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In a way, the sappy Saturday afternoon movie cliché of “the strength is within” is a scientific reality that conditions the way in which human beings face challenges and problems. Brian Tracy, best-selling author of ‘Swallow that toad!‘ explains in his conferences that the first step for any significant change on a personal level is in self-image, that is, in the idea that each person has about who they are and what they deserve. According to the expert, this inner image directly influences what that person dares to do and the results they obtain. According to Tracy, to successfully face new personal and professional challenges, it is essential to transform the internal voice that defines us and the way we speak to ourselves. Changing that internal conversation is essential to changing the approach with which goals are faced and the motivation when it comes to achieving them. In the same way that a football team does not face a game with the same motivation when the entire audience fervently cheers it as when it is booed, the brain needs a vote of confidence to achieve positive results. Self-image shapes reality Self-image is not only how others see us, but a set of beliefs and perceptions that each person forms about their own identity and abilities. This image does not always match the one other people perceivebut it is just as important or more important. For example, if you define yourself as someone who “can’t achieve certain things” or “always fails,” your decisions and behaviors will be conditioned by that premise and, like a self-fulfilling prophecy, those limiting ideas will end up taking over. On the other hand, a positive self-image expands the capacity for action and allows us to make decisions with more confidence. The concept is summarized in a phrase attributed to the poet and playwright Jean Cocteau: “They achieved it because they did not know it was impossible.” If someone or oneself keeps repeating that something is not possible, is unfeasible, that one does not have the capacity to do it or that it will never be achieved, most likely is that it is not achieved or achieving it costs much more. It is not only important what we say to ourselves, but also how. According to the study carried out by Ethan Kross and his team at the University of Michigan, “when we treat ourselves in the second person we take greater distance from emotions and are more rational.” In this dialogue in the second or third person, using the pronoun “you” instead of “I”, activates a phenomenon called “distanced internal dialogue” that facilitates emotional regulation, reducing anxiety and internal fears, improving decision making. The key to this change in perception is that, by changing the way we address ourselves in the second person, the speech from “I can’t” to “you can” is changed. Kross’s later studies revealed that maintaining an internal dialogue in the second or third person changes the way we describe ourselves. The researchers detected that participants who used their name or a pronoun in this self-dialogue used more general qualifiers (“I am an optimistic person”, “I care a lot about learning”), and fewer traits linked to their social role (“I am a student”, “I am a mother”). Numerous research They demonstrate that internal dialogue directly impacts our ability to solve complex personal problems and challenges. Maintaining a positive and balanced dialogue helps to sustain attention, plan, self-regulate emotions and persist in the face of adversity. The scientific results They demonstrate that the internal monologue is not mere noise in your head, but has a direct impact on the results. However, in the same way that positive language in this internal dialogue improves results, negative language has the opposite effect. Negative self-talk that reinforces distorted beliefs can cause anxiety, block action, and affect mental and physical health. Paradoxically, it is much more common to use language with ourselves that we would not tolerate under any circumstances from anyone around us. Phrases like “you’re not good enough, you’ll never get that or you don’t work hard enough“are some examples of that self-inflicted abuse in internal dialogue. A recent analysis indicates that “the thoughts that are part of that internal dialogue are energy and if they generate guilt, anger or shame, they must be changed by thoughts aimed at changing your attention and your mental life in another direction.” In this sense, transforming the way we talk to ourselves improves our resilience and comprehensive well-being. Brian Tracy’s advice for changing your self-image includes identifying your limiting beliefs and formulating a new, specific self-image, with positive affirmations in the present tense and with emotion. Spending a few minutes a day visualizing yourself acting like the person you want to be reinforces that new internal reality. You’ve probably seen elite athletes on the starting line countless times saying to themselves, even out loudthat they will achieve their objectives. That visualization is part of your positive self-talk: “this is exactly what is going to happen because you are able to make it happen.” It is also essential to “act as if”, that is, to behave daily like that new person you want to be, with small habits that demonstrate that transformation. In Xataka | Lack of motivation is a problem for productivity. The trick to avoid it is simple according to science: start Image | Unsplash (Elisa Photography, Noah Buscher)