How do you talk to yourself on a daily basis? Do you talk positively and give yourself positive affirmations that you can accomplish what you set out to do, or do you talk negatively to yourself and say "I'm not good enough", or "I can't do this" and constantly compare yourself to other people?
Recently I saw a study that Ikea put on (see here)where they set up an experiment with two separate plants where kids would walk by and one of the plants they would bully and talk negatively to it, where the other plant they would talk positive to and give it compliments. Over the next 30 days, it was a very drastic comparison of how negative talk can affect even a plant. It's pretty wild!
A lot of that relates to people as well. If you're putting yourself down on a daily basis, that's going to affect your performance and your overall stress and happiness in life.
One example I like to give is that there was a bicyclist on the Tour de France who had a lot of negative self-talk. He would say to himself that he wasn't able to finish the race and wasn't good enough. But when he started saying those thoughts out loud, and the other bicyclists that were nearby started hearing it as well, they started internalizing those negative self thoughts as well and it affected their performance. However, by vocalizing it out loud, he was able to get those feelings out and he actually ended up doing better. But that negative self-talk is huge and how it affects you.
So if you notice yourself putting yourself down then change that internal dialogue. Change it to a more positive state and force yourself to smile. They've had a lot of studies where by forcing yourself to smile when you're not feeling well can have huge benefits.
So turn your talk around if you are having a little- negativity and enjoy your day.