—Coaching yourself
Do you hear that voice in your head? Listen carefully to your internal monologue; this is your inner speech. Are you listening? What is the voice saying? Do you believe what the voice is telling you? Why do you believe your inner voice? Is it helpful? Should I take that advice or dispute it? Who is talking? Do your beliefs guide that voice or does that voice guide your beliefs?
Talking to yourself in your head is an ordinary activity.[1] In fact, inner speech is considerably more central to human life than is widely understood.[2] Oliver Sacks claims “…our real identity, lies in inner speech”.[3] Noam Chomsky claims: “You can’t go a minute without talking to yourself. It takes an incredible act of will not to talk to yourself.”[4]
When we are alone, most people are almost constantly engaged in an intrapersonal dialogue within themselves.[5] Inner speech is an important yet underrecognized aspect of how we humans work.[6] In particular, major life decisions, including our important transitions and rites of passage, are formed by inner speech.[7] Almost everything we do with our minds we do with inner speech. Reading, thought, decision making, self-regulation, action, memory, and conversation all draw on the processes of inner speech. [8]
Psychologists are demonstrating that inner speech helps us regulate our behavior, motivate ourselves for action, evaluate those actions, and even become conscious of our own selves.[9]
Because we spend so much time speaking to ourselves, it is helpful to choose inner speech that provides wise advice.
The objectives of this course are to:
This practical course is narrowly focused on providing useful affirmations. Students interested in a broader treatment of inner speech are encouraged to complete the companion course accessing inner speech, which is under development.
If you are ready to get started, then skip ahead the list of affirmations for specific goals.
Research is beginning to show that inner speech can improve performance. Consider this example:
In a 2013 interview tennis player Andy Murry reported “So I started talking. Out Loud. ‘You are not losing this match’ I said to myself. ‘You are NOT losing this match. I started out a little tentative, but my voice got louder. 'You are not going to let this one slip. You are NOT going to let this slip...Give it everything you’ve got. Leave nothing out there.' At first, it felt a bit weird, but I felt something change inside. I was surprised by my response. I knew I could win." He went on to win the US Open becoming Britain’s first male Grand Slam singles champion in seventy-six years.”[10]
Going beyond this anecdote, research studies demonstrate that for an athlete, self-talk can play a role in regulating action and arousal, psyching oneself up, and directing one’s attention under challenging performance conditions.”[11]
Considering the effectiveness of inner speech outside of sports, Nobel Prize winning physicist Richard Feynman described how he used inner speech as he conducts arguments with himself in solving scientific problems.[12] In a different typical example, a student was having difficulty while working to solve a math problem when he thought, “I’ll never get it.” “But you’re a genius,” the voice in his head said.”[13]
Planning, along with other executive functions, is aided by inner speech.[14]
In summary, research shows that self-talk is beneficial for athletic performance.[15] Furthermore evidence suggests that self-talk has beneficial effects on cognition (in particular, concentration and focus-related variables), cognitive anxiety, and the technical execution of movement skills.”[16]
Follow these guidelines to form and use effective affirmations.
Use affirmations with integrity. Understand what you are saying. Study the associated materials that introduce the topic and are often linked from an individual affirmation to ensure you understand the affirmation. Only use the affirmation with the full intention of making that affirmation true.
Here is a list of specific affirmations useful for reaching a particular goal.
The affirmations for perseverance, courage, concentration, and calming are useful for achieving a wide variety of goals. Combine these motivational affirmations with affirmations directed toward specific goals in any way that you find helpful.
Follow the links that pertain to your goals.
Students who are interested in learning more about affirmations may wish to read these books:
I have not yet read the following books, but they seem interesting and relevant. They are listed here to invite further research.