Positive Self-Talk Skill

The power of self-affirmation and self-motivation should never be underestimated, because sometimes that is all we have. When faced with distressing situations or even a crisis, a sense of hopelessness can creep up on us, forcing us to fail. In that moment, if we follow the techniques of DBT and have faith in ourselves, we can pull through a situation. The best way to do this is to tell ourselves, “Yes, you got this.”

Self-motivation can work wonders. Real-life examples do exist; people like Oprah Winfrey, Sylvester Stallone, and Celine Dion struggled to reach where they were. Oprah was a victim of abuse; Sylvester Stallone was so poor he even sold his dog; and Celine Dion lived in poverty among 14 children. None of these people had it easy, yet they moved on and endured until their motivation made them strong enough to succeed.

The Backwards Brain Bicycle

The way to motivate is to try and look at things from a new perspective, which is not easy. It requires us to unlearn our stereotyped thought patterns about situations and learn new approaches for better outcomes, but we must stick to it. To demonstrate this concept, an American engineer named Destin Sandler had engineers weld a bicycle handle backwards, which meant left was now right and vice versa. When riding it, Destin found it extremely difficult and just could not stay on. Through the experiment, Destin proved how learning things in life, like riding a bike, becomes so easy that the brain takes shortcuts, accepting the activity for granted, making it effortless.

A simple change like the backward bike makes things extremely challenging, and this is the kind of situation we will face in daily life too. It is the same with ANT’s or (Automatic Negative Thoughts) which we learn at the age of seven. We program ourselves to accept the negativity of certain situations, preferring to believe that things are impossible. This is why we need self-motivation to identify such thought patterns and change them into a more positive mindset. We need to unlearn things and learn new ways to create solutions despite the initial struggle.

Click here to watch the video of the backward bike.