Have you ever had a computer run sluggish? Usually, there’s too much stuff in memory bogging down performance. To figure out what’s slowing it down, you run a diagnostic report. The report suggests which files to delete to improve performance.

Hmm…wouldn’t it be great if we could do the same thing to our minds. Delete all the negative self-talk slowing our performance or prohibiting us from accomplishing what we really want to do in life. It’s almost as if we need to reset our minds to factory settings – you know before we had any self-doubt caused by our own thoughts… or by others. In lieu of a reset button or delete button for our minds, how do we delete our negative self-talk?

Here’s an idea to try:

Take 30 seconds every day and give yourself a pity party. Go ahead and wallow in your self-doubt. Identify all your downfalls. Then immediately take 1 minute to identify all your strengths and accomplishments. When you’re done, you’ll be ready to move forward.

During the day if you start having a negative thought, write it down on a scrap piece of paper. Fold the paper and put it in a jar for the next day’s pity party. In this way, you’re moving the negative self-talk from the present so you can focus on what you really need to do.

The key is to do something different to remove your negative self-talk from obstructing your performance. What do you do to remove your negative thoughts? Do you go for a run? Do you listen to your playlist of upbeat music? Please share what you do to remove your negative self-talk.