Business e-Book Collection September 2013 | Page 13

Improve your outlook
It’s interesting to note how our outlook affects those around us. Think about a
party. There’s lots of noise and music, the beer is flowing and it seems like
everyone is having a good time. You go to speak to a person you see standing by
themselves. “Hi!” you say enthusiastically. You get a cold glare in response. You
uncomfortably stand there for a second or two, and then move quickly away.
Why do you move on so quickly? Because the person’s attitude can rub off on us.
Think about conversations you’ve had where the other person has been
consistently negative – how did you feel at the end of the conversation? Drained?
Relieved to get out of there? Perhaps you agreed with what the person was saying,
and now you were feeling negative too?
Our conversations with ourselves – our inner monologue – can have the same
effect. Erika Anderson, writing for Forbes.com says “that continuous internal
commentary can really have a tremendous impact on how we feel and how we
behave. Sometimes what we say to ourselves is pretty benign (“I love oranges,”
“great shoes,” “it’s hot today,”) but often it’s not. Too often, our mental
monologue consists of unhelpful and inaccurate statements about ourselves and
others (“that guy doesn’t know anything,” “I’m going to blow this presentation,”
“she hates me”) .
She goes on to outline a four-step process for amending your inner monologue –
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Recognise – ‘listen’ to your own internal voice and ‘hear’ it when you are
‘saying’ negative things
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