You know that old saying, “sticks and stone will break my bones but words will never hurt me.”

Well, I think it’s flat out not true.

Words are one of the most powerful things we have.

They can motivate and inspire us to accomplish our dreams and overcome great hurdles or they can hold us back, weigh us down and limit what we believe to be possible. They can create stress and fear or even eliminate it and improve our health.

No doubt, the words that others say can have a profound impact on our self-esteem. However, in my opinion, the words we tell ourselves are even more important and have an even more powerful effect on our wellbeing. The good news is, these words we tell ourself are ones we actually can control.

So often I hear creative folks say things like, “I love to make ______, but I don’t think I could ever really make money selling it….” or “I make ______, but no one would buy it so I just keep it as a hobby.” Or, “I’m so busy, I don’t think I could ever find the time to grow a business.”

These might not be blatantly self-defeating, but these subtle stories we tell ourselves become our reality.

If you don’t think you could ever make money selling your products...you probably won’t.

If you don’t think anyone would ever want to buy what you make...they probably won’t.

If you don’t think you have enough time to grow a business, you won’t make the time to make it happen.

Yet, if you turn those statements around and say: “I’m going to make money selling my products.” or “I know there are people out there who would love to have what I create.” “I’m going to commit the time to launch a business this year.”

You start to create a vision for your future that is filled with accomplishment.

Think of how a path gets made in the woods...over time the same path gets walked on, matting down the brush and making that one route an easy way to walk through. The same is true with our habits of thinking. If we are used to thinking a certain way, our minds will naturally go down that same path and keep thinking the same way. But, with effort, we can start telling ourselves a different story and train our minds to go down a different path.

You can make a new way!

For this week’s Monday Motivation Challenge, consider the way you talk to yourself. Your words are powerful - they are also free, take some time to think about if you are using them to your benefit or disadvantage.

Consider the following:

What things do you tell yourself that are holding you back?
Do you speak to yourself with words of empowerment and possibility or limited beliefs?
What is one story you keep telling yourself that you could really benefit from shifting the narrative?

For many of us, the paths of thought we’ve created in our minds are well worn and have been made over many years of defeating thinking. Regardless, it is still entirely possible to create a new story for yourself. I hope this week you start to tell yourself some new, empowering, motivating, live-giving words.

As always, if you could use some support to help you realize what is possible and help craft a better story, I would love to work with you. Coaching is one of the most powerful ways to make big changes to launch, build and grow your creative business. Schedule a free 30 min intro coaching phone-session.

We’re in this together,

Ashley