We all talk to ourselves. Some of us beat ourselves up on a daily basis. It is true that our mind believes what we feed into it. Whether it’s by the people we surround ourselves with, what we read, what we watch on TV, what we tell ourselves when we look in the mirror, our mindset is defined and shaped continually by what we feed into it.

I think we are all aware that positive self-talk is crucial to achieving our goals, but, did you know that distanced self-talk, or, talking to oneself in the third person is a tool utilized by some very successful athletes? According to a New York Times article, “The Benefits of Talking to Yourself,” research has found that it can influence behavior and cognition. If you love to read scientific studies, “Distanced Self-Talk Enhances Goal Pursuit to Eat Healthier” can be found at journals.sagepub.com.

Distanced self-talk can be instructional, like talking yourself through a task, or, motivational, like “You can do this” or “Mary can do this” instead of “I can do this.” The little trick to make this effective seems to be doing your self talk in the third person. So, instead of saying “I can do this” you need to say “(your name here) can do this!” It’s the objectivity that it lends to the situation, or the distancing from the situation, that seems to make it effective. Think of it as stepping outside yourself and talking to yourself like you were your own best friend. Distanced self talk is proven to work, I know for a fact that it has worked for me. Distanced self talk works really well if you talk out loud but, of course, you can’t always do this. Go ahead and use it silently in your head. It still works.

Tomorrow morning, put your health and wellness goals (health primes) front and center. Practice distanced self talk tomorrow to stay on course–remember, third person! Step outside of yourself and advise yourself like you would your best friend to get through those difficult moments. You got this! 2021 is going to be your year! Distanced self talk will difinitley help you and it’s a free tool to get you to your goal!