The most important conversation you have each day is with yourself. It regulates self-esteem and establishes your very sense of self. Harnessing this conversation to help you become the best version of yourself is critical. Allowing it to work against you leads you down a long, slow, steady hill toward self-pity, mediocrity, and sadness. If you needed to radically change your life and you could change only one thing, your inner dialogue, the way you speak to yourself, would be a very strong candidate for that change. Observe how you talk to yourself in various situations each day. Consider how this self-talk is affecting outcomes or perpetuating false assumptions in your life. Adjust when necessary. After you spend time with people or watch a television show, take note. Is your self-talk more positive or more negative? Are you speaking to yourself in a way that builds you up or tears you down? How you speak to yourself is far more impactful than how anybody else speaks to you. One of the reasons is because we always believe the things we say to ourselves, even when they are wrong. We always believe the things we say to ourselves, even when they are not true. How many beautiful, healthy women tell themselves they're fat? How many successful men tell themselves they're worthless? These illusions, and hundreds like them, are so common they are cliches.

Choosing to spend time with people who build you up, accept you, and love you is a sign of emotional health and intelligence, but if we do not speak to ourselves in ways that are lifegiving, we'll not be able to receive the love, encouragement, and acceptance other people extend to us. Be careful how you speak to yourself. Your words have power. You may never be quite able to fathom just how powerful they are, but don't waste this power. Use the power of your words wisely, especially when you're speaking to yourself.