“I suck at follow-up.”
“I don’t deserve to make $1 million.”
“It’s hard for me to get in shape.”
“I just really like bad food.”
If someone told you to write the perfect script for your life’s story, would you include any of those sentences?
Then why do you tell yourself things like this in real life?

What You Say (To Yourself) Matters

What you need to realize is that these things you tell yourself become part of your personal narrative.
Your personal narrative actually informs your worldview and dictates your results.
That’s why it’s extremely important that you eliminate the negative self-talk from your narrative.
If you don’t, here’s the cycle you perpetuate:

  1. You project your narrative.
  2. You pass it on to everyone around you.
  3. The more you share it, the more others reinforce it.
  4. And soon, people will communicate to you around your story as if it’s real.

It’s a dangerous game you’re better off not playing.

Oh Wait, You Have a Reason?

I know someone out there is reading this thinking…
“But Tom, I’m this way because ________.”
It doesn’t really matter what fills in that blank… I’m not buying it.
It’s not what happens that matters. It’s how you respond to it. That’s where all the success and all the failure lies.
So if some traumatic event or bad experience continues to plague you…
I’d contend it’s because you’re continuing to tell yourself that story.
You can choose to respond differently. You can choose to overcome.