Hugh’s Words of Wisdom Wednesday: Let’s Talk About Your Self Talk

Hello, everyone.

Today, I want to talk to you about self-talk. One of the things that I know from a performance improvement perspective is how we speak to ourselves dictates and shapes how we perform. And this week, I want to give you a short exercise to help you create what is called in the sports psychology world, a performance statement.

A performance statement is a statement you repeat before you perform a particular activity. For example, before you engage in a competition, a sales conversation, or a client meeting. These statements direct our attention to one or two things that will allow us to be as successful as possible.

Here's the activity. I want you to imagine you're going into the biggest game of your life, and you have an executive coach, someone you respect and who cares for you and wants the very best for you.

They walk up to you, look you square in the eye, and say, "remember to focus on these two things." Or maybe they say, "focus on this one thing. If you do, you'll be successful."

Whatever endeavor you're pursuing, what are the one or two things your coach or the person you respect the most would say to you? They may say, "be in the moment and create value." Being in the moment and creating value is an example of a performance statement from my professional life. I work to do both in every conversation.

What are the two things for you? What's the one thing?

Any time you engage in an important or high impact activity, repeat your performance statement. When you do, it removes any negative thoughts and focuses you only on the two ideas that will help you be successful. You're not going to worry about the result you're pursuing because you're focused on the process aspects of being successful. You'll be in the moment. 

If you need additional help with this, please feel free to reach out to me.

That's the performance statement. I wish you the very best and remember to live boldly.