The Loudest Voice
Much research has been done and written about to determine why we are who we are and how we came to be that way. Psychologists, coaches, therapists, and psychiatrists have published mountains of material to help us answer questions like, “Why do I do what I do?” and “How did I get here in my life?” and “How did he/she become who they are?”
In general, there are two camps of thought…commonly referred to as nature and nurture.
The Nature Camp
Some would suggest that your nature is what it is. For example, you are born with particular talents. You have a personality type that came hardwired in you. You have an inner disposition that is predisposed to a particular path. Many popular personality tests can point to what your nature might be, for example, Myers Briggs or Enneagram.
The Nurture Camp
The second camp would suggest that who you are is more rooted in how you were nurtured. This approach would pursue understanding by considering your upbringing and your experiences. Included in this would be the most influential people in your life; parents, siblings, extended family members, coaches, teammates, teachers and pastors could all be included in this group who help shape who you are from the outside.
The Voice
While both camps are valid and observable in most people, perhaps there’s an alternative, or addition, to both.
It may be that who you are is determined by the loudest, most repeated, most powerful voice in our lives – our own.
What you say to your “self” matters, and you’re ALWAYS saying something to yourself.
We use our voice to communicate…
We connect, dialogue, debate, create, inspire, joke, sing, praise, and encourage with our voice.
Unfortunately, we argue, fight, curse, tear down, degrade, and ridicule with our voice too.
We use our voice, although not audibly, to do both to our “self” every hour, every day.
Are you aware of your voice? What is your voice saying to your “self”?
Your voice has the power to override your nature. Your voice has the power to supersede your nurture. What your voice says determines whether the impossible becomes possible for you. Your voice has the power to create worlds that do not yet exist, and open doors that were once locked for you.
Sounds rather woo-woo, I know. But self-talk is unbelievably powerful, or poignant depending on how you wield it. Without intentionality, for most of us, our voice is our biggest, loudest, deepest critic. Constantly tearing us down. Incessantly telling us “it can’t be done” and even if it can, “you can’t”.
Without actively getting control of our voice, its default setting is to deconstruct our visions, prevent action, embolden excuses, and minimize the possibility.
Good news – it’s quite simple to control your voice. In fact, you can hack it to unleash tremendous inertia in your life that you didn’t even know existed. The electricity of your voice can be palpable, and once you experience the results, you’ll be hooked.
I’m going to share an example voice hack below.
It may be awkward at first, and your current voice will not like this exercise because it knows you’re not only aware of its existence, but you’re also hacking into its power.
Trust the process.
This is just my example – I’ll leave it to you to create others that you may need.
Important note…you do not need for your voice to be a reality. Your voice does not need to be accurate.
You’ll use your voice as a tool to speak into existence that which has not yet been. Yes, you will manifest the reality you desire with your voice.
I invite you and challenge you to print this out.
Read it every morning immediately when you wake up. Out loud.
Forgo scrolling through social media.
Abstain from turning on the news. T
ake 60 seconds and read this. Out loud.
Do the same thing as the last thing you do before you turn the lights out at night.
Do it for 30 days. Track it to make sure you don’t miss a day.
It’s a 2-minute investment in yourself per day, which will be a 1-hour investment in yourself for the month. Your “self” is worth two minutes a day. And it NEEDS you to invest two minutes per day in it.
I wish I could be there to see you experience the magic when it sparks for you…here goes: