Overcoming Your Worst Enemy

Kari Sutton

As humans, we all talk to ourselves – whether we realise it or not. We all have an inner voice that I like to call the “itty bitty crappy committee”. It’s the voice in our mind that says things we usually do not say out loud. This critical inner dialogue frequently occurs without us even realising it’s happening and runs as a subtle commentary in the background of everything we do.

On average, we have anywhere between 40,000 - 60,000 thoughts per day - of those, approximately 60% are negative, and 85% are repetitive thoughts. Negative self-talk is any inner dialogue that could be limiting your ability to believe in yourself and your own abilities to reach your potential.

Negative self-talk can have some very damaging impacts to your self-confidence and emotional wellbeing. Research has consistently demonstrated that negative selfstatements significantly predict anxiety and depression. Negative self-talk “feeds” a person’s anxiety and depression and can cause an increase in stress levels while lowering levels of self-confidence.

Our negative self-talk and inner critic is part of our innate negativity bias. This negativity bias has been programmed into our brains for thousands of years in order to keep us safe. We therefore often fear the worst, even when we do not have concrete evidence that this is going to occur. This negativity bias is given a voice by our negative self-talk. It’s the voice that tells you you’re crazy to apply for a new job you want, or start studying something different, and it often has you thinking unkind and negative thoughts about yourself.