“I don’t do budgets.”
“I’m just not good at handling money.”
“I’ll never be a six-figure earner.”
“I’m not going to make much money in my industry.”
Do any of these statements ring a bell?
If so—especially if you’ve been the one saying them—then you are participating in the much dreaded and well-known “negative self-talk”. Whenever you keep repeating this false information to yourself, you program your mind to start believing it.
What You Imagine and Believe Becomes Your Truth
If you believe doing a budget is difficult and dull, then you will always feel you’re too busy to do one. If you’re determined to believe you won’t be able to make a six-figure income, then you will not earn six figures by the end of the year.
If you keep telling yourself that you don’t handle money well, then you will always be poor at handling money.
When you have a negative mindset, you create a self-fulfilling prophecy for yourself. In other words, your thoughts become your reality because you behave as if it’s the truth.
If you’ve convinced yourself that a six-figure income is not available for you, then you will not take the action that’s required for you to hit that income level.
You won’t waste time with email campaigns because you believe people ignore your emails. You won’t charge higher rates or fees because you don’t think people will pay that much for your services.
And you’re not going to invest much time or money into establishing an impressive brand because you don’t believe you can make that much money in your market anyway.
On the other hand, if you start thinking and acting like you can become a six-figure income consultant, then you will develop a more successful strategy for building your brand and generating income.
The pessimistic attitude gets replaced with a positive mindset, and you will devote the appropriate amount of time and money into creating strategies that generate impact and income.
You will start to market yourself in such a way that puts you in front of the clients that can pay you higher fees because you have full faith in your abilities and the services you provide.
How to Stop Negative Self Talk
To shift from negative self-talk to positive self-talk, start by switching your thoughts from negative to positive. We’re quite literally flipping the switch. Catch yourself every time you start thinking negatively.
If a harmful sentence pops into your mind, then cut the statement off. If you’re thinking in a way that’s not helpful and it won’t drive your business forward, dismiss the thoughts.
Keep a mental log of the negative statements that frequently pop up in your mind and try to determine why you keep harping on them. Are the words even yours, or have you adopted someone else’s beliefs?
For example, if your ex-spouse kept complaining about how poor you manage money, then imagine burying your ex-spouse’s words in the ground. Then change your spending behavior to break the negative cycle. Get help with budgeting if you need to—there’s no shame in asking for help.
Each time you start entertaining the idea that you can’t handle money well, think of those times when you did make wise monetary decisions. For example, think about the time you paid off a loan with no late payments or that time when you decided to save money instead of buying clothes you didn’t need.
Transform your negative self-talk by saying, “I used to have problems handling money, but now I’m learning to make wiser decisions about how I spend my cash.”
Remember, positive self-talk becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, just like negative self-talk. Therefore, if you make positive self-talk a habit, then you will start to take action based on your positive beliefs—and your business will begin to thrive!