Is your inner critic holding you back? (Here's how to rewrite your story)
Do you ever wonder if there's more to achieving your goals than just pushing harder? I've been finding myself doing a lot of reflecting on the idea of control lately. The truth is there's not a lot we actually can control in this life outside of ourselves and the belief that we can is often a source of extreme frustration. We can't control the point of view of our managers, how many sales we make, our partners habits, the weather, even our own thoughts seem out of our hands. There's good news though – we actually have more power than we think.
During my time as a high school english teacher, one of the units I taught was centered around greek mythology. There's one myth that comes to mind [interestingly enough not my favorite]: Pygmalion. If you're not familiar, here's the cliff's notes [or sparknotes…]:
Pygmalion is a talented sculptor who creates a stunningly beautiful ivory statue of a woman, Galatea, and falls deeply in love with his own creation. He showers her with affection and belief in who he truly believes she is, treating her as if she were real. The goddess Aphrodite decides to brings the sculpture to life and Pygmalion finds her to be EXACTLY as he believed she actually was.
There's a fascinating psychological phenomenon centered around this myth called the Pygmalion effect. It states that higher expectations lead to improved performance, while lower expectations lead to worse performance. It's like a self-fulfilling prophecy, where someone's belief in another's success or failure influences the actual outcome.
So the more we speak highly of someone and our belief in them, the more likely they are to rise to the occasion. Belief is an incredibly powerful tool – one that we can absolutely use on ourselves.
Life may seem a little wonky right now, I know I'm feeling it, but you have the immense power to change your internal dialogue – like changing the radio or Spotify station [or pandora, I guess, if you're a die-hard fan like my boyfriend].
Affirmations tied to true beliefs can help. They often provide a moment of remembrance for what we already know. Here's a few of mine:
I am on the right path
I am worthy of wonderful things
I am choosing joy
I trust in myself
Last week at our Monthly Aligned Mastermind Dinner here in Charlotte, I was surrounded by female business owners of all kinds: brand new, seasoned, evolving, multiple six figure earners, side hustlers. The most powerful tool we discussed?
The ability to shift your thoughts by choosing your own narrative.
Believing in yourself is one of the most underrated business and life strategies out there. Much like Pygmalion, you'll likely find when you focus on who you believe you are and what you believe about your business [or life] instead of focusing on the negative(s) of your current circumstance that your strongly held beliefs start to become reality. And as bonus that's almost better than the main result, you'll find you're no longer wasting precious energy + non-renewable time spinning your wheels.
