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Future Habits Future Wellbeing

5 Easy Ways To Control Your Inner Voice

What To Expect?

In today’s article, 5 easy ways to control your inner voice. The discussion will be about the power the inner voice has over us and how we can best use it. We all have an inner voice whether it’s a loud voice or a silent voice. Both can affect us the same way. By taking control of this inner voice we will find true power in life over our decision making.

What Is An Inner Voice?

An inner voice, self-talk or an internal monologue. However, you like to call it.

Is stated online as a “person’s inner voice which provides a running verbal monologue of thoughts while they are conscious. It is usually tied to a person’s sense of self”.

For sure this is true for the majority of people. For some their inner voice is not a verbal monologue but of silent thoughts that don’t pop up like a Morgan Freeman monologue. More studies need to be done on the effects this has on peoples motivation.

Until recently I only found out myself that people have an inner monologue like in films whereas I only have silent thoughts more based on feelings than dialogue.

How It Affects The Mind

5 Easy Ways To Control Your Inner Voice
Photo by Morgan Housel on Unsplash

An inner voice can effectively affect how you feel. If your inner voice is self-critical this will affect your overall self-esteem and your overall decision making. The inner voice can turn a high performing person into a shadow of their former self. When the inner voice creates a vacuum of negativity and doubt. Performance, mental health and thought patterns will change.

On the other hand, if your inner voice is supporting, encouraging and confident then performance, mental health and thought patterns will be enhanced to a positive outlook.

We know within ourselves these two inner voices and how it makes us feel and how life changes because of it. Unfortunately, no one within the education system in western culture to my knowledge is teaching this and how to control our inner voice to benefit our lives.

That’s why we need to teach ourselves and the people we teach, mentor and guide through life. The effects our inner voice has on our life.

Be Wary Of The Inner Bitch Lurking

If you don’t already know. I’m a massive fan of David Goggins. His mindset is a breath of fresh air. In one of his Instagram posts. He talks about being wary of the inner bitch lurking in all of us. His inner bitch is the 300-pound former self who always lurking ready to tempt him to eat the unhealthy option, to have a day off when it gets hard.

I think this is spot on. No matter how much we improve there is always going to be an inner voice within us that wants to revert back to our comfortable self. By understanding this and knowing what part of your life your inner voice is trying to lure you back to. This is self-awareness working in action. This is how you learn when it comes out, where it’s lurking and this help you have control over your inner voice that can benefit you. But remember the inner bitch will always be lurking.

5 Easy Ways To Control Your Inner Voice

1. Exercise

A quick way to get hold of that negative inner voice is by exercising. When we exercise it releases amazing chemicals that change the way we feel and think. The lazy inner voice wants you to stay on the couch and do nothing but by just exercising straight away that inner voice will be replaced by a winning one.

2. Understand When It Comes Alive

By being self-aware it allows us to understand ourselfes we wouldn’t normally recognise. When it comes to our inner voice. There will be certain times when it comes alive more than it normally does. Is it when there’s a challenge or when trying something new. Whatever it is, knowing when it happens allows you to quieten the negative inner voice with a conscious positive inner voice that moves you forward instead of holding you back.

3. Writing

Writing is a great way to change a negative inner voice. What writing can do is put thoughts to paper and you can see whether what your thinking is true or not. Plus the writing is like muscle training for the brain. When we write we naturally become positive and our inner voice realigns into a positive inner voice.

4. Have A Performance Coach

If you find it hard to change your inner voice. Having your own performance coach can help change the way your inner voice responds. There are countless professional athletes and people running their own business who have performance coach and the reason why it allows them to their best selves all the time. Even if you’re not a sports star or CEO of a company. You can still find affordable methods to have your own performance coach with who you can touch base weekly.

5. Let It Speak Then Tell It To F**k Off

A great tip from the book The Willpower Instinct. Is that any negative thoughts you have? Don’t fight it. Just let it pass through and then tell it to move along and change the thoughts to what you want to do. This brings an improvement in self-control and the overcoming of negative thoughts. By understanding, they don’t have control over me but I do them.

Over To You

I hope you enjoyed today’s article, 5 easy ways to control your inner voice.

We all have an inner voice. But some use it to their advantage and others just let it happen to them.

Make it a habit to be in charge of your inner voice and be the guide for your future self.

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Hi, I'm Adam
Hi, I’m Adam

I’ve spent over 10 years coaching and mentoring people within sport and business. I have many life skills that I have developed and I want to pass these skills on so people can find their best self. I believe it all starts in the mind and I write about valuable tools and strategies to help people grow in this area.

https://thefuturemindset.com/about-2/
Categories
Future Habits

How Multitasking Can Stop You From Entering The Zone

What To Expect?

