How to Stand up to the Mean Girl in Your Brain

Reframing your self-talk in one simple step

Michelle Loucadoux
Mind Cafe

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Two people laughing behind another person who has a hurt expression
Photo by Tumisu on Pixabay

Picture it. You walk out of the board room after a successful presentation and you’re exhilarated. That was fun!

As you walk to your office, though, that performance high gives way to a little voice in your head.

That was not your best explanation of what you want to do with marketing next quarter. I bet the COO noticed. And you fumbled for your words when you were talking about your research. Oh, and was Tom rolling his eyes? He seemed disinterested. It must have been because you were boring.

Does this sound familiar?

That’s your mind’s mean girl taking away all of the joy you gained from a good presentation. I like to call my personal mean girl Dina. And if I don’t stand up to her, she not only ruins my performance, but she also can be the catalyst for a deep dive into self-doubt and depression.

Whether it’s Dina, Regina George, Gretchen Wieners, or Maximus the Self Confidence Conquerer, we all have the equivalent of a mean girl in our head that says negative things to us. Most people call this negative self-talk.

And if you’re not careful with how you deal with this self-talk, it can impact both your work performance and your life in…

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