Do you ever feel lost trying to distinguish between helpful inner guidance and unhelpful mental chatter? Are you struggling to decide whether your inner voice is offering constructive advice or just filling your mind with self-doubt? You’re not alone in finding it challenging to objectively assess the validity and usefulness of your inner dialogue.
I’ve been there too. As a CEO, I often found myself questioning the advice I was receiving from my own inner voice. Sometimes, it felt like a reliable guide; other times, it seemed to waver in different directions. I realised that to manage my inner voice effectively, I had to develop strategies to evaluate its advice—or choose to ignore it altogether. Here are the factors and strategies that helped me, and they might help you too:
1. Check Your Emotional State
Your emotional state significantly influences the reliability of your inner voice. When you’re calm and rational, your inner voice is more likely to offer helpful guidance. However, when you’re stressed or highly emotional, that same voice can become distorted, providing advice that’s more reflective of your fears and anxieties than your true self.
Strategy: Before acting on your inner voice, take a moment to assess your emotional state. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, give yourself time to calm down and revisit the advice with a clearer mind.
2. Align with Your Core Values and Goals
Consider whether your inner voice’s advice aligns with your core values and long-term goals. If the guidance you’re receiving is consistent with your deeper beliefs and aspirations, it may be worth listening to. However, if it seems at odds with your fundamental principles, proceed with caution.
Strategy: Regularly revisit and clarify your core values and long-term goals. Use these as a benchmark to evaluate whether your inner voice is steering you in the right direction.
3. Identify the Source of the Voice
Sometimes, the inner voice you’re hearing isn’t truly yours—it might be an internalised voice from your past, like a critical parent, teacher, or even a negative experience. Recognising whether the voice is genuinely yours or just an echo from your past can help you decide whether to heed or dismiss its advice.
Strategy: Reflect on whether your inner voice sounds familiar from your past. Ask yourself if it represents your own thoughts or someone else’s opinions that you’ve internalised over time.
4. Leverage Your Cognitive Abilities
Research suggests that people with higher levels of cognitive abilities—such as executive functioning and complex reasoning—are often better at using inner speech constructively for decision-making and self-management. While we’d all like to think we fall into this category, it’s important to be honest with ourselves about our strengths and areas for growth.
Strategy: Challenge your inner voice with rational, evidence-based thinking. Practice mindfulness and cognitive exercises that enhance your executive functioning skills, helping you better analyse the advice you’re receiving.
5. Consider Context and Consequences
Think about the specific situation and potential consequences of following or ignoring your inner voice. Sometimes, it might be beneficial to listen to your intuition or “gut feelings,” while other times, a more analytical, logical approach is necessary.
Strategy: Weigh the pros and cons of the advice you’re getting. Consider both short-term and long-term consequences. Trust your intuition when it feels grounded in experience, but don’t be afraid to pause and analyse when the stakes are high.
Practice, Self-Reflection, and Self-Awareness Are Key
Ultimately, developing the skill to discern when to listen to your inner voice and when to dismiss it requires practice, self-reflection, and self-awareness. Your inner voice is a tool for self-reflection and guidance—not an absolute authority. Learning to balance listening to it with objective analysis will help you make better decisions over time.
Which Strategy Resonates Most with You?
Take a moment to consider which of these strategies feels most relevant to your current situation. And remember, it’s about progress, not perfection.
Ready to master your inner voice and build mental resilience? Explore more strategies and resources at EverythingMentalToughness.com and join our MTQ network for community events where you can engage with beginners, experts, and practitioners from all fields.
If you’re looking for more personalised guidance, I’m here to help. Reach out to me at paul@paullyons.com.
Let’s turn your inner voice into your greatest ally!
