Making IT Live up to its Promise
How do you talk to yourself? When our actions lead to bad outcomes, we blame ourselves. That is OK if it leads us to reflect on our behavior and do better next time.
But the language we use when we blame ourselves is sometimes much worse than we would ever use with other people. If a colleague breaks the build or drops a production table, we don’t call him stupid. But we might call ourselves stupid. Don’t do that. Talk to yourself at least as politely as you talk to others.
Notice how you talk about yourself. It affects your self-image. It can be hard to do while speaking, but lockdown has presented us with an endless succession of Zoom calls to work with. If the meeting is not being recorded, ask if it is OK for you to record it. Zoom now also has an automatic transcription feature that turns the audio into text.
Once you have the recording or text, look at the parts where you are speaking. Notice the words you are using about yourself, your team, and your projects. If you are using neutral or negative words where a positive word would have been reasonable, try saying the sentence to yourself with the improved word. For example, don’t say your team is “doing okay” if you are actually “doing well” or even “doing great.”
Using more positive words will give you increased energy and happiness. Try it.
