#40: Talk Dirty to Me

How do you talk to yourself?

In a recent personal development talk at work, the guest speaker coached us to develop our personal values statement. Here's what I came up with based on the list of words he presented:

I am brave and wise, confident and creative, purposeful and inspiring.

I'm committed to growth, resilient despite whatever life throws.

I'm gracious, empathetic, and compassionate—with myself and others.

He recommends repeating this statement as much as we can, perhaps making it part of our daily rituals.

Just coming up with that statement made me feel empowered and a bit more in control. This made me wonder about the effects of positive self-talk.

Maybe we're so much better off talking kindly—not harshly—to ourselves. That was my hypothesis, and I wanted to write about that today.

But after a few quick searches around the Internet, I found an interesting scientific report about the effects of positive(self-respect) and negative(self-criticism) self-talk.

In summary, the effects of self-respect on cognitive performance seem both negative, due to impulsivity related to inaccurate confidence, and positive, due to performance improvement related to enhanced executive functions.

On the other hand, self-criticism may induce an increase in cognitive performance, maybe due to a less confident state that elevates internal motivation and attention.

Interesting, right?

Life is indeed all about balance.

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Hi, and thanks for reading! I'm Kishly, a cheerleader of creatives and copywriter turned marketing strategist. Bookmark this blog to read my daily atomic essays on marketing, compassionate productivity, creative living, and lifelong learning. Or subscribe to Process, my weekly-ish newsletter for young adults (and the young at heart) in pursuit of wisdom and wonder. ✨