time was on our side was because I spent 10 to 15 minutes that morning journaling because I knew starting off with the thought of I cannot get all of this done today was not going to serve me.
- 4:18Michelle Gauthier: It was worth my time to sit down and choose a new thought.
- 4:21Michelle Gauthier: And guess what?
- 4:21Michelle Gauthier: It totally worked, and it works every time.
- 4:24Michelle Gauthier: Okay, so let's get back to our marathon.
- 4:27Michelle Gauthier: So a couple weeks later, you know, when you do a marathon, you run like six miles one week and then eight miles and then 12 miles and you just keep increasing.
- 4:35Michelle Gauthier: So a couple weeks later, you hit another wall and the run feels harder.
- 4:39Michelle Gauthier: Maybe you didn't eat well the night before, you didn't eat enough carbs or something.
- 4:43Michelle Gauthier: You start dreading getting up really early on Saturdays to do these darn runs and you start to tell yourself I'm so behind in my training, I'm never going to be ready.
- 4:52Michelle Gauthier: And then what happens when you believe that thought is you start skipping runs, or you procrastinate, or you feel even more discouraged, or you cut the run short just because you don't have the mental capacity to keep going.
- 5:07Michelle Gauthier: Instead, if you can shift to, I can figure this out.
- 5:11Michelle Gauthier: I don't need to be perfect, I just keep showing up.
- 5:13Michelle Gauthier: You could say to yourself this is an example of like time is on my side, I'm just practicing, or it's fine for me to walk, I just need to cover the distance, some kind of thought that will enable you to start thinking positive again and then keep going and, just like my thought of I know the first thing to do, you can start breaking down those runs to say, okay, today we're running 12 miles, but we've already done seven, so I can just do five more, and start breaking it down into smaller pieces until it feels doable.
- 5:46Michelle Gauthier: Sometimes I would just look to the end of the block and say, okay, I know I can run to the end of this block, and then it'd be the next one.
- 5:51Michelle Gauthier: I know I can run to the end of this block, or that I'm going to walk this block, whatever it was.
- 5:55Michelle Gauthier: And then finally, you've made it through all the training and race day arrives and you're thinking, okay, I'm so excited, I'm nervous, but I'm excited.
- 6:04Michelle Gauthier: And you get going and you're running.
- 6:06Michelle Gauthier: And then, right around mile 20, that's when really the negative thoughts creep in.
- 6:11Michelle Gauthier: I can't do this, I should just stop right now.
- 6:15Michelle Gauthier: And actually I think many runners quit at this point, not because they physically can't continue, but because their mind gives up before their body does so.
- 6:23Michelle Gauthier: Again, instead of focusing on how far you still have to go, you can look back at the positive progress you've made.
- 6:30Michelle Gauthier: I've already run 20 miles.
- 6:31Michelle Gauthier: That's incredible.
- 6:32Michelle Gauthier: Let's take this one step at a time.
- 6:34Michelle Gauthier: I can walk.
- 6:36Michelle Gauthier: It doesn't matter how quickly I do this.
- 6:38Michelle Gauthier: It just matters if I take the next step.
- 6:40Michelle Gauthier: And if you think about that in terms of the example I gave about myself this morning, I can never get all this done.
- 6:46Michelle Gauthier: When I got to like three o'clock, and it was getting right to the time where I need to hang it up for the day, I thought, okay, let me look back and see how much I've already gotten done.
- 6:56Michelle Gauthier: And I had gotten so many things done.
- 6:58Michelle Gauthier: So, even if I didn't finish the whole list, I could look back at my positive progress and focus on that.
- 7:04Michelle Gauthier: So, in general, positive self-talk isn't just feel-good advice like Pollyanna type advice.
- 7:11Michelle Gauthier: It's a true strategy for productivity and success, because if you're thinking negatively, you will act in a completely different way than you would act if you were thinking in a more positive or even neutral way.
- 7:24Michelle Gauthier: So here's what we covered today - things for you to remember.
- 7:27Michelle Gauthier: Your brain believes what you tell it.
- 7:29Michelle Gauthier: So tell it something helpful.
- 7:31Michelle Gauthier: Tell it something that feels true.
- 7:33Michelle Gauthier: So for me, I can actually get all this done, wasn't a thought that felt true or helpful, but time is on my side and I know what to work on first did feel true and helpful, so my brain wanted to tell me that I couldn't get it all done.
- 7:47Michelle Gauthier: And that was what I talked back with and it worked perfectly.
- 7:54Michelle Gauthier: Same can work for marathon training.
- 7:55Michelle Gauthier: Same can work for improving your marriage.
- 7:56Michelle Gauthier: Same can work for totally switching careers or switching companies.
- 7:58Michelle Gauthier: Any big change that you're trying to make.
- 8:01Michelle Gauthier: Your own words impact your motivation, just like your own words impact the motivation of people around you.
- 8:07Michelle Gauthier: Imagine if you told your kids when they were running in a race, just quit, you're not equipped for this, just quit.
- 8:13Michelle Gauthier: What are you doing?
- 8:13Michelle Gauthier: Why'd you even sign up for this anyway?
- 8:15Michelle Gauthier: There's no way you would say that.
- 8:16Michelle Gauthier: So the words that you say to other people - you know it impacts them.
- 8:20Michelle Gauthier: Remind yourself that it impacts you when you talk that way to yourself.
- 8:25Michelle Gauthier: And then encouragement leads to consistency.
- 8:28Michelle Gauthier: So, for example, if you wanted to quit on that third training run and you pushed through, that helped you go on that fourth and that fifth and that sixth, and then maybe on the seventh one, when you got stuck again, you had all that evidence that you could look back on and say I remember those were hard, but I got through and I did it.
- 8:45Michelle Gauthier: So there you go, get out there and run a marathon! Just kidding, you don't really have to run a marathon but whatever it is that feels big and overwhelming to you today, use these lessons, that your brain believes what you tell it and that your words impact your motivation, and take the time.
- 9:01Michelle Gauthier: Like I said, I took 10, 15 minutes this morning to journal out and come up with new thoughts for myself, and it changed my whole day.
- 9:07Michelle Gauthier: If you have any questions about how to do this, there's a new link in the show notes where you can send me a message and I can reply back to you.
- 9:16Michelle Gauthier: So before I had a thing where you could send me a text message but I couldn't reply and that was so annoying.
- 9:20Michelle Gauthier: I don't like to have a one way conversation.
- 9:22Michelle Gauthier: So if you tried this and it worked, if you have questions about how to do this or if you have further questions on this topic and you want me to address them on a future episode, send me a message I would absolutely love to hear from you.
- 9:37Michelle Gauther: Okay, have a great week.
- 9:39Michelle Gauther: Thank you for listening to the Overwhelmed Working Woman podcast.
- 9:47Michelle Gauther: If you want to learn more about my work, head over to my website at michellegauthier.
- 9:50Michelle Gauther: com.
- 9:50Michelle Gauther: See you next week.