here's something wild. You have approximately 60,000 thoughts per day, and most of them are running on autopilot in the background of your mind. But here's what's even more interesting, the way you talk to yourself about your business, your goals, and your challenges is either your secret weapon or your biggest obstacle. Today I'm sharing how to turn your inner voice into your competitive advantage. Pausing.

Welcome back to Thrive in Five, where I give you a quick burst of motivation and productivity in five minutes or less. I'm Cindy, your host, a self-made entrepreneur, busy mom, and a business coach. I've built and sold several digital businesses ranging from five to six figure successes. So when it comes to managing time and priorities in both life and work, I get it. I've been there and I am here to help you thrive.

Let's be real about the conversation that is happening in your head right now. Maybe it sounds like I should have completed that task by now, or I'm behind on everything, or I don't know what I'm doing and everybody's gonna find out. Does this sound familiar? I see this constantly with the amazing women that I coach. You all are being so mean to yourselves that you're actually sabotaging your own success. Here's what I see happening. Every time you tell yourself that you are behind not good enough or failing, somehow your brain starts to believe you. And when your brain believes that you're failing, it puts you in survival mode instead of strategic mode. In survival mode, everything feels harder. Decisions feel overwhelming, and you end up procrastinating on the very things that move your business forward. And the crazy part, most of us would never talk to a friend the way that we talk to ourselves. But we think that being our own worst critic will somehow motivate us to do better. Spoiler alert, it doesn't work. Here's the fascinating thing about how your brain works. It doesn't know the difference between what you're telling it and what's actually happening. So when you say, I'm terrible at sales, your brain goes, okay, she's terrible at sales. Let me help her avoid all sales situations. When you say, I never follow through on anything, your brain starts to look for evidence to support that belief. But here's the flip side. When you start talking to yourself like someone you love and respect, your brain says, oh, we're capable and supported, and suddenly you start showing up differently. It's not about lying to yourself or toxic positivity, it's about reality. Checking whether your inner dialogue is helping you or hurting you. I learned this the hard way throughout building my businesses. I spent a lot of my mental energy telling myself I wasn't cut out for entrepreneurship, and I almost proved myself right. I learned this the hard way when I was building my second food website. I spent so much mental energy telling myself that I was not cut out for this type of food niche that I almost proved myself, right? But the breakthrough came when I started asking myself, is this thought helping me take action or is it keeping me stuck? So here's how to transform your self-talk the first step. Catch your inner critic red handed for one day. I want you to notice how you talk to yourself about your business. Don't judge it. Just observe it. When you miss a deadline, what do you say to yourself when someone doesn't respond to your email? What story do you tell yourself? Write down the actual words that you use. You can't change what you won't acknowledge, and most of us have no idea how harsh our inner dialogue really is. The next step is we are going to reality check your thoughts. Now for each negative thought that you caught, ask yourself, is this actually true or is my brain being a little dramatic? Most of the time you'll realize that you are treating opinions like facts. I'm behind on everything becomes, I have three things that are a little bit later than I planned. I'm terrible at marketing becomes, I'm still learning, marketing and improving with practice. The next step is you need to choose your champion voice. This is where the magic happens. Instead of letting your inner critic run the show consciously, choose the thoughts that actually support your goals instead of, I don't know what I'm doing. Try. I'm figuring this out as I go, just as every successful entrepreneur, or instead of saying I should be further along, try I'm building something meaningful and progress takes time. Let me give you some practical steps to make this work in your daily business life. First, I create what I call a reality check mantra for common situations. When you're preparing for a sales call, instead of saying, I hope they don't think I'm pushy. Try something like, I have something valuable to offer and I am here to serve. When you're posting content, instead of saying, nobody cares about this, try saying, I'm sharing value with people who need to hear this. The second thing is to start each day by literally saying out loud, you've got this. I know it sounds simple, but there's power in hearing yourself say encouraging words Your brain needs to hear your voice being supportive and not critical when you catch yourself in a negative thought spiral, interrupt it with this question. What would I say to a friend going through this exact same situation and then say it to yourself instead? You already know how to be encouraging. You just need to turn that encouragement inward. Here's what I want you to remember. Your voice in your head is either your biggest cheerleader or your biggest obstacle, but the choice is always yours. You wouldn't hire an assistant who constantly told you you weren't good enough. So why would you let your inner voice do that job? Your self-talk isn't just feel good fluff. It's a strategic business tool that affects your confidence, your decisions, and your results. When you master your inner dialogue, it's not just about being kinder to yourself, you are actually setting yourself up for greater success. This inner growth work is exactly what I help entrepreneurs develop in my one-to-one coaching and my Growth Collective Mastermind because when you do a reality check to your thoughts and you choose empowering language, you become unstoppable and remember, you've got this. Now go tell yourself that same thing and mean it.

Thanks for tuning into the Thrive in Five podcast. If you found value in today's episode, I'd love for you to leave a review. It helps more listeners discover the show and don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a dose of productivity, motivation, and success tips. And hey, share this episode with a friend that could use a little extra inspiration. Until next time, keep thriving. And remember, you've got this.