Have you listened to yourself lately?

The language we use is so important. Most of the time we don't realise how much of an effect it has, on our attitude, beliefs and outcomes.

Our brains work by creating pathways - it speeds things up. The more a pathway is used the stronger it becomes - hence practice makes progress.

When we think or speak (or write) the words we tell ourselves or others reinforce a pathway. Whether it's beneficial or not the brain doesn't care.

Some things I've heard lately...

"Business is tough."

"Things are tough at the moment."

"I can't find customers."

"It's impossible to find good staff"

"Money is a problem"

"I don't know how..."

Now, this is not a toxic positivity speech, where I tell you that you should pretend no matter what that life is all sunshine and rainbows, and everything you touch turns to gold or flowers, or golden flowers.

No. We are allowed to notice what's going on. We're allowed to feel however we feel about it. It becomes more of a problem when we dwell there and close our minds to opportunities, possibilities and growth.

Which is what all of those above statements do.

So how do we do it differently?

We tweak our wording, which tweaks our thinking.

Instead of

"Business is tough."

TRY

"Business is changing" or "Business is different"

Scratch

"Things are tough at the moment" from your vocabulary,

and try

"I'm doing things differently at the moment" or "I'm adapting how I do things"

These leave your mind open to see opportunities, and to be flexible.

Reject "I can't find customers"

in favour of

"I'm expanding my customer-finding skills"

"It's impossible to find staff"

Can be edited to

"I'm getting better at finding great staff all the time" or "I'm upping my team building game"

Never tell yourself money is a problem. Because that not only blocks it from coming to you, but when it does, it will create problems! This is a lose-lose situation.

There are hundreds of ways to replace this sentence, you could start with something like -

"Money is always flowing to me." or "Money is a solution."

"I don't know how..."

There are times when we don't have the answers. (many times!) But Telling ourselves we don't know, cuts us off from the solution.

switching to

"I need to find out how..." or "I'm working on how..."

Tells our brain to keep a look out for the knowledge or solution we need. And you might find it comes to you as a crazy idea at 3 am or something that you've seen 100 times before but never noticed...

The one I have to watch for the most in myself? "I'm tired".

I switch this up for "What do I need to change?" i.e do I need to move? Eat? Rest?

Listen to yourself today and see if any sentences pop up that may not be serving you. Let me know what you notice.

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Hi, I'm Kate and I help 'local' business owners get off the hamster wheel of running their business and moving in the direction of their dreams. (Sometimes there is chocolate or cake, but if your dreams involve more green smoothies, that's fine too!)

If you'd like to discover how investing in yourself can unlock an uplevel for you, then please book a discovery call.

Speak soon!