In today’s article, how multitasking can stop you from entering the zone will discuss the effects multitasking can have on the brain. The main point of the article will be how multitasking can stop you from entering the zone. Also understanding that focusing on one task at a time greatly benefits your performance. As well as learning how to get out of the multitasking habit.

Why Multitasking Isn’t Always Good For The Brain

How Multitasking Can Stop You From Entering The Zone

The common saying is that women are better at multitasking than men. This has actually been confirmed to be true by a recent study in the UK. Of course, this doesn’t mean all men can’t multitask. But what the study did show is that multitasking can be beneficial in certain areas of life but more difficult in others.

Cited on Inc.com, MIT neuroscientist Earl Miller explained that our brains “are not wired to multitask well… when people think they’re multitasking, they’re actually just switching from one task to another very rapidly. And every time they do, there’s a cognitive cost.”

You Have To Focus On One Task

When it comes to focusing, multi-tasking can be the enemy that takes you away from what you are currently focusing on. In real life, it can lead to damaging effects. For example, if your driving and you turn your attention away from your driving to look at your phone or tell the children off in the back seat. It can lead to crashes and the death of other people.

Our brain is just a muscle and it can only do what it was designed to do. So multitasking on minimal things is no problem but multitasking on things that matter just gets in the way. For example, try writing and then looking at your phone, then talking to someone. When you look back either nothing has been written or you’re going at a snail pace.

For the brain to truly function on a task with 100% intention you can not multitask. It just doesn’t work to its best ability. When you find your mind truly clear of distraction you will enter the zone of the mind where everything becomes easy and flowing. This is because the brain is fully engaged in one singular task.

Of course, our brains are adapting, thinking of ideas but it has to be solely for the benefit and purpose of what you’re doing.

This is Your Brain on Multitasking

Studies within neuroscience found trying to multitask actually changes the way your brain works. When you focus your attention on something, it activates the part of your mind’s motivational system: the prefrontal cortex, which wraps around the front of your brain.

When you’re focused, both the left and right sides of the prefrontal cortex work in tandem. But when you multitask, they attempt to work independently. Even though it feels like you’re doing two things simultaneously, you’re actually switching between the two sides of your prefrontal cortex. This switch takes a fraction of a second, but those microseconds add up: it actually takes you up to 40% longer to complete the same tasks than if you were to tackle them separately.

Not only that, switching between tasks drains your cognitive resources, making you more prone to mistakes. Your working memory, which is responsible for reasoning, decision making, and learning ability, has a limited capacity. It’s like a muscle that can only lift so much weight and do so many reps before it needs to rest and recover.

How To Get Out Of The Bad Habit Of Multitasking

1. Get Rid Of All Distractions

What stops us from getting in the zone is defiantly modern distractions, like phone, email and social media. You know what distracts you the most and what you find hard to resist. So whenever you are doing something that needs your full attention. Put the distraction as far away from you so they can’t be reached.

2. Listen To Music

Now, this isn’t the top 40 chart, this is music that plays in the background preferably with headphones that focuses your mind. For me, it’s anything that’s calm instrumental with the peaceful piano being my favourite for entering my writing zone.

3. A To-do-list & A Clear Schedule

Knowing what you need to do in your day and when to do it can fend off the multitasking mind. A To-do-list & a clear schedule helps to focus the mind on the singular task at different parts of the day. This makes it a lot easier to enter a zone state for each task you have. When you don’t know what to do this quickly allows the mind to wander to other tasks.

4. Learn To Say No

Always being at someone’s beck and call stops you from entering the zone and leads to multi-tasking their every need rather than focusing on what you want. So when it’s time for you to get in the zone. Have expectations with people of what you expect and quickly say no to them unless it’s an emergency.

5. Know When It’s Zone Time

Everyone has a part of the day that they feel at their mental and physical best. Mine is the morning and this is the time that I use all the above points to create a space where I can get my best work done. Creating that time for yourself limits multitasking and allows the focus to form and the zone door to open.

Over To You

I hope you enjoyed today article, How multitasking can stop you from entering the zone.

IF YOU BELIEVE SOMEONE CAN BENEFIT FROM THIS ARTICLE PLEASE SHARE BELOW!

Hi, I'm Adam
Hi, I’m Adam

I’ve spent over 10 years coaching and mentoring people within sport and business. I have many life skills that I have developed and I want to pass these skills on so people can find their best self. I believe it all starts in the mind and I write about valuable tools and strategies to help people grow in this area.